>music is a form of mating display

Hm, then why did I start learning the piano at age 6? Music is a form of communication and expression, and humans just tend to gravitate to people who are good at stuff we like (which make for good mating displays).

I'm not sure about the mating display thing but you probably started learning the piano at age 6 because your parents thought it was a good idea.

In this case, very strongly my idea. No-one really knows why we play music - even musicians don't know. But I think it's about a form of expression, much like for many people they are compelled to enter conversation at least part of the day or week. I've yet to read a scientific or psychological explanation that fits but I have some pet theories that sound nice (that I wouldn't bet the bank on though).

>In this case, very strongly my idea. No-one really knows why we play music - even musicians don't know.

A lot of musicians I know, would not hesitate to mention "the opposite sex" as a major reason.

Communication is a little iffy as many artists don't write be understood; their lyrics are intentionally opaque so as to seem mysterious, and allow the listener to project onto them. Agreed that music is a form of expression, but so is smiling; the question is, why do human express themselves through music in first place, or through smiling? Why not express themselves through cartwheeling instead?

Darwin argued that both human song and bird song evolved as mating displays [1]

[1] ftp://ftp.repec.org/RePEc/els/esrcls/draftfin.pdf

I can't find the article to reference so take this with a grain of salt: in ancient times it is believed that song was a form of letting people know you were there, as in mothers cooing to their babies while grazing. That's a really pleasant idea to me, but I believe it's far more complex than that and music/sound can't be simplified down to a single evolutionary cause. As someone who loves sound is all it's glorious forms it's distasteful to me. Why would I be content to play the piano to only myself all day if it were something as base as for getting a better mate? It goes way deeper than that.

> the question is, why do human express themselves through music in first place, or through smiling? Why not express themselves through cartwheeling instead?

Humans do express themselves through cartwheeling, they aren't mutually exclusive.

>Hm, then why did I start learning the piano at age 6?

Because your parents made you.

If you had made the decision to learn an instrument yourself, later in life, chances are "mating display" would play a huge role in that, and that the instrument would have been a guitar. Can't argue with statistics.

Are you all assuming I'm a guy? Geez, there are really of lot of typical assumptions made here perhaps all based on pop/rock music (which I still think isn't so clearcut). I'm a trained classical pianist, which is usually something done by children well before the consideration of finding a mate is even part of the psyche and I insist that it took quite a matter to convince my parents that I was committed - not every classical musician comes from a middle class family and some of us had to work hard to achieve what we did. There is something extraordinary and powerful about playing and writing music, deeper in the way it affects me than anything else - and I love programming for the results-oriented buzz you get but when you play/write music? It's like getting right up close to the universe. This is a really personal issue for me and it's hard to think that people are looking at musicians on stage thinking it's a simple matter of fluffing their wings.

Kim Gordon had a fantastic quote: "People pay to see others believe in themselves." http://www.amazon.com/Lipstick-Traces-History-Twentieth-Anni...