October 1 marks International Music Day. Discover the history of the celebration, the role of Yehudi Menuhin, the world’s oldest musical instruments, scientific facts about music, and a special message from Minatrix.FM.
October 1 is celebrated around the world as International Music Day — a day dedicated to composers and performers, DJs and producers, musicians and sound engineers, music journalists, radio hosts and, of course, millions of listeners. This day is especially meaningful to Minatrix.FM: music exists not only because of those who create it, but also because of the people who continue to discover it, listen to it, discuss it and share it with others.
Music has been part of human life for far longer than writing, modern states and many of the art forms we know today. Over thousands of years, instruments, notation systems, genres and technologies for distributing music have changed dramatically, yet the human desire to create music has never disappeared.
Today, it takes only a few seconds to hear a track by an artist from another continent. But the journey from ancient bone flutes to digital streaming has taken tens of thousands of years.
Why International Music Day is celebrated on October 1
The story of the celebration begins with the International Music Council (IMC).
The Council was founded in 1949 with the support of UNESCO as an international organisation dedicated to promoting cooperation in the field of music and strengthening connections between people and cultures through music.
The idea of establishing a dedicated International Music Day came much later. At the 15th General Assembly of the IMC, held in Lausanne in 1973, a resolution establishing the celebration was adopted.
The first International Music Day was held on October 1, 1975. One of the key figures behind the initiative was the renowned violinist and conductor Yehudi Menuhin, who served as President of the International Music Council from 1969 to 1975.
In a letter sent to IMC members ahead of the first celebration, Menuhin and the organisation’s Vice-President Boris Yarustovsky outlined its main goals: to make music more accessible to different parts of society, encourage cultural exchange between countries, and use music as a means of promoting mutual respect, friendship and peace.
Suggested activities included concerts, meetings with composers and musicians, exhibitions of musical instruments and recordings, lectures, radio and television programmes, and creative competitions.
More than half a century later, these ideas have lost virtually none of their relevance.
Music existed long before modern civilisation
We may never know when humans first began consciously creating music. The voice, clapping and percussion instruments made of wood may have been used long before objects capable of surviving underground for tens of thousands of years appeared.
Archaeology, however, provides evidence that a developed musical culture already existed among early Homo sapiens.
In caves in the Swabian Jura region of present-day Germany, archaeologists discovered flutes made from bird bones and mammoth ivory. Research into these finds has shown that the tradition of making such instruments existed more than 35,000 years ago, while some discoveries from the region date back to approximately 40,000 years ago.
These were not simply objects that happened to produce sound. They were deliberately crafted musical instruments with finger holes designed to change pitch.
This means that music was already part of human life during the Upper Paleolithic — long before the emergence of cities, writing and agricultural states.
Some ancient instruments can still be played today
Another remarkable discovery was made at the Neolithic settlement of Jiahu in China’s Henan Province.
Several flutes dating back around 9,000 years were discovered there, made from the bones of red-crowned cranes. Some of these instruments were preserved so well that researchers were able to play them and analyse their tuning.
The flutes have five, six, seven or eight holes, suggesting that their makers already understood how to organise pitches deliberately.
This is particularly fascinating from the perspective of music history: the human desire to turn individual sounds into an organised musical system appeared thousands of years before the development of the forms of musical notation we know today.
Music really does exist in virtually every culture
The phrase “music is the universal language of humanity” is often treated as a beautiful metaphor. Modern research, however, suggests that there is a substantial scientific basis behind the idea.
In a large-scale research project, scientists examined musical practices across a wide range of human societies and concluded that songs are found virtually everywhere, even though the musical systems used by different cultures can vary considerably.
Researchers also identified recurring relationships between certain musical characteristics and their social functions. Lullabies, dance music and songs associated with particular rituals, for example, contain characteristics that listeners can sometimes recognise even when they are completely unfamiliar with the culture in which the music originated.
This does not mean that there is a single “universal musical grammar”. Rather, research suggests that making music is an exceptionally persistent feature of human culture.
Why your favourite song can trigger such powerful emotions
Musical emotion is more than just a figure of speech.
In a study published in Nature Neuroscience, researchers used positron emission tomography and detected the release of endogenous dopamine within the brain’s reward system during particularly intense emotional experiences caused by music.
Interestingly, this response is not limited to the moment of musical climax itself. Different parts of the reward system were involved both in anticipating a favourite musical moment and in experiencing the emotional peak itself.
This may help explain why a familiar track can build excitement even before a favourite chord, vocal passage or drop arrives. The listener already knows what is about to happen, yet still experiences pleasure from the anticipation.
Music has a remarkable connection with memory
Almost everyone has experienced the moment when just a few seconds of an old song suddenly bring back details from a particular period of life: a place, certain people, a mood or events that had not been thought about for years.
The relationship between music and autobiographical memory is also an active area of research in neuropsychology.
A systematic review of scientific studies found that familiar music can evoke autobiographical memories, and that memories triggered by music have a number of distinctive characteristics.
Research involving people with Alzheimer’s disease is particularly interesting. Studies suggest that certain forms of musical memory and emotional responses to music may remain partially preserved even when other types of memory are significantly impaired.
However, it is important not to turn this finding into the popular myth that “musical memory remains completely intact in Alzheimer’s disease”. The scientific picture is much more complex: different forms of musical memory can be affected in different ways, and results vary depending on the stage of the disease and the nature of the task.
Nevertheless, the unique relationship between music, emotion and memory makes this one of the most fascinating areas of modern neuroscience.
From bone flutes to billions of digital recordings
One of the most remarkable aspects of music history is not only the evolution of musical styles, but also the transformation of the ways in which music exists and reaches its audience.
There was a time when a piece of music could only be heard where the performer was physically present. Then came systems of musical notation, printed sheet music, mechanical devices, the phonograph, records, magnetic tape, radio, compact discs, digital audio files and, eventually, streaming.
Radio made it possible for a single performance to reach a vast audience simultaneously, with listeners located hundreds or even thousands of kilometres away from the musician.
The Internet took this transformation even further: geographical distance became almost irrelevant.
Today, an independent musician can record a track in a home studio and make it available to listeners in different countries almost immediately. At the same time, audiences have access to a volume of music that would have been almost unimaginable only a few decades ago.
But greater accessibility has also created a new challenge — being heard among an enormous number of other releases.
That is why today’s music ecosystem depends on far more than musicians alone. It is shaped by DJs, radio stations, music editors, labels, producers, journalists, playlist curators, music-platform developers and the listeners themselves, who discover interesting tracks and recommend them to others.
Music never stops changing — and that is its strength
Almost every generation has heard someone claim that “music used to be real”.
History, however, tells a different story: music has always evolved through experimentation.
The arrival of the electric guitar transformed popular music. Synthesizers were initially regarded as unusual electronic instruments before becoming fundamental to countless genres. Drum machines and samplers played an important role in the development of hip-hop, house, techno and many other forms of electronic music.
The computer itself eventually became a complete music studio.
Today, algorithmic technologies and artificial intelligence have joined these creative tools, generating new debates about authorship, creativity and the role of human artists.
The ways in which music is created will probably look very different again a few decades from now. But history gives us good reason to believe that the human need to create sound, share it and use it to form emotional connections with others will remain.
Happy International Music Day!
The Minatrix.FM team congratulates musicians, vocalists, composers, songwriters, DJs, producers, sound engineers, radio hosts, representatives of record labels and music projects — and everyone who simply cannot imagine life without music.
We would especially like to celebrate independent artists.
It is thanks to people who keep recording their first tracks, experimenting with sound, going on air, playing their first DJ sets and releasing music even without the backing of a major label or a huge promotional budget that music culture continues to evolve.
And to all listeners, we have one simple wish — never stop discovering new music.
Sometimes a track you had never even heard of yesterday becomes part of your life for years to come.
Happy International Music Day!
May there always be more great tracks, bold musical ideas, talented independent artists, genuine emotions and those special songs that make you want to turn up the volume within the first few seconds.
Minatrix.FM — music brings us together.
