The Origins of Music Grooming, flirting, playing or babbling?

1. The Origins of MusicGrooming, flirting, playing or babbling? Richard Parncutt University of Graz, Austria Observatoire interdisciplinaire de création et de recherche en musique (OICRM) Faculté de Musique, Université de Montréal 15 May 2012 This file was revised after the talk, thanks to Caroline Traube and others for ideas! SysMus Graz

2. Contents • What is “music”? What are we trying to explain, exactly? • What is a “good” theory? Some pitfalls to avoid • Theories of music’s origin Evaluation and comparison • Was it motherese? Comparison with other theories • Language, religion, consciousness

3. Language andmusicuniversal features

4. Both language and music are 1. Acousticphysical vibrations of voice, instruments, air, ear... Physicallimitations: • physiologyofvoiceandear • size resonancesofvocaltract • f0rangeofmusic ≈ 100 – 1000 Hz

5. Both language and music are 2. MeaningfulThey communicate information language: obvious? music: mysterious? philosophical & psychological issues

6. Both language and music are3. GesturalThey involve body movement (corporality) Language • theories of origin based on sign and gesture Music • dance, conducting, musicians’ gestures • talk about music: “rising melody”, “fast music”

7. Both language and music are 4. Rhythmic and melodicstructured in pitch and time Speech: timing + intonation = prosody Categorical perception of phonemes by duration and pitch Music: rhythm + contour = melody Categorical perception of tones by metric position and scale step (more categories, more hierarchical) Western music: harmony

8. Structural universalsultimately based on human anatomy, physiology, cognition • Melody: like speech in... pitch/interval distributions, tone/phrase durations, arch shape • Rhythm: tempo range like footsteps & heartbeats; movement character (multimodal); beat induction, entrainment • Form: repetition, call-response, motivic development

9. Both language and music are 5. Syntacticbased on structural elements and principles Language • nouns, verbs, subjects etc. Music • motives, scale steps, beats etc. Both • contextual probabilities • hierarchical structures • ambiguities (esp. music)

10. Both language and music are 6. Socialpromoting group cohesion Language and music • give groups and participants identity • enable & motivate coordinated action Different “natural” constellations • language: pairs • music: groups

11. Social origins Language: gossip? • exclude free riders from larger groups • maintain social coherence • requires large brain (cortex) (Dunbar) Music: ritual? initiation ceremony, corroboree... church service, rave party... • coordinate emotional states • promote conformity and altruism

12. Both language and music are 7. Emotional motivating people (not) to act Differences between language and music: • means of emotional communication • speech & music: prosody (rhythm, intonation, stress) • only speech: lexical content (words, syntax) • relationship to everyday emotion • speech: same emotions as speech • music: shift of emphasis  next slide Remarkable about music: strong emotion - but not adaptive

13. Typical musical emotions pleasurable, intimate, spiritual, ineffableboth valence (+/-) and arousal Interview study: Strong experiences in music (Gabrielsson & Lindström Wik, 2003) +ve: peace, harmony, safety, warmth, humility, wonder, awe, reverence, respect, joy, love, perfection, rapture -ve: loneliness, longing, melancholy, embarrassment Rating study: How often emotions felt in music  9 factors (Zentner et al, 2008): wonder, transcendence, tenderness, nostalgia, peacefulness, power, joyful activation, tension, sadness

14. Both language and music are 8. Intentionalmotivating people (not) to act Cognitive reflection • planning: thinking about past and future • metacognition: thinking about thinking • theory of mind: others’ “minds” are different • consciousness …enables • intention and deliberate action • language: lying • music: emotional manipulation

15. Differences

16. 9. Onlylanguageisintrinsicallylexical • words in a dictionary • exception: Wagner‘s Leitmotiv? You can‘t order pizza with a violin

17. 10. Onlymusicisintrinsically repetitive • people usually say things only once • musical themes are usually repeated I must not talk in class I must not talk in class I must not talk in class I must not talk in class I must not talk in class I must not talk in class I must not talk in class I must not talk in class I must not talk in class I must not talk in class I must not talk in class I must not talk in class I must not talk in class I must not talk in class I must not talk in class I must not talk in class I must not talk in class I must not talk in class I must not talk in class I must not talk in class I must not talk in class I must not talk in class I must not talk in class I must not talk in class

18. 11. Only music is intrinsically spiritualtranscendent, connecting, life-changing Language is an everydayphenomenon • everyonedoesit • nounusualskillsrequired Music hasspecial, ritual character • playful, imaginary • separate fromeverydaylife • links my spirit (identity) with other spirits

19. Music and spiritualityGabrielsson & Lindström Wik (2003) strong emotions • trance, flow, ecstacy, focussed attention, here/now out-of-body experiences • loss of awareness of self, body, time, space • performance: someone else in control? spirituality • other dimensions, worlds, heaven, afterlife, totality • meaning of life, transcendental, divine communication enclosure, oneness • private, isolated world, surrounded by music • wholeness, merging, embedding, intimacy Perotin O Maria Mater pia c. 1200

20. 12. Language issociallymore essential • People withaphasia • conspicuous • serioussocialdifficulties • People withamusia • inconspicuous • relatively ok …at least in Western culture???

21. 13. Expertise ismoreimportant in music • Speaking • everyoneisexpectedto do it • everyonepracticesconstantly • Playingmusic • expertsareadmired • onlyexpertspracticeregularly

22. A good theory of music’s origin(s) should explain or be consistent with all points:

23. Musilanguage(Brown, xxx) Left side of table Common ancestor of music and language Right side of table Different functions for different purposes A scenario for the music-language split • Why: different social functions • How: (co-) enabled by consciousness (intentionality) • When: • In phylogeny, about 100 000 years ago • In ontogeny, at age 1 year But what ismusilanguage? We will return to this point…

24. Music at the birth of humanitythe “music” that I want to explain

25. Origin of music or prerequisites for music? Prerequisites include: • physiology • vocal tract, fast neural processing... • psychology • reflective language, theory of mind... • latent abilities • ability to synchronize to a beat, e.g. Snowball Anorigin is a behavior similar to music  mechanisms, motivations, structures

26. A “good” theory is... • simple parsimonious, falsifiable • general accounts for range of phenomena • focused on the main issues • concrete clearlydefinedterms, processes • logical clear argument • empirical observation-based, ecological • seminal inspires new approaches Ockham Kuhn Popper Gibson

27. Six theories of music’s origin • Animal behaviors • Pleasure seeking • Mate attraction: flirting • Training: playing • Socializing: grooming • Motherese: babbling

28. 1. Non-human animal behaviors Examples: • singing (birds, whales, gibbons) • territorial marking (wolves...) • synchronous chorusing (chimpanzees) For: may explain unconscious “drives” Against: isolated, impoverished skills Can account for music’s... repetition, social function, emotion NOT complexity, intentionality, spirituality

29. 2. Non-adaptive pleasure seeking(Pinker, 1997; cf. Huron, 2001-2010) • Uses multiple existing neural systems: • motor, ASA, language, social, aggression... • Counterevidence • based on accident – could go in the wrong direction • musicians do not get addicted and suffer withdrawal • Accounts for music’s... emotion, repetition, spirituality NOT gesture, structure, syntax NOT social function, intentionality

30. 3. Flirting: mate attractionDarwin (1871), Miller (2000) • Evidence: • voice and dance may indicate fitness (?) • more male than female musicians (?) • more creative when sexually active (?) • Counterevidence: • no gender diff in music ability; androgeny • other ways to evaluate fitness • humans are smarter than peacocks • not altruistic – social function? • Accounts for music’s... emotion, intentionality, expertise orientation NOT spirituality

31. 4. Playing and training Children play with music (in times of bounty and safety) to train survival skills (in times of shortage and danger) • performance, dance  physical skills, coordination • listening  cognitive skills, language Doubts: • Does this kind of training really promote survival? • Is there a “Mozart effect”? Accounts for music’s... • social functions, pleasure • expertise orientation • NOT spirituality

32. 5. Socializing (grooming)Roederer (1984), McNeill (1995), Brown (2000)Freeman (2000), Cross (2009), Huron (2001).... Evidence: • primate grooming time increases with group size • language & music can fulfil social function of grooming (Dunbar) Accounts for music’s... social function, emotion, intentionality NOT spirituality, strong emotion CAVEAT: evolution is primarily about individuals

33. 6. Mother-infant communicationDissanayake (2000), Falk (2004) Motherese & babbling are musical • rhythmic, melodic, gestural • emotional, meaningful Babies have musical skills • comparable to adult non-musicians Accounts for • the lot? Evidence: studies • motherese • prenatal learning • infant musicality • May also account for... • reflective language • theory of mind • all arts

35. Origin ororigins? Did different processes contribute to music in different periods? Is music… 40% babbling/playing? 30% flirting? 20% other sozialising? 10% animal behavior?

36. Infant musicalitye.g. many studies by Trehub and collaborators Sensitivity to... • melodic contour • relative pitch/duration • specific musical intervals • changes in unequal scales/rhythms + pulse (Winkler; Phillips-Silver) These are “predispositions” “evident in infancy, before they have obvious utility” (Trehub, 2001)

37. Origins of infant musicalitytwo inseparable possibilities? Genetic (Trehub) selection for music (mate attraction, training, social glue, motherese…) Learned (Parncutt) prenatal exposure to changing maternal sound, movement and hormone levels

38. Prenatal cognition • Taste from 15 weeks • Hearing from 20 weeks • Light sensitivity from 28 weeks (Lowery, 2002) • Memory (Hepper, 1991) & learning (Hepper, 1996) possible functions: practice, infant-mother bonding, promotion of breastfeeding, language acquisition

39. Prenatal learning? • Fetal rats learn in response to intrauterine stimulation administered occasionally over 5 days (Smotherman & Robinson, 1990) • Fetal humans learn from maternal sound, movement ... almost constantly for 20 weeks

40. The difference between an infant and a fetus • Sudden physiological changes: • Breathing • Digestion • No psychological or neurological change “Birth is a trivial event in development. Nothing neurologically interesting happens” (Janet DiPietro, cited in Psychology Today, 1998) • From about 32 weeks fetus behaves like newborn  Extrapolate infant behavior to fetal behavior?

41. Infant versus mother schema • Infant schema (cuteness) promotes survival (Lorenz) • Inverse: Mother schema? • Fetal knowledge of maternal sounds, movements and emotions could promote bonding and infant survival • Multimodal and holistic: baby cannot analyse it Evidence for mother schema • very early hearing & learning – what function? • fetus learns maternal smell, taste, diet  preferences (Joy Brown, 2008) • fetus distinguishes maternal voice from loudspeaker on mother’s abdomen (Hepper et al., 2007) …All of this without reflective awareness

42. The phylogeny of music The “mother schema” theory Larger brain 2 to 1.5 million years ago (Falk, 2000; Mithen, 1996) Today, the first 3 postnatal months are the “4th trimester” Prenatal hearing in animals Yes: humans, sheep, goats, guinea pigs No: gerbils, rats, cats

43. The ontogeny of musicThe “mother schema” theory • * Prerequisite: Long-term multimodal recognition memory • multimodal = sound + movement + emotion • for similar, repeated patterns • not episodic memory! (e.g. no memory for birth) • ** Feature: Behaviors similar to motherese • evoke “motherese feelings” • are reinforced by operant conditioning

44. Musilanguage and motherese • In a parsimonious theory they are the same thing! • Convergent evidence is consistent with this conclusion • No evidence that they are different • Hypothesis “musilanguage = motherese” • Makes musilanguage theory more concrete and tangible • Establishes a concrete scenario for origin of music

45. From motherese to music “It is not surprising that societies all over the world have developed these nodes of culture that we call ceremonies and rituals, which do for their members what mothers naturally do for their babies: engage their interest, involve them in a shared rhythmic pulse, and thereby instill feelings of closeness and communion. The inborn propensities for imitation, reciprocity, and emotional communion in infancy have become further elaborated and used in ritualized and ceremonial forms that themselves build and reinforce feelings of unity among adults, all of which ultimately serve to hold the group together.” (Dissanayake, 2000, p. 64, cited by Davies)

46. Three kinds of “culture” Language is prerequisite for religion. Others develop at same time. All 3 began roughly 100 000 years ago in ritual contexts. How and why?

47. Prerequisites for religion Basic morality • Reciprocal altruism • Are gods supernatural police? (Matt Rossano) Mental images and causality • Tool use  (-2 000 kya) Formulation of beliefs • Language, ability to construct narratives • Large brain (500 kya) • Construction of gods: Theory of mind, agent detection • Oral tradition: Gullibility of children (Dawkins)

48. Monotheistic tendencies in world religions Hindu Poly- or mono-theistic? 3 aspects of universal supreme god: Brahma (creator), Shiva (destroyer), Vishnu (protector) Buddhism A- or mono-theistic? 3 jewels: Buddha, Dharma (teachings) and Sangha (community)

49. Origins of religionAn approach from anthropology and animal behavior “We humans crave emotional connection .… An earthly need for belongingness led to the human religious imagination and thus to the otherworldly realm of relating with God, gods, and spirits. … belongingness was transformed from a basic emotional relating between individuals to a deeper relating, one that had the potential to become transcendent, between people and supernatural beings or forces. Barbara King (2007). Evolving God: A provocative view of the origins of religion. cf. parent-offspring conflict (Trivers) Ok, but I have some questions: Social support practices can solve the connection problem. Why transcendent? Why is transcendence universal? Why are religious emotions as strong as adaptive emotions?

50. Origins of religionAn approach from anthropology and animal behavior “the soulful need to pray to gods, to praise God with hymns, to shake in terror before the power of invisible spirits, to fear for one’s life at the hands of the unknown or to feel bathed in all-enveloping love from the heavens. … The inaccessibility to language of the sacred experience mirrors what Martin Buber writes … God ‘is wrapped in a cloud but reveals itself, it lacks but creates language. We hear no You and yet we feel addressed; we answer—creating, thinking, acting: with our being we speak the basic word, unable to say You with our mouth’” Barbara King (2007). Evolving God: A provocative view of the origins of religion. New York: Doubleday. Idle observation: Like a baby’s pre-conscious experience of its mother