1. A comparative evaluation of current theories of the origin of music (OoM) Richard Parncutt Centre for Systematic Musicology, University of Graz, Austria International Summer School on Systematic Musicology and Sound and Music Computing (ISSSM), Genova, Italia 15 March 2014 SysMus Graz

2. Across cultures and periods, music is social (coordinating group behavior, strengthening group identity), emotional (evoking basic and everyday emotions but especially pleasure, wonder, tenderness, nostalgia), and melodic/rhythmic (within physical constraints of the human body). It is generally accepted that music and speech had a common ancestor called musilanguage; the two may have split between 10^6 and 10^5 years ago. The split must have occurred because music acquired a special non-linguistic function, e.g. to facilitate group cohesion (like grooming), mate selection (flirting), or cognitive skill acquisition (childplay). In other approaches, music developed in a continuous line from protomusical primate behaviors, or emerged accidentally because it was somehow pleasurable. Another candidate for music's origin is motherese, which emerged some 10^6 years ago because it promoted infant survival when gestation became shorter due to increased brain size and a narrower pelvis, in turn due to bipedalism (Mithen, 2009). Musilanguage and motherese may even be the same thing. We do not know enough about ancient environments and behaviors - let alone ancient music or protomusic - to evaluate such theories directly. But we can evaluate how well each theory predicts the apparently universal social functions, emotional qualities, and structural features of music as we know it today. That may be the most objective way that we have to evaluate and compare competing theories. In this presentation I will attempt to systematically list the main characteristic features of music as we know it today and evaluate the extent to which each theory predicts each feature. A list of such features is essentially just a definition of music. A major difficulty in defining music has always been to distinguish it from speech, with which it shares many characteristics. A possible solution is first to list the common features of music and speech (comparable with a definition of musilanguage) and then to list the ways in which music and speech differ. Music and speech are both acoustic signals, and both are structured (gestural, rhythmic, melodic, syntactic) and both are social (meaningful, emotional, intentional). By comparison to speech, music is less lexical, less socially essential, more spiritual, more repetitive, more exact in pitch/time, less exact in timbre, and more expertise-oriented. A careful analysis of the extent to which each theory predicts these features does not clearly distinguish four leading theories from each other (group cohesion, mate selection, skill acquisition, motherese) but it does seem to eliminate primate behaviors and non-adaptive pleasure seeking.

3. Centre for Systematic Musicology Uni Graz, Austria Bernd Brabec Ethnomusicology Erica Bisesi Expression in piano music Hande Saglam Music and Migration Michaela Schwarz Secretary Sabrina Sattmann Music psychology Andreas Fuchs Music technology

4. Contents  Definition of music What are we trying to explain, exactly?  Overview of current theories How music might have “begun”  Comparative evalution How well does each predict musical features? How well does each predict musical features?

5. Language and music universal features Language and music Music (compared to language) 1.acoustic 2.meaningful 3.gestural 4.rhythmic + melodic 5.syntactic 6.social 7.emotional 8.intentional 1.less lexical 2.less socially essential 3.more spiritual 4.more repetitive 5.more exact in pitch/time, less exact in timbre 6.more expertise-oriented 7.DANCE??? Cecilia Bartoli Cécile Kyenge

6. 1. Acoustic Both language and music are 1. Acoustic physical vibrations of voice, instruments, air, ear... Physical limitations:  physiology of voice and ear  size  resonances of vocal tract  f 0 range of music ≈ 100 – 1000 Hz

7. 2. Meaningful Both language and music are 2. Meaningful They communicate “information” language: obvious? music: mysterious? philosophical & psychological issues

8. 3. Gestural Both language and music are 3. Gestural Both involve body movement (corporality) Language theories of origin based on sign and gesture theories of origin based on sign and gestureMusic dance, conducting, musicians’ gestures dance, conducting, musicians’ gestures talk about music: “rising melody”, “fast music” talk about music: “rising melody”, “fast music”

9. 4. Rhythmic and melodic Both language and music are 4. Rhythmic and melodic Speech: timing + intonation = prosody Music: rhythm + contour = melody DonJohnson Rice University

10. 5. Syntactic Both language and music are 5. Syntactic Language nouns, verbs, subjects etc. nouns, verbs, subjects etc.Music motives, scale steps, beats etc. motives, scale steps, beats etc.Both contextual probabilities contextual probabilities hierarchical structures hierarchical structures ambiguities (esp. music) ambiguities (esp. music)

11. Language and music give groups and participants identity enable & motivate coordinated action Different “natural” constellations language: pairs music: groups 6. Social Both language and music are 6. Social

12. 7. Emotional Both language and music are 7. Emotional Emotional communication through prosody (timing, pitch, loudness, timbre) Music focuses on: wonder, transcendence, tenderness, nostalgia, peacefulness, power, joyful activation, tension, sadness (Zentner et al, 2008)

13. 8. Intentional Both language and music are 8. Intentional o Planning o thinking about past and future o Metacognition, reflection o thinking about thinking o Theory of mind o others’ “minds” are different  language: lying  music: emotional manipulation

14. Differences Music – as compared to language 1not lexical 2less syntactic 3less socially essential 4more spiritual 5more repetitive 6more exact in pitch/time, less in timbre 7more expertise-oriented

15. 1. Music is not lexical Words can be defined in dictionaries. Meaning does not depend on sound. Musical elements not defined in dictionaries. Meaning does depend on sound.

16. 2. Music is less syntactic LanguageMusic Is syntax integral to meaning?YesNo Does scrambling destroy message?MoreLess

17. 3. Music is less socially essential  People with aphasia Relatively big social problem Relatively big social problem  People with amusia Relatively small social problem Relatively small social problem

18. 4. Music is more spiritual transcendent, connecting, life-changing Music is more ritualised special times, special places, special feelingsspecial times, special places, special feelings Language is more everyday any time, any place, any feelingany time, any place, any feeling

19. 4. Music is more repetitive  people usually say things only once  musical themes are usually repeated I must not talk in class

20. 5. Music is more exact in pitch and time; language, in timbre  Pitch-time patterns in music  thousands of melodies  Timbre in language   thousands of words

21. 6. Music is more expertise- oriented  Speaking everyone can do it everyone can do it everyone practices everyone practices  Playing music experts are admired experts are admired only experts practice only experts practice

22. What is a “good” theory?  Satisfies general criteria for good theories  Accounts for many musical features

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

24. A good theory of OoM should explain or be consistent with as many points as possible: Language and music Music (compared to language) 1.acoustic 2.meaningful 3.gestural 4.rhythmic + melodic 5.syntactic 6.social 7.emotional 8.intentional 1.not lexical 2.less syntactic 3.less socially essential 4.more spiritual 5.more repetitive 6.more exact in pitch/time, less in timbre 7.more expertise-oriented Music: a cultural construct of singing, dancing, playing instruments?

25. Kinds of theory of OoM  Prerequisites or behaviors?  Different prehistoric periods  One of more origins

26. Prerequisites versus behaviors Prerequisites versus behaviors two kinds of “origin” Prerequisites include  physiology vocal tract, fast neural processing... vocal tract, fast neural processing...  psychology reflective language, theory of mind... reflective language, theory of mind...  latent abilities ability to synchronize to a beat, e.g. Snowball ability to synchronize to a beat, e.g. SnowballSnowball Behaviors include  animal “singing”  motherese

27. Years agoRelevance for humanityRelevance for music 100 000 000animalsacoustic communication 10 000 000primatessonic social coordination 3 000 000tools 1 000 000large brain, social cognitionlang.-music separation 300 000low larynx  variety of sounds 100 000reflection, theory of mind speech: complex vocab & syntax cultural explosion: art, religion exit from Africa instruments scales, metre complex ritual 10 000agriculture, villages, writing hierarchical social structures pentatonic/diatonic rich oral traditions 1 000religious politicspolyphony, notation 100electrical technologiesnew tonalities sound recording When did “music” “begin”?

28. Origin or origins? Did different processes contribute to music in different periods?

29. Leading theories of OoM  Musilanguage  Emotional coordination  Non-human animal behaviors  Non-adaptive pleasure-seeking

30. Musilanguage Emotional-lexical vocal communication Were music and language once one? Does music exist because it has different social functions from language? My assumption: Yes, obviously Not obvious: Separation was   functional and deliberate?   start of “consciousness”?   cf. phylogeny and ontogeny

31. Emotional coordination Does music exist because it coordinates group emotion, which promotes group survival? Theoretical foundation Music can coordinate emotions of many people (social control in ritual) Music can coordinate emotions of many people (social control in ritual) Groups with music can be larger; compete better with other groups Groups with music can be larger; compete better with other groupsEvidence: Language & music can fulfil social function of grooming (Dunbar)Language & music can fulfil social function of grooming (Dunbar) Growth of group size with brain sizeGrowth of group size with brain size Accounts for music’s... social function, emotion, intentionality NOT spirituality, strong emotion

32. Non-human animal behaviors Is music an elaboration of ancestral 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 Non-human animals are amazingly bad at music and language - as the photos suggest

33. Non-adaptive pleasure seeking Does music exist because it activates neural reward systems?  Uses multiple existing neural systems: motor, ASA, language, social, aggression... motor, ASA, language, social, aggression...  Counterevidence based on accident – could go in the wrong direction? based on accident – could go in the wrong direction? musicians do not get addicted and suffer withdrawal! musicians do not get addicted and suffer withdrawal!  Accounts for music’s... emotion, repetition, spirituality NOT gesture, structure, syntax NOT social function, intentionality

34. Music and stages of sexual reproduction 1.Flirting 2.Prenatal development 3.Motherese 4.Childhood

35.  The idea Males use music to attract females Males use music to attract females Females use music to judge male fitness Females use music to judge male fitness  Evidence (shaky…) love songs love songs musicians are mainly male musicians are mainly male we are more creative when sexually active we are more creative when sexually active  Counterevidence no gender diff. in music ability; androgeny no gender diff. in music ability; androgeny other ways for females to evaluate fitness other ways for females to evaluate fitness humans are smarter than peacocks humans are smarter than peacocks  Accounts for music’s... emotion, intentionality, expertise orientation - NOT spirituality, social glue 1. Flirting: Mate attraction Does music exist because it indicates male reproductive fitness?

36. 2. Prenatal development Does music exist because it evokes the mother schema? The idea Fetus acquires mother schema that promotes postnatal survival and includes sound and movement  motherese, play, ritual Evidence Musical skills of infants and children Musical skills of infants and children Music as persona (mother perceived by fetus?) Music as persona (mother perceived by fetus?) Musical emotion is strong, spiritual (e.g. awe), changed states, enclosure, flow, non-lexical Musical emotion is strong, spiritual (e.g. awe), changed states, enclosure, flow, non-lexicalCounterevidence: Hard to test causal relations Hard to test causal relations Evidence is circumstantial Evidence is circumstantial Unfalsifiable ? Unfalsifiable ?

37. 3. Mother-infant communication Is music elaborated motherese? Motherese & babbling are musical prosodic exaggeration prosodic exaggeration rhythmic, melodic, gestural rhythmic, melodic, gestural emotional, meaningful emotional, meaningful Evidence: studies on Evidence: studies on motherese motherese infant musicality infant musicality

38. 4. Childhood: Playing, training Is music elaborated childplay? Childplay develops cognitive, social and motor skills, promoting survival  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, pleasureexpertise orientation  NOT spirituality

39. THEORY/ CRITERION animal behav useless pleasure flirtingplay skill emotion coord. mother- infant acoustic111111 meaning111111 gesture111111 rhy & mel111111 syntax0.50 1 1 social100.5111 emotional0.5 1 11 intentional00.51111 non-lexical111111 repetitive111111 spiritual00.50001 unessential111111 expertise001100.5 evidence0.50 01 TOTAL2.51.54.5 6.0

40. Conclusion Is music... 40% motherese 20% flirting 20% childplay 20% emotion coord?

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

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

43. Prenatal cognition Prenatal cognition Human gestation: 40 weeks  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

44. Prenatal hearing in animals Yes: humans, sheep, goats, guinea pigs No: gerbils, rats, cats Function:  Prenatal bonding?  Practice for postnatal perception?

45. 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  Trivial: Why should a fetus be less good at learning than a non-human animal?

46. Infant ≠ fetus?  Sudden physiological changes at birth: Breathing Breathing Digestion 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?

47. The mother schema The mother schema (Parncutt, 2009)  Infant schema (cuteness) promotes survival (Lorenz)  Inverse: Mother schema? Fetal knowledge of maternal sounds, movements and emotions could promote bonding and infant survival Fetal knowledge of maternal sounds, movements and emotions could promote bonding and infant survival Multimodal and holistic: baby cannot analyse it 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

48. The phylogeny of music The “mother schema” theory large brain early birth fragile infant motherese babbling Larger brain 2 to 1.5 million years ago (Falk, 2000; Mithen, 1996) Today, the first 3 postnatal months are the “4 th trimester”

49. The ontogeny of music The “mother schema” theory prenatal bonding transnatal memory mothereseplay**ritual** * Prerequisite: Long-term multimodal recognition memory multimodal = sound + movement + emotion for similar, repeated patterns not episodic memory! (e.g. no memory for birth) ** Play is like motherese, ritual is like play Both evoke “motherese feelings” Both are reinforced by operant conditioning

50. 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)

51. Musilanguage and motherese Hypothesis: They are the same thing Makes theory more parsimonious, concrete, tangible No evidence that they are different A concrete scenario for OoM

52. Music and religion/spirituality Why the strong connection In all known human cultures?

53. Prerequisites for religious belief 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)

54. 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) ReligionBillions of people Christianity2 Islam1.5 Hindu1 Buddhist0.5 folk1 No religion1

55. Origins of religious emotion An 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.

56. Pre- & perinatal mother schema multimodal representation multimodal representation behavior, states, predictions behavior, states, predictions the first schema ever the first schema ever - in ontogeny and phylogeny mirror of mother‘s infant schema mirror of mother‘s infant schema both schemata  infant survival both schemata  infant survival  human qualities of gods and spirits? Bhārat Mātā = Mother India national personification of India as a mother goddess

57. God according to Wikipedia Not only the origin of everything, but also: o o supernatural and eternal o o overseer of the universe o o omni-scient, -potent, -present, -benevolent o o divinely simple …a culturally reconstructed mother schema? o o originally ungendered and unpoliticized o o cf. Jung’s mother archetype o o transmitted by non-episodic, pre-linguistic memory o o not “remembered” in the everyday sense o o social and cultural - not individual

58. Chora - χώρα Ancient / modern Greek womb; popular dance / country, region womb; popular dance / country, regionPlato maternal space where forms materialize maternal space where forms materialize Julia Kristeva prelinguistic space prelinguistic space place of mobility, dissolution, renewal place of mobility, dissolution, renewal source of emotion, instinctive drives source of emotion, instinctive drives Jacques Derrida feminine roles: mother, nurse, receptacle feminine roles: mother, nurse, receptacle Carnegie Hall Canterbury Cathedral

59. Acoustics of churches “Appropriate for worship” = psychological connection to prenatal experience? 1. Reinforcement of low frequencies Prenatal sound is low-pass filtered 2. Suppression of directional cues (Criteria for good room acoustics include “envelopment”) Fetus cannot localise sound sources

60. “Supplication” or fetal position? Islam Hinduism Buddhism Jewish prayer Plaza Hall, Jerusalem youtube Baha‘i Sikhism

61. Origin of consciousness Origin of consciousness reflective language  reflective awareness 100 000 years ago… No fundamental neural change No clear benefits for survival and reproduction Scenario: bigger brain  earlier birth  fragile infant  motherese Infant survival depended on mother guessing its needs strong evolutionary pressure!  empathy, role of mirror neurons  theory of mind, metarepresentation, consciousness  parallel linguistic development (motherese)

62. The origin of music in the mother-infant relationship...maybe even the origin of language and religion… Larger brain + bipedalism  earlier birth  infant fragility “atriciality”  more parental care  survival  new, complex infant-mother interaction  Reflective language, arts, culture… Accounts for music’s... structures structures functions functions emotions emotions spirituality spirituality