The Musical Brain: The Evolution of Music, Language, and the Brain
About this book
In this succinct review of academic literature, Abel James explores the relationship between music, language, evolution, and the human brain. Despite its rampant abundance in human experience, history, and culture – music has no clear adaptive function. This begs the question: What is the origin of music, and why does it play such an enormous role in our lives?If you’ve ever spent much time with musicians, it’s clear that they are a “unique” bunch. The countless hours spent listening to and creating music has shaped their minds and, indeed, their brains. This begs a second question: How does musical experience influence the human brain? Are they uniquely predisposed to be musicians, or does musical training literally rewire their brains?Abel James challenges a wide range of eminent thinkers and explores a number of theories about the origins of music. Did music arise from sexual selection, directly from the faculty of speech, as a group-oriented communication device, or is it merely a fortuitous side effect of various perceptual and cognitive mechanisms that serve other functions?In order to satisfactorily answer these questions, biology, development and cultural influences are explored. Only a calculated investigation into the influences of nature and nurture can provide an explanation of our relationship with music, as there are biological universals as well as developmental and culturally based influences that determine the dynamic state of musical knowledge.Note: The Kindle version of The Musical Brain is a brief review of scientific research and at ~50 pages approximately 1/2 to 1/3 the length of a full-length book.