Salami

I'm probably just choking on my own rage here!
I think both men have got it wrong. I don't like the attempts either has at reducing music to a primordial instinct. I think music is far more subtle than that, dealing with aspects of the brain that aren't properly understood. I'm probably not alone here in feeling a little insulted the feeling is when the art you respect and put so much effort into is treated by these people in such a cursory way.

Paedantic Basterd

Re: Tore's side note: Perhaps though, an evolved songbird would perceive music from much different sources than we do?

I've got to be off to work soon, apologies for the short reply.

Salami

Tore, being a biology graduate, will be warmly welcomed on this thread!!

Well, thanks for the review, Pedestrian, I've got to go to bed soon!

Sneer

Music evolves along with the culture/society that feeds it, I'd say. I think it's more of an adaptation than accident.

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Burning Down

Wow, the correlation between music and evolution was the topic of discussion in my Psychology of Music class this morning. I'll come back to this thread once I've read through it.

anticipation

Music invokes massive amounts of emotions in people, it catalyzes endorphin release and elevates seratonin production/levels in the brain. When thinking in terms of the correlation between biological mechanism and sensual/emotional effects I see it as a shared evolutionary memory necessary to well-being. Somewhere along the line all species devleop the need to express themselves musically, or aurally in some way. Birds and whales are a primary example of this, they develop intricate, unique, and beautiful sounds even in isolation, and humans are no different. Slaves in the Deep South used songs not only as means of communication but as a coping mechanism to deal with the harsh reality of life. If our brains are wired to respond to tonal melodies then that is proof enough to me that music is a necessity, rather than a useless luxury.

tbug2007

Biologically, I'm fairly sure people, and even some animals, are acute to frequencies. Pitches and their harmonies resonate a certain way that lines up, and splits, lines up, then splits. It's pleasing to the ear. Not sure why.

All I know is that I'd be plenty bored without it.

jackhammer

It is far too late in the night for me to write a huge post regarding this subject but the simple fact that there is a specific area in our brains that produces and/or digests music is enough for me to regard it as a massively important part of evolution.

Music is art and expression and I think it's an integral wheel in the cog that makes humans what they are.

Music is communication on many levels and rarely have I ever seen any other form of expression unite and delight so many people no matter their age or creed.

I personally feel sorry for people that don't find music an exhilarating experience.

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Paedantic Basterd

Looking forwards to this in particular.

Music is processed by many regions of our brain at once. Some of these regions overlap with the regions that process language and speech, which is where the bit about "piggybacking on language" came about.

Appendix A of the book provides a visual aid and lists the following involved regions of the brain.

Motor cortex: movement, foot-tapping, dancing, playing instruments.
Prefrontal cortex: Creation of expectations, violation and satisfaction of expectations set by music.
Cerebellum: Movement as covered by the motor cortex, also involved in emotional reactions to music.
Visual cortex: Involved in reading music, or watching a performer's movements (including one's own).
Auditory cortex: The first stages of listening to sounds, the perception and analysis of tones.
Sensory cortex: Tactile feedback from playing an instrument and dancing.
Nucleus Accumbens: Emotional reactions to music.
Amygdala: emotional reactions to music.
Hippocampus: memory for music, musical experiences, and context.

As you can see, music is processed far and wide throughout the brain, and all of these regions are responsible for performing many other operations in the mind, so in that manner, I don't think it's fair to say that music has its own developed region.

The book spends many chapters going in to greater depth about all of these sections and what tasks they perform in regards to music, and I regret that I can't just copy them out for the information of anybody interested. I couldn't even find a PDF of the book, I typed all this out manually, haha.

Burning Down

Ahh! Now I'll have to write something that will blow you all out of the water! Just hang on, I'm finishing a 12 page essay