I want to add some direct quotes from Nicholas Wades’ book The Faith Instinct that impressed me greatly in relation to the origins of what we call arts today. In chapter 4 he writes,
“In the ancestral religion of hunter gatherers, people bound their communities together in emotionally compelling dramas of music, chant and dusk-to-dawn dances. The marathon rituals ended for some in exhaustion, for others in a state of range that open-end door, for them and their community, between this world and that of the supernatural.”
…”Humans have a sound and gestural repertoire analogous to that of chimpanzees but in addition have developed three other modes of social communication. These are very relevant to understanding the evolution of religious behavior, which makes use of all three. They are dance, music, and language.
Dance and music should in many respects be considered together because, in many cultures, they seem to be inseparable. Both are found universally. Among hunter gatherers, one cannot dance without music, and if there is music there is dance. Some cultures use the same word for both. Among the Blackfoot Indians the principal word for music, saapup, means singing, dance and ceremony all rolled into one. The Ancient Greek word mousikē, from which the English word music is derived, means any art over which the Muses presided, hence included dance, music and recited poetry.”
Music and poetry today is largely considered something that comes from the imagination and brain of a specifically gifted individual and it is his self-expression. Yet this is a very modern understanding of art, or at least an understanding of a highly civilized urban society. I find it interesting that in the ancient religions still only certain people fell into trances, yet the whole activity was considered a communal experience that connected them together with supernatural entities.
Art and the Invisible 