Music? What music?

I had some music blasting in my living room the other day, and I was freely enjoying the composition of sounds when my cat sauntered through the room, making absolutely no sign of recognition that there was anything, any sound, different. I picked him up and held him close to a speaker and still there was no reaction other than that which he normally gives as he doesn't like to be picked up.

I don't think this is unusual behavior for cats (all animals?) and it got me to thinking that perhaps music, the creating and the understanding of and the appreciation of, is what sets man apart from the animal kingdom.

Why is it that an animal that can hear and recognize the distinct "pfft" as the opening of a can of cat food from the complete opposite end of the house, can make no recognition to a blend of music notes? Even my children practicing their piano doesn't make the cat react (and I mention this not because the music is 'bad' necessarily, but for the fact that it is live music, rather than recorded). What is it, then, that puts music apart from other sounds for the animals? Is it, perhaps, too many sounds all at once and so it is ignored?

Do dogs react differently to music? I'm thinking of fictional accounts, such as the recent Harry Potter series, in which at one point during one of the books (I forget which), to get past a nasty three headed dog (I did say this was fiction), music would put the dog to sleep.

William Congreve's often mis-quoted quote "Music hath charms to soothe the savage breast" is often used to suggest that wild animals can be calmed with music, but the quote itself, from his play The Mourning Bride is actually used in reference to an inanimate world, and in question, rather than an actual, statement of fact. Here is the entire character's line:

Musick has Charms to sooth a savage Breast, To soften Rocks, or bend a knotted Oak. I've read, that things inanimate have mov'd, And, as with living Souls, have been inform'd, By Magick Numbers and persuasive Sound. What then am I? Am I more senseless grown Than Trees, or Flint? O force of constant Woe! 'Tis not in Harmony to calm my Griefs. Anselmo sleeps, and is at Peace; last Night The silent Tomb receiv'd the good Old King; He and his Sorrows now are safely lodg'd Within its cold, but hospitable Bosom. Why am not I at Peace?

And so, to continue with my thoughts, why don't animals (or my cat leastwise) recognize or appreciate music? Is it, as I suggested, too many sounds at once, conflicting for an animal's attention?

Why do humans enjoy music so much that we often have it playing as background for our daily lives, yet animals seem to not even notice its existence?