The concept of Octaves (as a lot of concepts in music) comes from physics. Because one of the most basic instruments you can have is a string under tension.
Pluck the string: note
Pluck the same string pinched in the middle: same note one octave higher
Not to mention Note + Note(octave higher) will have the harmonics overlapping, so it will sound better since there won't be any beating.
Your mind wants it to be simple. I heard of some country guitarists that de-tune their strings on purpose to get more chord richness. "Better" is in the ear of the auditor.
> so it will sound better since there won't be any beating
Unless presence or absence of beating is itself either a thing we learn to detect, or a thing we learn to associate with better-ness or worse-ness, rather than both being innate?
> Because one of the most basic instruments you can have is a string under tension.
I guess percussion instruments are even more basic. Just a piece of wood or of metal with a random shape. For percussion instruments (unless they are laboriously tuned to be harmonic), the octave is nothing special.
The concept of Octaves (as a lot of concepts in music) comes from physics. Because one of the most basic instruments you can have is a string under tension.
Pluck the string: note
Pluck the same string pinched in the middle: same note one octave higher
Not to mention Note + Note(octave higher) will have the harmonics overlapping, so it will sound better since there won't be any beating.