The list of music festivals seems to double each year, so we think we’d save you some time by presenting our picks that reflect a deep sense of place.

New Orleans Jazz Festival

This week-long festival was established in New Orleans, America in 1970 to celebrate the city’s status as the birthplace of jazz. Headliners that attended the first celebration included singer Mahalia Jackson and pianist Duke Ellington. Over the years, this festival has grown to showcase much more than jazz. Attendees have long enjoyed the latest hit-makers alongside booths and exhibits featuring Louisiana’s native cuisine, arts, and crafts.

Newport Folk Festival

Founded by George Wein in 1959 and best known for introducing the world to the likes of Joan Baez and Bob Dylan, Newport Folk Festival is one of the oldest music festivals in America. Like New Orleans Jazz Festival, this Rhode Island event gives a false impression about the types of music one can expect to find, although it has been remaining true to its roots.

Interceltic Festival

When most people hear the word “Celtic”, they think of Ireland. But this festival takes place each summer in the heart of the seaport town of Lorient in northwestern France. While emphasizing music and dance, the ten-day festival also provides a platform for colorful expressions of Celtic art, food and drink, theater, literature, and sports.

Roskilde Music Festival

England’s Glastonbury, Hungary’s Sziget, and Denmark’s Roskilde are Europe’s three biggest music festivals. Roskilde stands out not only for its impressive and eclectic music, but for its nonprofit approach. All concert incomes are donated to support charities, music and cultural programs since its founding in 1971. With lake swimming, an on-site skate park, and an annual “naked run”, the event has earned a name for being a week-long summer camp for adults.

Where Did Music Come From?

Look anywhere and you’ll find music. Without a single exception, every culture produces some form of it. Yet music’s origin remains one of the great secrets of human history.

The oldest known instruments are 42,000-year-old bone flutes discovered in caves in Germany. Music surely appeared earlier, but the problem is that music doesn’t fossilize and our brains don’t fossilize. With little hard evidence, scientists still discuss what evolutionary purpose music serves or whether it serves any purpose at all.

For many years, music researchers have more or less settled into two camps: those who believe the evolution of music is a biological adaptation, and those who believe it’s a cultural invention. In the latter argument, the music we love dearly is no more than “auditory cheesecake”, as evolutionary scientist Steven Pinker said. Rather than a biological adaptation in its own right, music is a pleasing byproduct of other adaptations, like language. “As far as biological cause and effect are concerned, music is useless,” Pinker said. “Music could disappear from our mankind and the rest of our lifestyle would be absolutely unchanged.”

Some found this conclusion too dismissive. After all, the capacity to make and enjoy music seems rooted in each of us, just like other valuable adaptations. “These days music is a profession, but even ordinary people who never had a music lesson have implicit knowledge of the structure of the music of their culture,” says Sandra Trehub, a scientist at the University of Toronto. What’s more, Trehub studies music sense in babies. They are strongly attracted to music, and they can even remember music months after hearing it. “You see these amazing abilities,” she says, “and you have to think that there is a biological foundation for it.”

That doesn’t necessarily mean we evolved that foundation for music, but many scientists have offered explanations for why we might have. Some argue music is a system for social relationships, helping us to exist together in united, well-functioning groups. Another possibility is that music originates from the relaxing sounds parents make to communicate with babies. Some researchers even argue that the earliest form of music may have given rise to language itself. Others think that music and language share a common ancestor.

Some have sought a way around the adaptation-invention difference. A musicologist Savage and his group tell the difference between music (a cultural product) and musicality (a biological foundation that allows us to create and appreciate music). This alone doesn’t explain the final origin of music, but it does allow room for both nature and nurture. They suggest that cultural music and biological musicality have developed together, in a kind of “gene-culture evolution”.

Generations of parents have told their children to practice their musical instruments. They have good reason for it: learning an instrument is not only associated with better educational attainment but also cognition (认知) and even intelligence scores in children. But does this musicality translate to better cognition (thinking) later in life?

A recent study showed that musical people had better memory and executive (决策的) function than those with less or no musicality. This makes sense as continued engagement in cognitively stimulating activities, such as playing an instrument, should result in continued brain health benefits.

Singing is a very popular musical activity as it allows joining musical groups, such as choirs. But does singing provide the same cognitive benefit as playing an instrument? According to the study, singing can result in better executive function but not memory, suggesting that playing an instrument has additional brain health benefits. However, when singing is done in choirs, there is good evidence that being engaged in social activity is good for our brain health.

Many people might remember the famous “Mozart Effect”, which was based on a 1993 study showing that when students were played Mozart, they scored higher on intelligence tests. Sadly, the current study found having played the recorder for three years at primary school might not have that big an impact on our cognitive performance. So, passively listening to music doesn’t seem to provide any cognitive benefits.

Playing an instrument or singing seems to have benefits to our brain health in aging, according to the study. What is yet to be established is whether this would also help prevent future cognitive decline or dementia. Still, considering the overall cognitive and social benefits of learning an instrument or singing in a choir, it might be worth engaging in such cognitive stimulation as we age. Our parents would be proud of us.