Moreno 1 Eric Moreno The following writing sample was written for a course titled Music History: Antiquity-1600,

led by Dr. Michael Miranda Music and The Study of Human Origins The study of musics origins is a relatively recent field of study. Though new, it has advanced to a respective field of musicology called biomusicology. The sudden surge in studying the origins of music aims to address the lack of musicology in the study of human evolution. Through the study of music we have been able to shed light on its role in three areas of human studies: Music as a universal and multifunctional cultural behavior, the parallel in evolution with language, and finally in human migration patterns and history of cultural contacts.1 As a universal cultural behavior, music has been used in dances, spiritual services, and celebrations, among others. Music has an easier time to cross cultural barriers easier than language does. The relationship between music and language can be traced back to when humans first started communicating with each other as a species. Change in dialects, for example is currently being viewed as an important issue in the study of human development. However, some might make the claim that music was just as much an integral part in how we evolved as a species tracing the role of musicology to our understanding of human origins lies at the core of this paper. When talking about the origins of music, a sense of ambiguity in regards to finding its true beginnings is evoked. There are no written accounts of music until the cuneiform of ancient Steven Brown, Bjrn Merker, and Nils L. Wallin An Introduction to Evolutionary Musicology, Origins of Music, (MIT press, 2001), pg. 3
1

Moreno 2 Mesopotamia. By then, music had already been established as a part of everyday life. If one were to go back to discover its true origins, we would have to be more creative in finding evidence of the role music played in ancient society. Through archeological evidence we are able to see that ancient man was capable of creating music and even instruments, as we have some remains of those today. Through evolutionary evidence we can observe how music evolved along with the development and lateralization (splitting of left and right sides) of the brain. These observations have been facilitated by development in the fields of biomusicology.

Fields of Biomusicology
Evolutionary Biomusicology is the name for the study of music from the angle of biology. Coined by Nils Wallin, the field looks at music from an aspect of the behavior of human species. Biomusicology can be further categorized into three sub-branches; Neuromusicology, Comparative musicology, and Evolutionary musicology. Comparative musicology is also known as ethnomusicology, the study of music of non-western cultures. While this field is very important to musicology, it holds little pertinence on music and its relationship to early humans. Both Neuromusicology and Evolutionary musicology are used to discuss the relationship between language and music. Understanding the connection of these two seemingly different fields can provide better insights on the true origins and evolution of music. Nueromusicology Evidence of the close relationship of music and language are can be found through neuromusicology. This subgenre of biomusicology studies neural and cognitive functions involved with making music and perceptions of music. Studies in this field have shown that

Moreno 3 music and language share parts in the brain. All sounds come into the brain through the auditory cortices and are only distinguished by the subjectivity and experience of the listener. This means that all speech, music, and noises are determined by each individuals experience. A 12-tone piece could sound beautiful to one person and unpleasant to another. To perceive pitch and rhythm, the right side of the brain, namely the right auditory cortex and belt and parabelt respectively, comes into play. Studies of the development in early human culture show parallelisms with the brain splitting into two hemispheres and the plenum temporale moved to the left side. The plenum temporale is the part of the brain that is known to be a part of both musical and linguistic ability.2 It is a common generalization that music is a right brain function and language is a left brain function, while the parts of the brain that specialize in these functions do reside in opposite hemispheres. Musicians have been proven to possess more developed portions of the corpus callosum, the fissure that separates the two hemispheres of the brain. This connecting fiber is used to join both right and left hemispheres and increase communication between the two sides of the brain.3 Language and music share three modes of expression: they can be vocal, gestural and can be written down.4 These findings support the fact that music is a crucial factor in human development. Just as humans can create and understand language, it is the same case for music. The next field of Musicology will shed some light on that factor.

Evolutionary Musicology
2

Win Wenger A Fun Way To Teach Your 2-Year-Old to Sight-Read & Play Music And Expand the Core of His Intellectual Capacity Winsights (Part 14, July 13,1997) 3 Barbro B. Johansson, Language and Music A Neuroscientific Approach, (Cambridge, 2008), p 416 4 Steven Mithen, The Singing Neanderthals, (Harvard Press, 2007), p 15

Moreno 4 Evolutionary musicology is a branch of biomusicology that deals with the evolutionary origins of music. According to Steven Brown, evolutionary musicologists study the origins of music by using a comparative approach between humans and animals in regards to vocal communication, and through an evolutionary psychological approach to the emergence of music in humans.5 An evolutionary musicologist studies the methods of music perception and production in relation to evolutionary theory. This brings up many questions such as the communication methods outside of humans (e.g. animal songs), universals of music in human culture, and the relationship between language and music. The first example of this comes from Charles Darwin who proposed one of the first theories of a musical protolanguage:
When we treat of sexual selection we shall see that primeval man, or rather some early progenitor of man, probably first used his voice in producing true musical cadences, that is in singing, as do some of the gibbon-apes at the present day; and we may conclude from a widely-spread analogy, that this power would have been especially exerted during the courtship of the sexes,--would have expressed various emotions, such as love, jealousy, triumph,--and would have served as a challenge to rivals. It is, therefore, probable that the imitation of musical cries by articulate sounds may have given rise to words expressive of various complex emotions."6

Many evolutionary musicologists have built upon this theory to come up with their own models on the origins of music. Musilanguage Steven Brown, Bjrn Merker, and Nils L. Wallin An Introduction to Evolutionary Musicology, Origins of Music, (MIT press, 2001), p 5 6 Charles Darwin as quoted in Steven Mithen, The Singing Neanderthals, (Harvard Press, 2007)
5

Moreno 5 Steven Brown writes that to the extent that music and language share underlying phonological and syntactic properties, we can imagine five basic evolutionary possibilities. 7 By which this could have occurred as seen below:

From Musilanguage Model by Steven Brown

Out of the five models, he presents that the outgrowth models make the most logical sense. They offer advantages over the other two, in that they invoke shared traits as being the basis for similarities between music and language. You can go even further and make the claim that the musilanguage model is the best out of these outgrowth models. It simplifies thinking about the
7

Steven Brown The Musilanguage Model of Music Evolution Origins of Music, (MIT press 2001) p 274

Moreno 6 origins of both music and language by saying they both came from a common source. The other outgrowth models are hard to justify because they are built upon either a proto-language or proto-music; the problem is that it is extremely difficult to qualify exactly what these proto structures were. The musilanguage model assumes that music and language evolved and developed overt ime from the same ancestry. As an equal precursor to both music and language, Musilanguage must provide common structural and expressive properties.8 Musicologists, when looking at the similarities of language and music, start at sound. Both music and language produce sound, but the types of sound used are different. If we were to put sound on a figurative spectrum of acoustic expression, we would get sounds that have emotional meaning on one end while on the other have sounds that rely on a point of reference for the listener to understand. Music and Language are on opposite sides of this spectrum. Music emphasizes emotion, while speech emphasizes lexical meaning and syntax to convey symbolic meaning. This means that while the word dog has an arbitrary association with the hairy mammal, it in no way looks or sounds like a dog.9 Music on the other hand doesnt rely on symbolism at all; the pitch A 4 will always be A 4. However, music and language do sometimes cross over the other sides of this sound spectrum. Music can attain symbolic meaning as much as language can create emotion because they use both sound reference and emotions to create communication sounds. An example of a meeting in the middle occurs when music is used to depict something, like program music; music that tries to deliver a narrative. An example of
8

Steven Brown The Musilanguage Model of Music Evolution Origins of Music, (MIT press 2001) p 275 9 Steven Mithen, The Singing Neanderthals, (Harvard Press, 2007), p 17

Moreno 7 language borrowing from the emotional side can be seen when talking is almost music-like, for example rapping or recitative. This reciprocal function of both music and language give support to the musilanguage model.

Conclusion Biomusicology provides a rich lense through which we can explore human origins, while raising many questions about our development: What lead to our figuring out how to evolve past the musilanguage stage? How did we do it and not our other ancient ancestors? Music and Language started to separate from each other and undergo evolutions of their own, becoming what we find them to be now. From Homo ergaster up to Homo neanderthalensis all used a form of musilanguage.10 Communities for ancient man were very small and there was no need to generalize words, in order to communicate with other groups. Homo sapiens, however, did talk to strangers, this led to separation of language from musilanguage to make it easier to understand each other. These findings are being discovered due to the acceptance of biomusicology as a legitimate field of science. When looking at human origins, musicology must be included because it was and continues to be a fundamental part of our identity as a species.

10

Steven Mithen, The Singing Neanderthals, (Harvard Press, 2007), p 257

Moreno 8 Bibliography Barbro B. Johansson, Language and Music A Neuroscientific Approach, (Cambridge, 2008), 416-421 Brown, Steven. The "Musilanguage" Model of Music Evolution. The Origins of Music. Ed. Nils L. Wallin, Bjorn Merker, and Steven Brown. Cambridge: Bradford, 2000. 271-301. Freeman, Walter. A Neurobiological Role of Music in Social Bonding. Ed. Nils L. Wallin, Bjorn Merker, and Steven Brown. The Origins of Music. Cambridge: Bradford, 2000. Hodges, Donald A. "Why are we musical? Speculations on the evolutionary plausibility of musical behavior." Bulletin of the Council for Research in Music Education Winter (1989): 7-22. Mithen, Steven. The Singing Neanderthals : The Origins of Music, Language, Mind, and Body. New York: Harvard UP, 2006. Wallin, Nils. Biomusicology: Neurophysiological, Neuropsychological, and Evolutionary Perspectives on the Origins and Purposes of Music, (Pendragon, 1992) Win Wenger A Fun Way To Teach Your 2-Year-Old to Sight-Read & Play Music And Expand the Core of His Intellectual Capacity Winsights. Part 14. July 13,1997

Moreno 9