The Evolving Animal Orchestra

The Evolving Animal Orchestra
Author: Henkjan Honing
Publisher: MIT Press
Total Pages: 159
Release: 2019-03-05
Genre: Science
ISBN: 026203932X


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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.


The Evolving Animal Orchestra
Language: en
Pages: 159
Authors: Henkjan Honing
Categories: Science
Type: BOOK - Published: 2019-03-05 - Publisher: MIT Press

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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 en
The Evolving Animal Orchestra
Language: en
Pages: 159
Authors: Henkjan Honing
Categories: Science
Type: BOOK - Published: 2019-03-05 - Publisher: MIT Press

GET EBOOK

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 en
The Origins of Musicality
Language: en
Pages: 365
Authors: Henkjan Honing
Categories: Science
Type: BOOK - Published: 2019-08-20 - Publisher: MIT Press

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Interdisciplinary perspectives on the capacity to perceive, appreciate, and make music. Research shows that all humans have a predisposition for music, just as
Animal Musicalities
Language: en
Pages: 264
Authors: Rachel Mundy
Categories: Music
Type: BOOK - Published: 2018-05-15 - Publisher: Wesleyan University Press

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Over the past century and a half, the voices and bodies of animals have been used by scientists and music experts as a benchmark for measures of natural differe
Convergent Evolution on Earth
Language: en
Pages: 333
Authors: George R. McGhee, Jr.
Categories: Science
Type: BOOK - Published: 2019-10-15 - Publisher: MIT Press

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An analysis of patterns of convergent evolution on Earth that suggests where we might look for similar convergent forms on other planets. Why does a sea lily lo