The Birth of Music

By TED ROBERTS, the SCRIBBLER ON THE ROOF

Well, it was the end of the sixth day. The job was done. Finished. So, He rested. What a beautiful world He had made. And not surprisingly everything worked. His laws of physics, gravity, and nature meshed as neatly as the heaven and earth and oceans.

But these weren’t His main concerns. It was that last two-legged mammal that disturbed His desire for perfection. Had He properly designed the human heart with enough survivalism balanced by enough love to make the creature walk in His ways? There must be a harmony of love and survival. A little trickier than carving the Himalayas.

Could Adam see and resist evil? To do so he must carry this balance within him. But of equal consequence, would he climb the banana tree and give the last banana to a hungry, hairy monkey, his kinsman? Not good for perpetuating His species, a scheme the Creator had hardwired into all creatures – except this new, human replica of Himself. Who could picture a wolf passing a tasty squirrel to an emaciated young tiger cub?

Too much “kindness” upset the balance of species. Some would simply disappear. Better not breathe that rulebook into their breed. Let the stronger prevail – the more likely to continue the species.

The Lord looked down at His creation and listened thoughtfully to the chattering, bellowing, and yapping of the beasts, as well as the bickering of the world’s first newlyweds. Eve was shouting that Adam should sweep out the cave. “Unclean, unclean, unclean,” she was hollering. She was only one day old, so her store of words was limited – limited to under a dozen. She most often used “unclean” and “let’s eat”. Adam, with his head start in life had a fatter vocabulary, but he only repeated a single word, “No, no, no”.

The Lord was appalled. The chatter from his multi-creatured world was disturbing. Something was missing. Sweet, soothing sounds of beauty – melodies, like the music that came from the birds. That was the answer.

Thereupon, HE struck Adam with a flash of inspiration – He put a song in his new, empty but spacious head. A song! Music – like the newly made nightingale sang. Musical notes in a pleasing sequence. But the winged creatures listened in envy to Adam. Even the rodents scratching around the cave stopped and listened. What new adornment to Eden was this? Were not sun, moon, and stars, lush greenery, silver streams, and trees heavy with sweet fruit enough? Adam smiled to see Eves anger melt away – replaced by a smile. The song, long sought by biblical scholars is still unidentified. But most researchers have ruled out the rock and roll category.

Eve stopped her plea in mid sentence. What was that melodious sound? Unlike Adam’s poorly chosen words, it touched her soul – a magic elixir. It calmed and relaxed her like the fermented grapes she had earlier discovered and tasted. The dispute dissolved and they embraced. A magic moment, music was born. And the all-wise Creator immediately foresaw its tranquilizing effect on a contentious creation necessarily founded on survival.

There had to be a balm that soothed the verbal and physical encounters of the multitudinous two-legged species that would flow from the embrace in the cave. Eve was happy. What harm in a little dust and a few sticks and stones? “Thanks for the rib,” she whispered in Ada’s ear. And Adam waved a fond goodbye as he departed to swing from the trees of Eden with the apes. Music had drowned with sweet sound the first human quarrel. Adam and a gazillion descendants never forgot that lesson. Thank you, Sir, for that most valuable of gifts. It even beats the splendor of starlit nights and windy Spring days.