Untitled

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One contribution of 12 to a theme issue 'Biology, cognition and origins of musicality'. Musical behaviours are universal across human populations and, at the same time, highly diverse in their structures, roles and cultural interpretations. Although laboratory studies of isolated listeners and music-makers have yielded important insights into sensorimotor and cognitive skills and their neural underpinnings, they have revealed little about the broader significance of music for individuals, peer groups and communities. This review presents a sampling of musical forms and coordinated musical activity across cultures, with the aim of highlighting key similarities and differences. The focus is on scholarly and everyday ideas about music-what it is and where it originates-as well the antiquity of music and the contribution of musical behaviour to ritual activity, social organization, caregiving and group cohesion. Synchronous arousal, action synchrony and imitative behaviours are among the means by which music facilitates social bonding. The commonalities and differences in musical forms and functions across cultures suggest new directions for ethnomusicology, music cognition and neuroscience, and a pivot away from the predominant scientific focus on instrumental music in the Western European tradition.

Section: (D) the Antiquity Of Musical Activitiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Cross-cultural perspectives on music and musicality

Trehub

Becker

Morley

2015

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“…The finer resolution of the archaeological and palaeontological records points to the multiple character of transitions (Foley & Lahr 1997;Foley 2005), a feature that is obscured in earlier examples (figure 3a). Evidence exists for the exploitation of aquatic resources, more specialized hunting behaviour, greater use of complex technology, the appearance of symbolic material culture as well as massive demographic growth (d'Errico et al 2003;Marean et al 2007;Atkinson et al 2008).…”

Section: Key Transitions In Human Evolutionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The ecology of social transitions in human evolution

Foley

Gamble

2009

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We know that there are fundamental differences between humans and living apes, and also between living humans and their extinct relatives. It is also probably the case that the most significant and divergent of these differences relate to our social behaviour and its underlying cognition, as much as to fundamental differences in physiology, biochemistry or anatomy. In this paper, we first attempt to demarcate what are the principal differences between human and other societies in terms of social structure, organization and relationships, so that we can identify what derived features require explanation. We then consider the evidence of the archaeological and fossil record, to determine the most probable context in time and taxonomy, of these evolutionary trends. Finally, we attempt to link five major transitional points in hominin evolution to the selective context in which they occurred, and to use the principles of behavioural ecology to understand their ecological basis. Critical changes in human social organization relate to the development of a larger scale of fission and fusion; the development of a greater degree of nested substructures within the human community; and the development of intercommunity networks. The underlying model that we develop is that the evolution of 'human society' is underpinned by ecological factors, but these are influenced as much by technological and behavioural innovations as external environmental change.

“…The evaluation of evolutionary hypotheses is difficult, as has been reviewed by others [1,22,26]. Musical behaviour does have a number of features consistent with the idea that it was in part an evolutionary adaptation, such as an ancient origin (bone flutes date to at least 36 000 years ago and vocal music probably much earlier [27,28]), universality across human cultures, early ontogenetic emergence without formal instruction, similarities (as well as variations of course) in pitch and rhythmic structures across musical systems, connections between auditory rhythms and entrained movement across cultures, the universal proclivity to respond emotionally to music, and use in ritual and social engagement across societies (e.g. [4,5,7,11]).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The origins of music in auditory scene analysis and the roles of evolution and culture in musical creation

Trainor

2015

Whether music was an evolutionary adaptation that conferred survival advantages or a cultural creation has generated much debate. Consistent with an evolutionary hypothesis, music is unique to humans, emerges early in development and is universal across societies. However, the adaptive benefit of music is far from obvious. Music is highly flexible, generative and changes rapidly over time, consistent with a cultural creation hypothesis. In this paper, it is proposed that much of musical pitch and timing structure adapted to preexisting features of auditory processing that evolved for auditory scene analysis (ASA). Thus, music may have emerged initially as a cultural creation made possible by preexisting adaptations for ASA. However, some aspects of music, such as its emotional and social power, may have subsequently proved beneficial for survival and led to adaptations that enhanced musical behaviour. Ontogenetic and phylogenetic evidence is considered in this regard. In particular, enhanced auditory–motor pathways in humans that enable movement entrainment to music and consequent increases in social cohesion, and pathways enabling music to affect reward centres in the brain should be investigated as possible musical adaptations. It is concluded that the origins of music are complex and probably involved exaptation, cultural creation and evolutionary adaptation.