The Evolving Animal Orchestra by Henkjan Honing

The Evolving Animal Orchestra by Henkjan Honing

A music researcher's quest to discover other musical species.

Even those of us who can't play a musical instrument or lack a sense of rhythm can perceive and enjoy music. Research shows that all humans possess the trait of musicality. We are a musical species--but are we the only musical species? Is our musical predisposition unique, like our linguistic ability? In The Evolving Animal Orchestra, Henkjan Honing embarks upon a quest to discover if humans share the trait of musicality with other animals.

Charles Darwin believed that musicality was a capacity of all animals, human and nonhuman, with a clear biological basis. Taking this as his starting point, Honing--a music cognition researcher--visits a series of biological research centers to observe the ways that animals respond to music. He has studied scientists' accounts of Snowball, the cockatoo who could dance to a musical beat, and of Ronan, the sea lion, who was trained to move her head to a beat. Now Honing will be able to make his own observations.

Honing tests a rhesus monkey for beat perception via an EG; performs a listening experiment with zebra finches; considers why birds sing, and if they intend their songs to be musical; explains why many animals have perfect pitch; and watches marine mammals respond to sounds. He reports on the unforeseen twists and turns, doubts, and oversights that are a part of any scientific research--and which point to as many questions as answers. But, as he shows us, science is closing in on the biological and evolutionary source of our musicality.

Honing, Henkjan: - Henkjan Honing is Professor of Music Cognition at the University of Amsterdam and editor of The Origins of Musicality (MIT Press).

SKU	Unavailable
ISBN 13	9780262039321
ISBN 10	026203932X
Title	The Evolving Animal Orchestra
Author	Henkjan Honing
Series	The Mit Press
Condition	Unavailable
Binding Type	Hardback
Publisher	MIT Press Ltd
Year published	2019-03-05
Number of pages	160
Cover note	Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.