Bird song as music

Dobson, Charles; Lemon, Robert E.

doi:10.1121/1.381345

Cited by 12 publications

(8 citation statements)

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“…The musical quality of bird songs has provided the impetus for many comparisons between the two sounds (e.g., Darwin, 1871; Dobson and Lemon, 1977; Catchpole and Slater, 1995; Marler, 2001; Miller, 2001; Slater, 2001; Baptista and Keister, 2005; Hartshorne, 2008; Araya-Salas, 2012). The current comparison provides evidence for shared neural responses.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Researchers have asked, for example, whether birdsong and music share evolutionary precursors or functions (Darwin, 1871; Catchpole and Slater, 1995; Miller, 2001), tonal variation or rhythm (Dobson and Lemon, 1977; Slater, 2001; Baptista and Keister, 2005; Araya-Salas, 2012), or organization (Marler, 2001), and whether, like music, birdsong is creative (Marler, 2001; Hartshorne, 2008). Whether any particular species of songbird has music-like song depends on the parameter measured and the type of analysis employed.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This species sings a particularly musical-sounding song (Saunders, 1959) with heavy use of whistles with a sustained pitch (Dobson and Lemon, 1977). During the non-breeding season, song is used by both sexes to establish and maintain dominance relationships (reviewed by Maney and Goodson, 2011).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Birdsong: Is It Music to Their Ears?

Earp¹,

Maney²

2012

Front. Evol. Neurosci.

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Since the time of Darwin, biologists have wondered whether birdsong and music may serve similar purposes or have the same evolutionary precursors. Most attempts to compare song with music have focused on the qualities of the sounds themselves, such as melody and rhythm. Song is a signal, however, and as such its meaning is tied inextricably to the response of the receiver. Imaging studies in humans have revealed that hearing music induces neural responses in the mesolimbic reward pathway. In this study, we tested whether the homologous pathway responds in songbirds exposed to conspecific song. We played male song to laboratory-housed white-throated sparrows, and immunolabeled the immediate early gene product Egr-1 in each region of the reward pathway that has a clear or putative homologue in humans. We found that the responses, and how well they mirrored those of humans listening to music, depended on sex and endocrine state. In females with breeding-typical plasma levels of estradiol, all of the regions of the mesolimbic reward pathway that respond to music in humans responded to song. In males, we saw responses in the amygdala but not the nucleus accumbens – similar to the pattern reported in humans listening to unpleasant music. The shared responses in the evolutionarily ancient mesolimbic reward system suggest that birdsong and music engage the same neuroaffective mechanisms in the intended listeners.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Birdsong: Is It Music to Their Ears?

Earp¹,

Maney²

2012

Front. Evol. Neurosci.

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“…However, early studies on pitch selection tended to be anecdotal, based on a small sample size, or lacking in analytical rigor. Two more recent studies specifically comparing pitch selection in bird song and human musical scales concluded that birdsong does not make preferential use of musical intervals found in commonly used Western musical scales (14,15). However, because these studies each only examined one species [the white-throated sparrow (Zonotrichia albicollis) and the nightingale wren (Microcerculus philomela), respectively], a conclusion that birdsong in general does not exhibit musical properties seems premature.…”

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confidence: 99%

Overtone-based pitch selection in hermit thrush song: Unexpected convergence with scale construction in human music

Doolittle

Gingras

Endres

et al. 2014

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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Many human musical scales, including the diatonic major scale prevalent in Western music, are built partially or entirely from intervals (ratios between adjacent frequencies) corresponding to small-integer proportions drawn from the harmonic series. Scientists have long debated the extent to which principles of scale generation in human music are biologically or culturally determined. Data from animal "song" may provide new insights into this discussion. Here, by examining pitch relationships using both a simple linear regression model and a Bayesian generative model, we show that most songs of the hermit thrush (Catharus guttatus) favor simple frequency ratios derived from the harmonic (or overtone) series. Furthermore, we show that this frequency selection results not from physical constraints governing peripheral production mechanisms but from active selection at a central level. These data provide the most rigorous empirical evidence to date of a bird song that makes use of the same mathematical principles that underlie Western and many non-Western musical scales, demonstrating surprising convergence between human and animal "song cultures." Although there is no evidence that the songs of most bird species follow the overtone series, our findings add to a small but growing body of research showing that a preference for small-integer frequency ratios is not unique to humans. These findings thus have important implications for current debates about the origins of human musical systems and may call for a reevaluation of existing theories of musical consonance based on specific human vocal characteristics. music | birdsong | overtones M any human musical scales, including the diatonic major scale prevalent in Western music, are built partially or entirely from intervals (ratios between adjacent frequencies) corresponding to small-integer ratios drawn from the harmonic series (1). A long-running debate concerns the extent to which principles underlying the structure of human musical scales derive from biological aspects of auditory perception and/or vocal production or are historical cultural "accidents" (2-4). The songs of nonhuman animals, such as birds or whales, potentially offer a valuable perspective on this debate. On the one hand, features of human music that are culturally bound, or dependent on specific characteristics of the human voice or auditory system, should be absent in animal vocalizations. On the other hand, aspects of human music observed in the vocalizations of other species seem likely to be partially determined by general physical or biological constraints rather than solely by cultural practices. Such shared features would complement recent research suggesting that common motor constraints shape both human song and that of some bird species (5).The physical principles underlying vocal production in songbirds are well understood (6-10) and do not differ fundamentally from those of other vertebrates. Sound is produced by tissue vibrations in the syrinx, a bird-specific organ located at the b...

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“…Despite these numerous similarities, there have been fewer comparisons of birdsong structure to the structure of human music than language (Araya-Salas, 2012; Baptista et al, 2005; Dobson et al, 1977; Fitch, 2006; Gray et al, 2001; Hartshorne, 2008; Kneutgen, 1969; Marler, 2001; Slater, 2001; Taylor, 2013; Tierney et al, 2011); attempts have sometimes been met with skepticism (see for instance Benitez-Bribiesca, 2001, and responses to Gray et al, 2001). A reason for this could be that musicality is a highly subjective concept.…”

Section: Human Sounds and Bird Sounds: How Birdsong Bird Calls Lmentioning

confidence: 99%

Investigation of musicality in birdsong

et al. 2014

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Songbirds spend much of their time learning, producing, and listening to complex vocal sequences we call songs. Songs are learned via cultural transmission, and singing, usually by males, has a strong impact on the behavioral state of the listeners, often promoting affiliation, pair bonding, or aggression. What is it in the acoustic structure of birdsong that makes it such a potent stimulus? We suggest that birdsong potency might be driven by principles similar to those that make music so effective in inducing emotional responses in humans: a combination of rhythms and pitches —and the transitions between acoustic states—affecting emotions through creating expectations, anticipations, tension, tension release, or surprise. Here we propose a framework for investigating how birdsong, like human music, employs the above “musical” features to affect the emotions of avian listeners. First we analyze songs of thrush nightingales (Luscinia luscinia) by examining their trajectories in terms of transitions in rhythm and pitch. These transitions show gradual escalations and graceful modifications, which are comparable to some aspects of human musicality. We then explore the feasibility of stripping such putative musical features from the songs and testing how this might affect patterns of auditory responses, focusing on fMRI data in songbirds that demonstrate the feasibility of such approaches. Finally, we explore ideas for investigating whether musical features of birdsong activate avian brains and affect avian behavior in manners comparable to music’s effects on humans. In conclusion, we suggest that birdsong research would benefit from current advances in music theory by attempting to identify structures that are designed to elicit listeners’ emotions and then testing for such effects experimentally. Birdsong research that takes into account the striking complexity of song structure in light of its more immediate function – to affect behavioral state in listeners – could provide a useful animal model for studying basic principles of music neuroscience in a system that is very accessible for investigation, and where developmental auditory and social experience can be tightly controlled.

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Bird song as music

Cited by 12 publications

References 0 publications

Birdsong: Is It Music to Their Ears?

Birdsong: Is It Music to Their Ears?

Overtone-based pitch selection in hermit thrush song: Unexpected convergence with scale construction in human music

Investigation of musicality in birdsong

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