What is music? This is a matter of opinion, with many opinions. The author believes that music is a sound art rather than a visual or other sensory art. The art of organizing musical sounds (sometimes noise is also used appropriately) according to certain rules to make people feel beautiful when listening to it is called music. The origin of music in human society can be traced back to the very ancient prehistoric times. Before humans had language, they already knew how to use the pitch, strength, etc. of sounds to express their thoughts and feelings. With the development of human labor, chants to unify the rhythm of labor and shouts to convey information to each other gradually emerged. This is the most primitive prototype of music. When people celebrate harvests and share the fruits of labor, they often beat stone and wooden tools to express their feelings. Joy, joy, this is the prototype of the original musical instrument. How was music invented? a. The legend of the origin of string instruments Mercury is the messenger of the gods in Greek mythology. One day he was walking along the Nile River and accidentally stepped on something that made a wonderful sound. He picked it up and saw that it was an empty turtle shell with a dry tendon attached to the inside. So Mercury was inspired by it and invented the stringed instrument. Later generations have verified that string instruments appeared before Mercury, but the invention of string instruments may have been inspired by this. b. The legend of the origin of wind instruments In ancient China, during the Yellow Emperor's period five thousand years ago, there was a musician named Ling Lun. Legend has it that he went into the Kunlun Mountains in the west to collect bamboo for flutes. At that time, there happened to be five phoenixes flying in the sky, and he made laws according to their sounds. Although this legend is not completely credible, it is not a bad idea to regard it as the origin of wind instruments. It can be said that the working life of human beings in the primitive era developed and developed in the company of music, and the two are closely linked. In this sense, music is produced directly from human labor life. c. The product of "opposite-sex courtship" Regarding the origin of music, scientists call it the product of "opposite-sex courtship." This statement was put forward by the famous British biologist Darwin. This theory was a sensation at the time. Darwin believed that prehistoric animals often used chirps to woo the opposite sex. The more beautiful their voices are, the more they can attract the opposite sex, so animals make graceful and beautiful sounds one after another to win each other's favor. This kind of sound. In particular, the songs of birds already have musical or rhythmic elements. Therefore, Darwin associated this with the origin of music and believed that sound existed before the emergence of language. The songs of some ethnic groups among primitive tribes imitate the calls, moving chirps, and ups and downs of melody of various birds, thus forming beautiful folk songs that have been sung for centuries.