Science Quickly Is Singing an Evolutionary Accident or a Critical Way to Connect?
Oct 11, 2024
Allison Parshall, a Scientific American associate news editor and music enthusiast, explores the fascinating evolution of singing. She discusses contrasting theories on whether singing is an evolutionary accident or essential for human connection. Parshall highlights how neuroscience reveals the distinct brain functions for speech and song. The conversation also examines the social power of singing across cultures and an innovative experiment aimed at uncovering how singing fosters emotional connections among individuals.
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Global Folk Song Collection
- Musicologists globally collected traditional songs to explore the evolutionary reasons behind singing.
- This project aimed to understand why singing is universal across human cultures.
Music: Accident or Adaptation?
- Singing is debated to be either an evolutionary accident or an adaptive trait with its own purpose.
- Patrick Savage argues music evolved to play a critical social role, not just as auditory cheesecake.
Diverse Global Song Samples
- Researchers gathered singing and speaking samples from 75 participants across 55 languages and all continents.
- Samples included singing, instrumental play, spoken lyrics, and natural speech about the song.