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Where they sing solo: Accounting for cross-cultural variation in collective music-making in theories of music evolution

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  30 September 2021

Aniruddh D. Patel Open the ORCID record for Aniruddh D. Patel [Opens in a new window]  and
Chris von Rueden Open the ORCID record for Chris von Rueden [Opens in a new window]
Aniruddh D. Patel
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, Tufts University, Medford, MA02445, USAa.patel@tufts.edu; https://ase.tufts.edu/psychology/people/patel/ Program in Brain, Mind, and Consciousness, Canadian Institute for Advanced Research (CIFAR), Toronto, ONMG5 1M1, Canada
Chris von Rueden
Affiliation:
Jepson School of Leadership Studies, University of Richmond, Richmond, VA23173, USAcvonrued@richmond.edu; https://sites.google.com/site/chrisvonrueden/home
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Abstract

Collective, synchronous music-making is far from ubiquitous across traditional, small-scale societies. We describe societies that lack collective music and offer hypotheses to help explain this cultural variation. Without identifying the factors that explain variation in collective music-making across these societies, theories of music evolution based on social bonding (Savage et al.) or coalition signaling (Mehr et al.) remain incomplete.

Type
Open Peer Commentary
Information
Behavioral and Brain Sciences , Volume 44 , 2021 , e85
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Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press

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