What is music for? What is its purpose or function? Where does it come from and why? According to American philosopher Susanne Langer music is a language for expressing one's "knowledge of feeling", but that doesn't seem very satisfactory. Perhaps like the tail of the peacock music is a "secondary sexual characteristic", which might explain why musicians supposedly find mates more easily. But that explanation seems to omit everything that makes music an important part of our culture. This group will discuss these questions and try to find answers. Related topics include the neurophysiology of musical creation, performance, and listening, and music itself -- pieces, performers, places, and, obviously purpose. Discussion on all these topics will be welcomed, and please suggest others. If any subtopic or related topic gets out-of-hand, it will become a new group of its own.