Music is human evolution

Question 1

lament

Answer 1

• wept song
• universal
• emotion expressed through music - grief

Question 2

lullaby

Answer 2

• universal

- infants can respond to music, socialise and interact with parent - supports Dackens view that music is pre-linguistic

Question 3

Pinker

Answer 3

• music isn’t essential to survival like food and water are
• music isn’t a legitimate biological adaptation however as part of natural selection with the evolution of language, music can be considered part of this
• music is a pleasure = “auditory cheesecake”

Question 4

Miller

Answer 4

• music is essential for procreation

- an adaption to increase chances of reproductive success

Question 5

Cross

Answer 5

• address issues with Pinker and Miller’s arguments
• looks at the relationship between music and language - Pinker sees music as derivative of language but gives no time frames as evidence, therefore, language shouldn’t be given primary position in analysis. Cross’s approach allows researchers to look at music and language together to look at natural selection and evolution of language

Question 6

music and language

Answer 6

• syllabic - symbiotic relationship between words and melody

- metric and non-metric - form of dialogue

Question 7

music as a metaphor

Answer 7

• way of understanding our existence e.g. Turkish music - overtone is God’s interception with the world
• helps us understand our humanity
• a way of abstract thinking

Question 8

music as a way of abstract thought

Answer 8

some animals have abstract thought e.g. dogs, birds (crows) - communication necessary for survival (finding food)

Question 9

each culture has its own definition/ideas on what music is

Answer 9

dialogue -call and response - heaven and earth

Question 10

cultural evolution

Answer 10

some can have racist views where cultures are more primitive for having less”advanced” music e.g. 3 note scales (Primitive), 5 note scales (Oriental), 7 note scales (Western)

Question 11

music is a form of language

Answer 11

language can be heard as music - talking drum

can be subversive of text with instruments, say one thing and instrument responds with another

Question 12

werner’s law

Answer 12

look at evolution of consonants between languages, looked at sound changes of certain consonants in Germanic languages - evolution of sound

Question 13

maths and music

Answer 13

construct music and instruments using maths e.g. harmonisation, maths in music e.g. tone rows, pythagoras understood natural order music has - created tuning systems based on ratios