Why Did Music Evolve? - 4 Hypotheses

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Before writing, a well-developed memory was essential to pass on the acquired knowledge of society. Music is a powerful mnemonic tool.

I'll always be a sucker for the social bonding hypothesis. I'm a performer and I worked for a non-profit for many years. We would travel the world and host music workshops with students and people of all ages. I can't tell you the amount of times an entire auditorium full of people that barely spoke the same language managed to burst into tears just with the power of music. I haven't felt that level of connectedness or joy since leaving the organization. There really is something so special about music and dance!

Really like the style of this video; the mix of interview, vlog recording, gibbons footage, other b-roll, etc feels like a scrapbook

I'm a bit surprised that Geladas (Theropithecus gelada) were not mentioned in the discussion of social bonding/auditory grooming. These primates form large groups and spend a lot of time making unique vocalizations that sound like people murmuring to each other. They eat grass and their hands are often being used potentially limiting physical grooming, and the idea that their vocalizations serve as a sort of auditory grooming function and social bonding mechanism has been a long-standing theory.

Another aspect of the social theory could be in/out group recognition. Just thinking about how tribal music tastes can be, especially during adolescence - I remember feeling kinship with literally anyone who liked similar music to me while having a certain amount of distrust of people with other tastes. To this day I feel a special bond with people who "get" the music I like, even if they're complete strangers. Maybe that's just me I dunno!

I learned to play the trumpet with a Budgie in the same room. He would chirp happily along with a good melody and squawk angrily whenever I hit a bad note. There is definitely a communication and information depth in music that non human animals can grasp. Obviously anyone who listens to music knows that there is more depth to music than just sexual selection. There is information density to Pink Floyd and Coltrane and Daft Punk.

Thanks for this topic. Just a few thoughts: My family always lived with animals, like cats, dogs, birds, but also rabbits, chicken, etc. - and they all appreciate the presence of music very differently. From my experience, our cats and dogs particularly never liked it if someone played the guitar or the piano; they eventually just walk away or just sit it out, appearing rather unamused. The rabbits apparantly don't care at all. But the birds, they always loved it. The budgies e.g. even prompt or invite you to play the piano by sitting on it, pointing at it and nodding at you. It's unmistakably a request. Also, cows seem to like the sound of music, as long as it's clear and calm. And, of course, as you've already indicated, little babies already love the sound of chords and melodies, becoming happily excited about it. I also love listening to instrumental music, by myself, so for me it does not depend on words or spoken messages, nor on physical movement like dance, nor on a social aspect. Something deep in my head just immerges in the sound.

Why not combine both the signaling and social hypotheses? What emerged deep in human or even primate history as a signaling behavior, was retained and even enhanced over generations of subsequent hominids as a number of adaptable social benefits were realized. May not be the simplest solution, but is human history ever so simple?

That gibbon singing!!! I have never heard that before, I am also very happy you got that footage!

I think rhythm is probably the most fundemental thing in the evolution of music, think of a woodpigeons song, crickets, dripping water, crafting a stone, even walking - its like our heart beat. It's not difficult to imagine an early ancestor clapping their hands or getting a twig from a tree and hitting a hollowed out branch to mimic the sounds. The weird bit is how it affects our emotions.

Information storage! How much easier is it to remember a rhyming poem over a plain list. Add it to song and even more memorable. Most of our evolution happened before we had any external memory (writing or even infographics), so mnemonic devices would have had huge survival benefit. Maybe not the initial catalyst for song but a quick way for it to evolve in complexity once any language is available.

The gibbons singing in Laos was my favorite part, so thank you for the effort

Caught me at a good time my friend, making spanakopitas at 3 AM slightly tipsy, love this.

Which hypothesis is the most plausible?

Great video! imo the social bonding hypothesis makes the most sense but as always in nature I think it is a mix of everything.

Been looking forward to this one. My body is ready.

You have got to watch a couple of videos of our high school bands doing drum offs. It's not an official school competition, it's not during a game, there's no purpose for it, just every high school in the US has a drum line, and they get together to drum against the opposing school's drum line. First three minutes for the one side, then the other. Then something more complicated for the one, then the other. It goes on until they march toward each other with insanely complicated moves with their drum majors. Definitely territorial. It ends when one side just can't one up the other, but usually the winning side walks over to the losers to shake their hand, and they all play together. This is really amazing, this bonding of music and chanting.

On a deeper level music is a vibrating pattern like every other natural thing in the universe. We are literally the universe, conscious, experiencing itself. It’s absolutely fascinating

Great video! The answer is D, all of the above. I believe most of the time traits that solve multiple problems win out over those solving singular problems.