Music - Nature or Nurture

Music, however we define it, significantly impacts us and our experience of life. Can you imagine a life lived without any music? Is it even humanly possible to live without music? What is the function of music biologically? What is the evolutionary relationship between humans and music? Between all sentient life forms and music? Is human music really so unique from other animals music?

Whales, birds and other non-human beings are obviously not using music to increase sales, or, as far as I know - to overtly worship their Gods. I think that some create songs as tools to motivate themselves, or make music purely for pleasure, and often, to increase the odds of successfully mating - just like we humans do. Is there an absolute difference between how humans and some other animals use music, make songs, or is it only a matter of perspective? And how do we define or differentiate between music and songs - birds, whales, and wolves all sing, but their songs are not composed of linguistical lyrics.

Research shows that certain musical activity produces endorphin surges. Brain scans show that the feeling of euphoria you get when listening to music is accompanied by activity in the same parts of the brain that respond to the rewards of food, sex and psychoactive drugs. Is expressing and/or experiencing music such a vital component of human life because of the way it makes us feel? Are other sentient musically potent beings also experiencing neuro-biological music feedback? Do we all make music because it feels so good?

Erich Jarvis and Duke University Medical Center colleagues published a study in 2006 (Journal of Neuroscience, vol 26, p 9010. They found "increased dopamine levels in male songbirds when they sang. The levels were especially high when the birds sang to a female. Dopamine, the "feel-good" neurotransmitter, is important for learning. It is not yet clear what role it plays in birdsong, says Jarvis, but he suspects that its primary function is to induce reinforcement learning and that its secondary function may be to create a feeling of euphoria."

Some wild apes are known to regularly drum on naturally resonant objects. Some researchers think that, like whales, chimpanzees groups have distinct cultural practices of drumming and vocalising. Cognitive scientist Josh McDermott's study of monkeys, they choose lullaby-like songs over techno music. The research shows that this had more to do with a general response to tempo than any discernment of style. When offered the choice between a soundtrack of 60 clicks a minute and one of 400 clicks per minute the monkeys opted for the low-tempo track. For wild animals, potentially life-threatening fights, storms, vehicular encounters, etc. occur in nature as rapid sequences of sound. So were the monkeys' choice of lullaby nature or nurture?

I think it is pretty clear, that for us and other beings, music is both nature and nurture. Until empirical evidence can prove which came first, and how much of our attachment and response to music is nurture, and how much of it is nature, it remains a question for the philosophers.