The evolving animal orchestra : in search of what makes us musical /

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Translated from the Dutch.Includes bibliographical references (pages 127-135) and index.Shaved ear -- Mirroring -- Beat deaf -- Measuring the beat -- Ai and Ayumu -- Supernormal stimulus -- Snowball -- The dialect of song -- Perfect pitch -- Rio and Ronan.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 EEG; 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. -- Provided by publisher.