Isha's blog

From the perspective of cognitive science, music is one of the most bizarre and fascinating features of human culture. If we think about other human behaviors, such as eating or sleeping, music seems to have no obvious benefits. That's why the evolutionary origins of music have puzzled scientists for a long time (McDermott and Hauser, 2005, p. 29).   When we think that every culture in the world has some form of music and that most cultures developed music independently from each other, it can’t be helped to ask if there is some innate “machinery” motivating the production and appreciation of music (McDermott and Hauser, 2005, p. 30). Much of the 20th-century theories were based on the idea that musical preferences were mostly arbitrary, however, in 1984 composer and music theorist Arnold Schönberg argued that musical preferences were mostly part of one’s cultural upbringing (McDermott and Hauser, 2005, pp. 30 – 31).     Universal Features of Music: Pitch, lullabies, and ...

  Thanks to the work of psychologists of music during the 21st century, new concepts of biological evolution were introduced to musicology. This new interest raised questions related to biological evolution and the capacity to make and experience music. In the last few years, the “evolution of musicality” has returned as an important subject and opportunity for contemporary musicological research.   What is “evolution”?   When Charles Darwin formulated his theory of evolution, he did so without the concept of genes. Instead, Darwin based his theory on three requirements: (1) variation among individuals; (2) inheritance or transmission; and (3) selection of certain variants more likely to be inherited.  These principles have been applied equally to both biological and cultural evolution.   Recent advances in cultural evolution have led to the possibility of replacing the word “genes” with the word “variants”, leading to consider any inherited information, such...

  Music, Communication and Affect   Music, like every other way of human communication, exists in and depends upon the culture and its interactions. Outside the industrialized western world –where music is usually regarded as a commodity–, music is part of important active and interactive behaviors. (Bispham, 2009, p. 30). Even though the meaning of music is the result of a specific cultural and social context, we all seem to be able to engage with and/or respond appropriately to some aspects of music outside our own culture (Bispham, 2009, p. 30).   This paradox is easier to understand if we accept the notion that musical engagement works at different yet possibly overlapping dimensions: such as biological, social, and cultural dimensions (Bispham, 2009, p. 30).   Music is commonly associated with “emotion”. Sensations of “peak experience”, “shivers” or “chills” have all been reported as evidence of strong emotional experiences with music (Bispham, 2009, p. 30)- Ho...