Music is very much at the heart of what it is that makes us human. While there is debate over precisely why we first started making music – with leading theories arguing that it arose for purposes of hunting, communication, spiritual practice and forging community bonds – what’s not debated is that music-making is something we pour ourselves deeply into, forging intimate relationships with our instruments.
The Met’s compelling new exhibition Musical Bodies looks at 4,000 years of musical history, teasing out the complex web of interrelationships between the sounds made through human bodies and the many instruments we have used to alter and augment those sounds. From singing, whistling and bodily percussion to a vast array of constructed objects, the show is a rich exploration of how our musical identities contribute to the notion of what it is to be human.
