Where did music come from?

Credit: Erikacarreraph/Shutersttock

Where Did Music Come From? Did humans evolve to sing and dance? Or did we invent our musical pastimes? Asks Cody Cottier in Discovery Magazine:

'Look anywhere and you’ll find music. Without a single exception, every culture produces some form of it. Like language, it’s a universal trait in our species, and over the millennia it has bloomed into a diverse and stunning global symphony. Yet its origin remains one of the great secrets of human history. 

The oldest known instruments are 42,000-year-old bone flutes discovered in caves in Germany. Vocal music surely predates these, but the problem, according to University of Amsterdam musicologist Henkjan Honing, “is that music doesn’t fossilize and our brains don’t fossilize.” With little hard evidence, scientists still debate what evolutionary purpose music serves. And because its purpose is obscure enough to warrant debate, some skeptics question whether it serves any purpose at all.'

Opening text of a recent article in Discovery Magazine.

Interested in the Evolution of Language and Music?

Last semester we finalized a new edition of the course Evolution of Language and Music. As every year, we closed it off with a student mini-conference. You can find the output of this years online edition here: a website full of blog posts and pitch videos that were made by the participating students.

N.B. The next edition will be held in the Spring of 2022 (See UvA Studiegids).

Was het ritme van alledaagse bewegingen het opstapje naar ons muziekgevoel? [Dutch]

De wetenschap barst van wilde ideeën die nog onbewezen zijn. Maar hoe overtuigend zijn ze? Deze week schrijft Ronald Veldhuizen in de Volkskrant over hoe mogelijk ons wandel- en renritme heeft bijgedragen aan ons talent voor muziek: zie Volkskrant.

Zie ook eerdere entry.

Proksch, S., Comstock, D. C., Médé, B., Pabst, A., & Balasubramaniam, R. (2020). Motor and Predictive Processes in Auditory Beat and Rhythm Perception. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 14. doi: 10.3389/fnhum.2020.578546

Interested in doing a postdoc on rhythm cognition in Amsterdam?

The Institute for Logic, Language and Computation (ILLC) at the University of Amsterdam (UvA) now invites applications from excellent candidates wishing to conduct postdoctoral research on the computational and (neuro)cognitive underpinnings of rhythm cognition. 

For details on the 2-year position and information on how to apply, see UvA-webpage.

Deadline: 31 December 2020.

Interested in a Summer School on Musicality?

Preliminary announcement: The Music Cognition Group (MCG) at the University of Amsterdam is currently preparing a two-week international online (and potentially hybrid) ABC Summer School on musicality from 21-24 June 2021. 

 

Lectures will include Isabelle Peretz, Sandra Trehub, Elizabeth Hellmuth-Margulis, Miriam Mosing, Patrick Savage, Julia Kursell, Carel ten Cate, members of MCG, and others. 

 

In the next few weeks more information will be made available online at summerschool.uva.nl.

Ben jij de nieuwe webprogrammeur van het spraak- en muzieklab?

Hou je van het ontwerpen en implementeren van interactieve websites voor verschillende platforms (desktop, smartphone, tablet)? Zou je graag in een spannende academische omgeving willen werken? Ben je iemand die goed overzicht kan houden en goed kan samenwerken? De Faculteit der Geesteswetenschappen van de Universiteit van Amsterdam (UvA) heeft per 1 februari een vacature voor een webprogrammeur voor het spraak- en muzieklab. Deadline voor sollicitaties: 15 december 2020.

Voor uitgebreide informatie zie: 20-694-webprogrammeur-spraak-en-muzieklab

How different are these hypotheses?

An overview comparison of the Action Simulation for Auditory Prediction Hypothesis (ASAP) and the Gradual Audiomotor Evolution Hypothesis (GAE). 

 

This week a mini review paper appeared in Frontiers in Human Neuroscience (Proksch et al, 2020), comparing two complementary hypotheses for the neural underpinnings of rhythm perception: The Action Simulation for Auditory Prediction hypothesis (ASAP; Patel and Iversen, 2014) and the Gradual Audiomotor Evolution hypothesis (GAE: Merchant and Honing, 2014), In addition to interpreting work under both hypotheses as converging evidence for the predictive role of the motor system in the perception of rhythm, the paper reviews recent experimental progress supporting each of these hypotheses. 

Honing, H., & Merchant, H. (2014). Differences in auditory timing between human and non-human primates. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 27(6), 557–558. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0140525X13004056

Proksch, S., Comstock, D. C., Médé, B., Pabst, A., & Balasubramaniam, R. (2020). Motor and Predictive Processes in Auditory Beat and Rhythm Perception. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 14. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnhum.2020.578546

Interested in BA and MA/MSc level courses on Music Cognition?

For an overview of the 2020/21 courses on computational and cognitive musicology / music cognition at University of Amsterdam, see http://www.mcg.uva.nl/courses.html

Doet muziek ertoe? [Dutch]

KNAW Tweegesprek: stemmen van Afrika in Nederland from SPUI25 on Vimeo.

Een tweegesprek o.l.v. Wim Brands (1959-2016).

Interested in becoming an SA at MCG?

www.mcg.uva.nl

The Music Cognition Group (MCG) searches for an enthusiastic and well-organized student assistant / P.A. acting as a first point of contact with people from both inside and outside MCG, starting 1 September 2020 (0.2 fte). Deadline for applications is 15 July 2020.

N.B. You have to be registered as a bachelor or master student at the University of Amsterdam (UvA).

For more information, and detailed instructions on how to apply, see here.