The evolutionary origins of music

[摘要] The evolutionary origins of music, defined as 'an intentional action in which complex, learnedvocalizations (and/or instrumentally produced sound) are combined with the movement of the bodyin synchrony to a beat is investigated through an appraisal of the musilanguage theory and relevantliterature. The biological adaptations allowing the production and perception of music areidentified and their evolutionary histories investigated. The critical adaptations that maderhythmical body movement possible evolved around 1.6 million years ago. These include habitualbipedalism and changes in the vestibular system. There is almost no fossil evidence to inform onthe timing and nature of the complex, learned vocalization. However, that the thoracic vertebratecanal had modern proportions by 600 000 years ago indicates that archaic humans were able toachieve the respiratory control necessary to sing. The size of this canal is a proxy for the number ofnerve cells that control respiration via the intercostal and abdominal muscles. Musicality is essentialto the human mind. Infants are born with rudimentary musical skills with regard to melody,temporal sequences and vocal and bodily imitation. These capabilities are central to the newborns'innate ability to elicit care by synchronizing their vocal and bodily actions with that of thecaregivers. Musical rhythm is further used to entrain bodily and neural oscillations and this permitthe creation of trust and social bonding. It is concluded that protomusic developed between 1.6million and 600 000 years ago. Protomusic consisted of entrained rhythmical whole bodymovements initially combined with grunt-like vocalizations. The evidence investigated cannot beused to infer the origins of modern music.KEYWORDS: Music, Evolution, Synchronisation, Melody, Dance, Bipedality, Vestibular system,Thoracic vertebrate canal, Infant-directed communication, Neural entrainment

[发布机构] Stellenbosch University