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Evolution, Biology & Music |
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A theory exists that music does not exist simply for our enjoyment, but rather it has an evolutionary and biological origin. |
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In order to discover the evolutionary origins of a human behavior or capacity, we must look to our closest non-human relatives, the chimpanzees. There are several significant aspects of chimpanzee society and behavior that can be correlated to human society and behavior. First, chimpanzees live in groups, that is they are social animals like human beings. Second, the groups stake out a fairly specific territory, and third, the territories of different groups are usually adjacent. This grouping pattern is mirrored in primitive and contemporary human societies in living arrangements such as tribes and present day countries. Fourth, a stranger wandering into the wrong territory is likely to be attacked and perhaps severely injured. Fifth, given adequate territory for each group, it is in everyone's interest not to provoke aggression by straying into the wrong area. When a neighboring country is hostile, humans are keenly aware of their borders and the activities that occur close it. Sixth, in chimpanzee habitats, one cannot count on knowing the exact boundaries by sight, so it is better to know where the members of the strange group are. Seventh, again because of the dense vegetation, one can't count on seeing one's neighbors. Eighth, chimpanzees can locate another group by listening for their vocalizations. Vocalizations serve to keep potentially warring bands from stumbling into each other. |
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The one thing that brings groups of chimpanzees together is crossbreeding. Male chimpanzees vocalize to attract females. It may be hard for the vocalization of one chimpanzee to be loud enough to catch the attention of a female from another group, but if several males "sing" in chorus, they have better odds of being heard and attracting females. There is an evolutionary advantage and pressure for males to sing together. The musical ability and behavior of Homo Sapiens originally evolved as an advantageous reproductive strategy in the ancestors of humans and chimpanzees. Human females are attracted to and choose human male mates that make music. Those males who are musical have a greater chance of reproducing. |
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Biologically speaking, there is evidence that children have the capabilities of appreciating music and expressing themselves musically at a very early age. The apparent universality of music supports the biological origin of music because behaviors that are closely linked to biology have universality as one of their criterion. Also, very young children display musical behaviors and capabilities before cultural influences have a chance to shape them. Studies have shown these musical abilities in infants and neonates and perhaps even babies in the prenatal stage. There is evidence that babies can hear music inside their mother's womb. Other studies have shown that infants display musical abilities that are similar to adults'. A few examples are: they discriminate differences between similar notes; infants perceive and remember melodic contour, thus using an adult like listening strategy of attending to global pitch relationships rather that the detailed notes themselves; infants, like adults, also mentally segment sequences of sound into "chunks"; infants can recognize melodies independently of tempo, and detect changes in rhythm. The "musical infant" not only exists, but it is the normal human infant. Additional evidence also reveals that the building blocks of music are specialized and processed in different parts of the brain. Studies of people with brain damage exhibit impairments of certain aspects of music, such as the discrimination of rhythm, while other musical aspects remained intact, such as the discrimination of melody. Research on children has shown children imitate musical phrases and songs. They are even able to compose and perform their own fairly complex songs, not miniature adult songs. |
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Questions? Comments? Write to kyoshi@mail.utexas.edu |
