Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-4rdpn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-14T05:28:28.376Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

A boldly comparative approach will strengthen co-evolutionary accounts of musicality's origins

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  30 September 2021

Luke Rendell Open the ORCID record for Luke Rendell [Opens in a new window] ,
Emily L. Doolittle ,
Ellen C. Garland Open the ORCID record for Ellen C. Garland [Opens in a new window]  and
Alex South
Luke Rendell
Affiliation:
Centre for Social Learning and Cognitive Evolution & Sea Mammal Research Unit, University of St Andrews, St Andrews, FifeKY16 9TH, UKler4@st-andrews.ac.uk; www.st-andrews.ac.uk/biology/people/ler4
Emily L. Doolittle
Affiliation:
Research and Knowledge Exchange, Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, GlasgowG2 3DB, UKe.doolittle@rcs.ac.uk; https://www.rcs.ac.uk/staff/emily-doolittle
Ellen C. Garland
Affiliation:
Centre for Social Learning and Cognitive Evolution & Sea Mammal Research Unit, University of St Andrews, St Andrews, FifeKY16 8LB, UKecg5@st-andrews.ac.uk; www.st-andrews.ac.uk/biology/people/ecg5
Alex South
Affiliation:
Centre for Social Learning and Cognitive Evolution & Sea Mammal Research Unit, University of St Andrews, and Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, GlasgowG2 3DB, UK.; a.south@rcs.ac.uk; www.alexsouth.org
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Focus on the evolutionary origins of musicality has been neglected relative to attention on language, so these new proposals are welcome stimulants. We argue for a broad comparative approach to understanding how the elements of musicality evolved, and against the use of overly simplistic evolutionary accounts.

Type
Open Peer Commentary
Information
Behavioral and Brain Sciences , Volume 44 , 2021 , e89
Check for updates
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Allen, J., Garland, E. C., Dunlop, R. A., & Noad, M. J. (2018). Cultural revolutions reduce complexity in the songs of humpback whales. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 285(1891), 20182088. https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2018.2088.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Allen, J., Weinrich, M., Hoppitt, W., & Rendell, L. (2013). Network-based diffusion analysis reveals cultural transmission of lobtail feeding in humpback whales. Science (New York, N.Y.), 340(6131), 485–488. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1231976.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Herman, L. M. (2017). The multiple functions of male song within the humpback whale (Megaptera novaeangliae) mating system: Review, evaluation, and synthesis. Biological Reviews, 92, 1795–1818. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1111/brv.12309.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Honing, H. (Ed.). (2018). The origins of musicality. MIT Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Juslin, P. N. (2010). Handbook of Music and Emotion: Theory, Research, Applications. Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199230143.001.0001.Google Scholar
Laland, K. N., Sterelny, K., Odling-Smee, J., Hoppitt, W., & Uller, T. (2011). Cause and effect in biology revisited: Is Mayr's proximate-ultimate dichotomy still useful? Science (New York, N.Y.), 334(6062), 1512–1516. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1210879.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Martinelli, D. (2008). Of birds, whales and other musicians: An introduction to zoomusicology. University of Scranton Press.Google Scholar
Molino, J. (2000). Toward an evolutionary theory of music and language. In Wallin, N. L., Merker, B. & Brown, S. (Eds.), The origins of music (pp. 165–176). The MIT Press.Google Scholar
Nettl, B. (1999). An ethnomusicologist contemplates universals in musical sound and musical culture. In Wallin, C., Merker, B., & Brown, S. (Eds.), The origins of music (pp. 473–472). MIT Press. https://doi.org/10.7551/mitpress/5190.003.0032.Google Scholar
Nketia, J. H. K. (1984). Universal perspectives in ethnomusicology. The World of Music, 26(2), 3–24. http://www.jstor.org/stable/43560981.Google Scholar
Payne, R. (1995). Among whales. Simon and Schuster.Google Scholar
Rendell, L. E., & Whitehead, H. (2003). Vocal clans in sperm whales (Physeter macrocephalus). Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 270, 225–231. https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2002.2239.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rivera-Cáceres, K. D., Quirós-Guerrero, E., Araya-Salas, M., & Searcy, W. A. (2016). Neotropical wrens learn new duet rules as adults. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 283(1843), 20161819. https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2016.1819.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Schulz, T. M., Whitehead, H., Gero, S., & Rendell, L. (2008). Overlapping and matching of codas in vocal interactions between sperm whales: Insights into communication function. Animal Behaviour, 76, 1977–1988. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.anbehav.2008.07.032.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Scott, T. W., & West, S. A. (2019). Adaptation is maintained by the parliament of genes. Nature Communications, 10(1), 5163. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-019-13169-3.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Stegmann, U. (Ed.). (2013). Animal communication theory: Information and influence. Cambridge University Press.10.1017/CBO9781139003551CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Templeton, C. N., Ríos-Chelén, A. A., Quirós-Guerrero, E., Mann, N. I., & Slater, P. J. B. (2013). Female happy wrens select songs to cooperate with their mates rather than confront intruders. Biology Letters, 9(1), 20120863. https://doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2012.0863.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Whitehead, H., Antunes, R., Gero, S., Wong, S. N. P., Engelhaupt, D., & Rendell, L. (2012). Multilevel societies of female sperm whales (Physeter macrocephalus) in the Atlantic and Pacific: Why are they so different? International Journal of Primatology, 33(5), 1142–1164. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10764-012-9598-z.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Whitehead, H., Laland, K. N., Rendell, L., Thorogood, R., & Whiten, A. (2019). The reach of gene–culture coevolution in animals. Nature Communications, 10, 2405. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-019-10293-y.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Whitehead, H., & Rendell, L. (2015). The cultural lives of whales and dolphins. University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar