The Evolving Animal Orchestra - In Search of What Makes Us Musical (Hardcover)

A music researcher's quest to discover other musical species. Even those of us who can't play a musical instrument or lack a sense of rhythm can perceive and enjoy music. Research shows that all humans possess the trait of musicality. We are a musical species-but are we the only musical species? Is our musical predisposition unique, like our linguistic ability? In The Evolving Animal Orchestra, Henkjan Honing embarks upon a quest to discover if humans share the trait of musicality with other animals. Charles Darwin believed that musicality was a capacity of all animals, human and nonhuman, with a clear biological basis. Taking this as his starting point, Honing-a music cognition researcher-visits a series of biological research centers to observe the ways that animals respond to music. He has studied scientists' accounts of Snowball, the cockatoo who could dance to a musical beat, and of Ronan, the sea lion, who was trained to move her head to a beat. Now Honing will be able to make his own observations. Honing tests a rhesus monkey for beat perception via an EEG; performs a listening experiment with zebra finches; considers why birds sing, and if they intend their songs to be musical; explains why many animals have perfect pitch; and watches marine mammals respond to sounds. He reports on the unforeseen twists and turns, doubts, and oversights that are a part of any scientific research-and which point to as many questions as answers. But, as he shows us, science is closing in on the biological and evolutionary source of our musicality.

General

Imprint:	MIT Press
Country of origin:	United States
Series:	The MIT Press
Release date:	March 2019
First published:	2019
Authors:	Henkjan Honing (Professor of Music Cognition)
Translators:	Sherry MacDonald
Dimensions:	229 x 152 x 17mm (L x W x T)
Format:	Hardcover
Pages:	160
ISBN-13:	978-0-262-03932-1
Categories:	Books > Social sciences > General Books > Arts & Architecture > Music > General Books > Science & Mathematics > Biology, life sciences > Life sciences: general issues > Evolution Books > Music > General
LSN:	0-262-03932-X
Barcode:	9780262039321

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