NEW YORK, May 21 ― There's no doubt that the history of music is intrinsically linked to that of humankind. But the scientific community remains divided as to the role of music in the evolution of the human species. A study published in the journal Science Advances offers some interesting insights into this mystery.
The role of music in the evolution of our species has been the subject of much debate. Some specialists believe that this art form has no adaptive function. Steven Pinker, professor of psychology at Harvard University, likens music to a kind of “cherry on the cake.” In his view, it is a pleasurable human activity that could disappear without changing the course of humanity. For others, music has played a role in the development of the human species. Charles Darwin, for example, suggested its probable importance in intersex selection in his book The Descent of Man, and Selection in Relation to Sex.
To shed some light on the subject, 75 researchers from 46 countries conducted a somewhat surprising study. These specialists in ethnomusicology, music psychology, linguistics and evolutionary biology all performed songs from their own cultures. In all, they made 300 audio recordings in 55 different languages, including Balinese, Basque, Cherokee, Ukrainian and Yoruba.
The scientists compared them with 418 other sound recordings to determine whether, from an acoustic point of view, language and music share common characteristics across the globe. They found that language and music seem to have evolved in the same way, regardless of culture. They use the same intervals and voice timbres, but music remains slower and higher-pitched. It is also based on more predictable tonalities than language. “Our study provides strong empirical evidence of cross-cultural regularities in music and speech,” the researchers write.
The study's coauthors hypothesise that music is more predictable than speech when it comes to transcending cultural boundaries. “Slow, regular, predictable melodies make it easier for us to sing together in large groups,” says study senior author, Patrick Savage, researcher in musicology and psychology at the University of Auckland, quoted in a news release.
Innovative as it is, this study has its limitations. Firstly, the small number of sound recordings available in each language. In addition, the singers were predominantly academics, so they are not representative of the rest of the population. But, in any case, the findings of this paper corroborate the idea that music has played a more important role in the evolution of who we are as human beings than we might imagine. ― ETX Studio
