Origins of Music
BCS 260
But first a few announcements (1)
Ê Any new students today?
Ê Get syllabus from me after class (or Blackboard)
Ê Download first set of slides to catch up
Ê Elizabeth’s (TA) office hours: Mon 11-12, Meliora 242
Ê First 8 class introductions now (name, year, major,
instrument if any)
Ê End of class: our 1st “split” lecture (experiment design)
Music and evolution
Ê How and why did music originate? How does it fit in with
human evolution?
Ê Perhaps an odd topic to start with: very speculative – we
don’t really know the answers (and perhaps never will!)
Ê But the textbook starts with it, so we will too
Ê And it gets us thinking about big questions that we’ll come
back to throughout the semester.
Ê We’ll look at the views of a number of prominent scholars
(no need to learn all their names)
Evolutionary theory states….
Ê Any species will naturally change over time, due to
differential survival rates and reproductive rates, and
also to random change (mutation)
Ê The traits that are optimal for survival ( e.g., that
improve ability to cope with challenges in the
environment) survive and are passed down to next
generations through heredity
Ê An advantageous trait that survives in the species is an
evolutionary adaptation.
Adaptations are…
Ê Traits that are common in a population because they:
provide some improved function,
Ê solved problems of survival or reproduction by
ancestral populations;
Ê have modern functions equivalent to those for which
they were originally selected.
Ê
Ê Examples: mimicry of leaves in insect species (katydid);
echolocation in bats to navigate and find food
Adaptive processes: Natural and
Sexual Selection
Ê Natural selection promotes survival
Ê Ability to acquire food, avoid predators
Ê Ability to withstand extreme temperature
Ê Things like hysical strength, agility, speed
Ê Sexual selection promotes reproduction
Ê Animals carrying traits reproduce and pass on genes
Ê Ability to attract mates (peacock display, bird song)
Ê Advertise fitness to reproduce
What does it take for a trait to qualify
as an adaptation?
Ê Heritable – innate, must be encoded genetically
Ê Adaptive – it increases the species’ ability to survive
(natural selection) or reproduce (sexual selection)
Ê Current function – today’s function arose when the trait
arose, and still functions that way
Ê (Sometimes a trait’s current function may differ from its
original one - e.g. wings evolved for warmth rather than
for flight)
Big evolutionary questions:
Ê Is music an evolutionary adaptation? If so,
Ê Is it a product of natural selection?
Ê How can music improve survival?
Ê Sexual selection? How might it attract mates?
Ê Think/pair/share – can you come up with some
arguments for or against music as an
adaptation?
Ê Heritable, adaptive function (survival or for mating),
serving same function now?
Three broad possibilities
Ê Music is an adaptation – it evolved because it
benefits our survival / reproduction
Ê Music emerged out of earlier adaptations, but
has its own adaptive value
Ê Music is not adaptive at all.
Ê All three alternatives have been argued for.
Thompson’s arguments in support of
music as an adaptation
Ê Heritability: Some music abilities are innate (e.g.,
relative-pitch processing, beat induction)
Ê Complexity: Music’s level of complexity suggest that is
not solely culturally determined, but “pre-wired”
Ê Brain structure: Brain specialization for music that is
inherited shown through modular cognitive structure
(e.g., language may be impaired, but music retained)
Ê Archeological evidence: bone flutes 37,000 years ago;
singing precedes instrumental music (older)
How might music be an adaptation?
Ê Natural selection or sexual selection
Ê Many authors have discussed, but there is little
agreement
Darwin
Ê Charles Darwin (1809-1882):
Ê On the Origin of Species (1859)
Ê The Descent of Man (1871)
Ê Music is a human universal, present “in men of all races,
even the most savage.”
Ê Darwin believed early vocal communication was more
similar to song than to modern speech: a “proto-language”
Ê In Darwin’s view, did music originate through natural or
sexual selection?
Darwin argued for sexual selection
Ê “Music” in animals is used to attract mates
Ê Male animals vocalize in breeding season
Ê Sexually dimorphic trait
Ê E.g. male birds sing; male peacocks
Ê Ability to sing:
Ê Shows fitness, physical prowess
Ê May ward off other competitors
Ê How could we test Darwin’s theory?
Tecumseh Fitch on testing
Darwin’s theory
Ê Could look for demonstrations across cultures that
skilled musicians have greater reproductive success
Ê Web survey about sex habits (musician/nonmusician)
Ê Collect data on famous musicians & no. of offspring
Ê Run experiments where subjects rate attractiveness
of the opposite sex in videos
Ê Musicians (performing) vs non-musicians
Ê Confounds to this design?
Ê He concludes: No empirical evidence
Four arguments for natural selection:
how music aids survival
Ê (1) Nurturing social bonds (Robin Dunbar, David Huron)
Ê In primates, group cohesion fostered by grooming
Ê As groups got too large, developed vocal grooming
Ê Single vocalizer “services” multiple listeners
Ê (2) Training coordinated movement (dancing,
clapping) (Fitch)
Ê Benefits hunting, herding, group defense
Dunbar
Huron
Music and natural selection
Ê (3) Enhancing cognitive, social skills (Ian Cross)
Ê Infants use music to learn cooperation, coordination,
focused attention, pattern detection, ability to anticipate
Ê Music is “transposable” (may function in different
contexts) - different from birdsong, which is tied to
specific functions
Cross
Music and natural selection
Ê (4) Promoting emotional conjoinment (Ellen Dissanayake)
Ê Babies are born before developmentally ready
Ê Problem of human childbirth: large head, small birth canal
Ê Brain is not fully formed, extended care-giving needed
Ê Music during care-giving (singing, rhythmic activity)
promotes emotional attachment between
mother and infant
Ê
Dissanayke
In support of emotional conjoinment:
cross-cultural studies
Ê Sandra Trehub notes use of lullabies across cultures
Ê Also play songs – used for arousal, attention, mother-
infant bond, development of various cognitive skills
Ê Similar to Dunbar’s “vocal grooming” hypothesis
Ê We’ll return to Trehub in Development unit:
Ê Evidence music perception abilities are innate
Ê Preference of consonance over dissonance
Ê Infants prefer to listen to song over speech
Emotional conjoinment and lullabies
To be continued…
Ê If music is not an adaptation, how might that have
happened?
Ê How can we use experimental means to “test”
evolutionary theories?
To be continued…
Ê For THURSDAY, two readings (Blackboard reserves):
Ê McDermott & Hauser (experiment with monkeys)
Ê Pinker (thinks music is not an adaptation)
Ê Stats review optional: Windsor (2004)
Ê Be ready to discuss McD & H: How is the
experiment designed?
Ê Controls? Results? Conclusions for evolution?
End of class / split session
Ê Do you know these terms?
Ê null hypothesis
Ê independent variable
Ê confound
Ê If not, stay for introduction to experimental
design