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Podcast: Life Examined
Episode: The human history and relationship to music
Description: Music has always played an important role in cultures across the globe and across the millenia. The discovery of a 40,000-year-old bone flute in a German cave showed that hominids, our prehistoric ancestors, could use a tool to produce sound. Technology continues to impact the history and evolution of music, from the lyres depicted in the art of ancient Greece to the orchestras, synthesizers, and electronics used today. Music professor and author Michael Spitzer traces our history of and relationship to music, and tracks the impact music has had on our lives, from Mozart and jazz to Beyonce and hi...