Synchronous chorusing and the origins of music

Abstract

The surprising fit between the basic pattern of hominid sociality (inferred from shared features of human and chimpanzee sociality) and one of the models developed to explain the evolution of synchronous chorusing in insects suggests that synchronous chorusing played a role in the late Miocene separation of the hominid ancestors of humans from our common ancestor with the chimpanzee. A detailed evolutionary scenario for this process is presented which implies that the roots of human music extend some five million years into the past. This perspective sheds new light not only on the origins of rhythmic song and dance — and thus of music — but on the relationship between music and language in human evolution and on the cross-cultural ubiquity of rhythmic music and dance in present-day human cultures. It also carries implications for our interpretation of the lack of agreement concerning the very term “music” in different human languages.

The biology and evolution of music: A comparative perspective

“…Several lines of evidence lead to the hypothesis that an areferential songlike communication system predated language in human evolutionary history. This hypothesis was first stated clearly by Darwin (1871), and has since been restated or re-discovered by many others (Livingstone, 1973;Marler, 2000;Merker, 2000Merker, , 2002Mithen, 2005;Richman, 1993) often without attribution (e.g., Brown, 2000). Darwin suggested that a primitive song-like communication system represented a precursor of human language that was adaptive ''for the progenitors of man'' and that modern music exists as a sort of behavioural fossil of this past system.…”

“…Despite a long history of attempts no uncontroversial definition is currently accepted, and in any case ''music'' as a term is both a new one in English, and not shared in various other languages, which may lump ''music'' with ''dance'' or ''celebration'' as a single term (cf. Merker, 2000Merker, , 2002Nettl, 2000). Nonetheless, music in most cultures is easily and unambiguously singled out (from both language, and other vocalizations and activities) by members of that culture (Nettl, 2000).…”

“…Note that, although it invokes the notion of group stability, DunbarÕs hypothesis could be driven entirely by individual selection. Another, quite different, hypothesis that involves groups has been developed by Bjö rn Merker, who observed an interesting parallel between mating systems of various chorusing organisms, and the female exogamy characterizing both chimpanzees and many traditional human cultures (where males stay in their natal group at puberty, while females emigrate, reversing the more typical primate trend) (Merker, 1999(Merker, , 2000. Because amplitude summation means that many voices calling in synchrony carry further than one alone, or many uncoordinated voices, Merker suggests that the origin of humansÕ unusual entrainment abilities may be found in chorusing groups of males, both repelling rivals and attracting migrating females.…”

OVERLAPPING AND SYNCHRONIZATION IN THE SONG OF THE INDRIS (Indri indri)

“…Non-verbal communication in nonhuman primates may have been the substrate for the development of 'protolinguistic' forms of communication (Bickerton, 2000). Nonhuman primates long distance calls have been often seen in the frame of a larger evolutionary framework, in the perspective of human vocal and musical rhythms (Merker, 1999;Fitch, 2006;Geissmann, 2000). These series of vocal emissions have been indicated as a possible evolutionary precursor of human music (Merker, 2000;Merker & Okanoya, 2007;Merker et al 2009).…”

“…Nonhuman primates long distance calls have been often seen in the frame of a larger evolutionary framework, in the perspective of human vocal and musical rhythms (Merker, 1999;Fitch, 2006;Geissmann, 2000). These series of vocal emissions have been indicated as a possible evolutionary precursor of human music (Merker, 2000;Merker & Okanoya, 2007;Merker et al 2009). Previous research showed that simultaneous calling patterns given by several individuals within a social group are present in various terrestrial animals including wolves (Harrington & Asa, 2003;Mazzetti et al, 2013), coyotes (McCarley, 1975), and jackals (Jaeger et al, 1996), and in few primate species as gibbons (Geissmann, 2000;Merker, 1999) and indris Maretti et al, 2010).…”