Week 14: Evolution

Language and music are two very specific human traits/qualities. The ability to speak fluently and to attach meaning to music clearly separates humans from animals. Although animals use music/song-like sounds for mating and warnings, there is no evidence that they are able to attach any meaning to their sounds. Language and music can be referred to as being “evolved” in human lineage. But the debate between “evolution” and “frill”, still pursues.

Language and Natural selection is viewed as a social construct. Some believe that language evolved to provide humans with a medium for expression and communication i.e. individual cognition=cultural cognition. Several arguments support the view of language and natural selection:
1) Babbling - occurs in all babies (across cultures, deaf/hearing) around 7 months. Evidence of selection, not imitation.
2) Human vocal tract – compared to animals, larynx sits lower, doesn’t connect with nasal passage
3) Vocal learning – producing vocal signals based on auditory experience (unique to humans). Neural substrates of vocal learning are not well understood
4) Speech perception of sound structures – 6 month old infants learn vowel sounds but soon loose sensitivity to phonetic contrasts in other languages.
5) Critical periods – for language, it is suggested that this ends at puberty
6) Commonalities in spoken and signed language – sign/spoken use same left brain i.e. can make use of different modalities
7) Robustness of language acquisition- even with minimal input.
8) Learning predispositions – e.g. Nicaraguan system of sign language
9) Gene mutation – when FOXP2 gene is damaged, speech and language issues pursue.

Music and Natural selection
Regardless of its lack of survival value, it has persisted. Evidence of it’s natural selection include:
1) Adaptionist hypothesis – sexual selection (Miller, peak in musical interests at adolescence), mental and social development (Cross), social cohesion
2) Music and language contain similar elements of natural selection (critical periods, robustness, babbling)
3) Infant studies – “music as adaption” view suggests we are born musical. Experiments with perceptual predispositions (chicks and quails) and innate learning preferences see findings on infant research p. 379
4) Genes and music – absolute pitch, tone-deafness, genes (FOXP2)
5) Similarities between man and animal – AP, ability to discriminate between consonance and dissonance, tonality (octave equivalence).

Beat-based rhythm processing
- Speech rhythm and beat-based rhythm share same metrical construction of stresses although speech rhythm does not have a regular pulse.
- Synchronization is based on temporal anticipation (tap slightly ahead of beat)
1) Development studies are used to study innateness of beat-based rhythm and perceptual studies aid in determining periodic temporal expectancies form musical stimuli
2) Synchronized movement to a beat is human specific (animals can sync with each other). Basal ganglia responsible for beat perception Having the neural circuitry for complex vocal learning is a necessary prerequisite for the ability to synchronize with an auditory beat.

A view poignant points:
Music is universal because it is universally valued
Human traits are researched using null hypothesis.
Musical aptitude appears to follow a path of natural selection e.g. individuals with selective amusia, and genetically passed on tone deafness.
Natural selection in music and language is still debated

Week 13: Global Practices

I find the global practices of music exceptionally interesting. Although there is no globalized system/curriculum for learning music, there still seems to be an element of uniformity amongst different cultures and countries whether that refers to curriculum or simple enculturation. The newest field to research concepts like this is, ‘anthropology of children’ and ‘ethnomusicology of children’ (Patricia Sheehan Campbell-a very familiar name in world music). A brief summary of various musical pedagogies follows:

Ireland
-Learned by ear
-Social learning process of listening or playing
-Musical elders (role models)
-Family music-making and occasion music
-Pennywhistles are an entry-point instrument
-Government funded organizations to promote Irish traditional music, dance, and language

Japan
-Westernized since 1900’s (western instruments, ensembles)
-Basic musical skill encouraged over traditional Japanese traditions (Shoka – western song melodies sung to Japanese texts)
-Curricular shift beginning to encourage Japanese musical culture
-Modeling techniques through instruction (verbal instruction is rare)
-Rote, notation, and listening

Philippines
-European and American pedagogies
-Maestro system
-Aural and kinetic references (can sing by heart and read notation)
-Improvisation
-Traditional instruments taught by rote and intense instruction

Thailand
-Thai folk songs and games taught in piphat house (master, teaching by rote), community institutes (tablature, solfege, written notation, numerical notation), and Thai music clubs (traditional instruments)
-Wai kru (show of respect) used in all walks of life especially music

West Africa (Ghana, Nigeria, Liberia)
-Song, dance, and singing games begin at birth and are intertwined with work and play
-Include tradition and creative change
-Call-and-response
-Music is fundamental to ceremonies and initiations

East Africa (Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Ethiopia, Somalia
-Ngoma (combination of singing, dancing, instrumentalists). Used in education, ceremonies, work, therapy, communication, social awareness
-Sex-based stereotyping

North American First Nations
-Music used to pass on traditions, history by parents to children

Week 13: Musical Development, Chapter 6.1

Piaget and Vygotsky. Piaget’s idea of stages is no longer considered accurate by most experts. The socio-cultural perspective is considered more appropriate, and this perspective began with Vygotsky. The Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD) is the area where a learner can acquire new skills or knowledge with the help (socialization) of a more advanced learner.

Post-Piaget and Vygotsky. There are five main new ideas in recent socio-cultural literature regarding developmental theories: (1) speed of processing [e.g. Case and Halford), (2) modularity [development is more domain-specific than previously thought], (3) guided participation [similar to ZPD, but with a greater emphasis on child-centered socialization instead of adult-centered socialization directed toward the child], (4) communities of practice [musical ensembles are good examples], and (5) legitimate peripheral participation [for example, playing in a pop band after school, where the learning is more informal, and it must occur in groups].
Cultural historical activity theory. Vygotsky included three interdependent elements in learning: subject, object and domain. Engestrom added three additional elements: community, rules and division of labor.

Is musical development domain specific? The authors largely rely on Howard Gardner and related theorists in thinking that music is a specific domain, yet is interdependent with other domains and general cognitive processing. Differences in expert and normative development are noted.

Theoretical models of musical development. Swanwick and Tillman’s spiral model, Serafine’s developmental view of ‘music as cognition,’ and the symbol system approach mainly associated with Howard Gardner. Edwin Gordon is mentioned. Some other theorists are briefly discussed. This section of this chapter was probably the weakest, and the majority of topics discussed were covered more thoroughly in prior readings for this course.

Week 13: Music Education, Ch. 6.2

This chapter gives a very broad overview of music education. Particular emphasis is placed on music education in the United Kingdom, though not exclusively so. The chart on p. 340 is helpful in summarizing formal/informal and statutory/elective music education. Citing research on music education in 15 countries, the authors state that there is a striking diversity in aims and approaches to music education in various countries, citing examples such as China (with the strong influence of Confucian philosophy and the emphasis on music as a tool for educating the child in a holistic way). The authors cite differences in Eastern versus Western approaches to music education several times, mainly emphasizing that Eastern countries tend to be teacher-oriented and aimed at teaching the child to be moral and well-balanced while Western countries tend to emphasize creativity and uses a more student-oriented report. The authors also note, however, that these changes are becoming less pronounced.
On p. 347, there is a helpful Venn diagram showing potential outcomes of music education and their overlaps: musical-artistic, social-cultural, and personal. The authors then review teacher and student agendas for music education, noting that teachers often do not engage students in the type of musical activities that they would prefer (e.g. the use of pop music in the classroom). The use of pop music is discussed, and the authors seem to implicitly convey the sense that pop music should be utilized more by music teachers.

Week 14: Functional Organization and Plasticity of Auditory Complex, Ch. 23; J. P. Rauschecker

This chapter gives a very general overview of brain plasticity. The prior chapters we have read regarding brain plasticity went into more detail. However, there are a few important contributions of this chapter that have not yet been covered elsewhere. In particular, the plasticity of the brain resulting from blind individuals (and animals) is discussed. In blind individuals, the sense of hearing is often for finely tuned. In fact, using functional brain imaging, it has been shown that the part of the brain usually used for visual processing can be used instead for auditory processing in blind people. This brain plasticity is exemplified by the greater precision of blind people in localizing sounds.

'Anterior STG [superior temporal gyrus] projects to orbitofrontal cortex, which plays a role in working memory for objects.’ Also, the anterior STG and orbito-frontal cortex ‘are responsible for the processing of complex auditory “images,” patterns, or objects… they should also be the shorage houses of musical memories’ because of a fundamental tenant of the Hebbian model of memory, which says that memories are stored where they are processed. Conductors also show greater precision in the localization of sound; this is an example of non-blind people who have been able to develop functional brain plasticity. Age is also an important factor in brain plasticity, as the brain tends to become less plastic as we age.

Music industry, music advertising, and music in commercial environments

Music Industry

The majority of people’s musical preferences are heavily influenced by their exposure to specific styles of music. The multi-million dollar music industry of record companies dating back to Tin Pan Alley and the like, are a large reason for this. Today, record companies are often a conglomeration of instrument manufacturers, film studios, and retailers that allow for the cross-promotion of specific styles of music that dominate the sound waves and dictate music buying behavior. Often, creativity is limited by a lack of innovation and diversity directly related to the financial gains of huge sales of a small number of albums.

Superstardom (attained by promotional campaigns or reliance on existing stardom) is the result of and promotion of record company’s musical choices. An excellent example of disproportionate sales compared to ability i.e. an artist’s talent is not necessarily indicative of their sales and visa versa and talent is not always a deciding factor in consumer spending. Consumers are driven by familiarity with an artist, irrespective of their talent.

Research

-Music consumption (Lacher & Mizerski, 1994) shows that consumer’s need to re-experience music is the strongest predictor of whether an album will be purchased (affective and experiential response also included in this research).

-Product life-cycles of popular songs (Meenaghan & Turnball, 1981) follow similar patterns (pre-release, buzz creation, pre-threshold, commercial life, final decline) and predictors such as a song’s initial chart entry often determines its highest position.

-Positive correlations between performance of artists and their number of years since #1 chart were positively related to amount of space allocated in msuic encyclopedias (North & Hargreaves, 1995).

-Pricing strategies and online music purchasing (delay of 4 seconds affects online purchases)

-Music piracy (Jones & Lenhart), disproportionately male, experienced internet users, lower income, educational groups

-Radio programming (Ahlkvist & Faulkner, 2002) determined by subjective repertoire of DJ’s, objective repertoire of market research, populist repertoire, and synergistic repertoire of record companies.

Music and advertising

Music heavily influences consumption habits and is used in commercials to attract attention, carry a message, create emotion, acts as a mnemonic cue. The impact of music in commercials is based on:

1) Classical condition – (Gorn, 1982) associate liked music with a product to produce same effect

2) Elaboration likelihood – ELM (elaboration likelihood Model). There are two routes to persuasion, central (considering information about product) and peripheral (associating product with positive/negative cues-conditioning method)

3) Sonic branding (auditory equivalent of a visual company logo)

4) Music fit – music that fits with the target audience who are actively processing the messages in advertising, corresponds with consumers perceptions

Music in commercial environments

Elevator music (piped music, muzak)

Research

-The speed of consumer activity (Smith & Curnow, 1966). Loud music discouraged people to stay in store long. (Milliman, 1982) tempo of music influences speed of shopping. The same research was conducted on restaurants, with similar outcomes.

-Approach and avoidance behavior research (Mehrabia & Russell, 1974). Responses to an environment involving pleasure increase the likelihood of approach behavior.

-‘Knowledge activation effects’ research seeks to establish the associations people make with specific styles/pieces with the intent of influencing atmosphere and purchasing (specific atmospheric music establishes consumers perception of store e.g. playing French music to promote French wine, classical music in expensive jewelery store)(North, Hargreaves, & McKendrick, 2000).

-Time perception and waiting time. Fast music leads to longer time estimates, requires more processing . “Time flies when you’re having fun” and “Pollyanna principle” (pleasant information is processed and recalled faster) (Mantel, 1989)

-workplace morale and productivity of workers for boring/repetitive tasks

-Physical work and exercise (synchronous), office noise, and driving

Week 12: Effects of problem music on thoughts and behaviors

Each topic is presented according to correlation studies, experimental studies and caveats in the existing research. The problem of demand characteristics with experimental designs is noted. ‘Cognitive priming theory,’ which states that one stimulus can ‘prime’ the mind by activating a ‘schema’ – or cluster of associated variables, as well as classical and operant conditioning, are discussed.
4.3.1 Delinquency and criminality: ‘…evidence indicates that there is some form of relationship between problem music and delinquent/criminal thoughts and behaviors’ (p.174), though there is no proof of a causal relationship
4.3.2 Illegal drugs: ‘for the time being we can conclude that there is a clear link between musical subcultures and use of illegal drugs, particularly within heavy metal and dance music subcultures,’ (p. 181); ecstasy has a very strong link with dance music subculture
4.3.3 Permissive sexual attitudes: ‘it seems that a relationship exists between music and permissive sexual attitudes, but this is not exclusive to all consumers of solely problem music’ (p. 186)
4.3.4 Sexual and racial discrimination: ‘in short, although the evidence indicates a clear relationship between problem music and anti-female attitudes, it could be argued that the effect is stronger amount vulnerable groups and that the broader cultural perception of a particular musical style can cause it to have an influence just as much as the specifics of the song or video in question: if so then any piece of music could potentially lead to anti-female attitudes. Nonetheless, of all the possible effects of music considered in this chapter, the link between problem music and sexism appears to be the one supported most by the available evidence’ (p. 190). ‘In short, it is not clear yet whether there is an association between exposure to music videos and eating disorders…’ (p. 191). Racism can be prompted through a cognitive priming effect.
4.3.5 Self-harm and suicide: ‘any link between problem music and suicide may be no stronger than the link between country and suicide’ (p. 200).
4.3.6 (Mis)Interpretation of lyrics: there is little (if any) basis for concluding that ‘backwards masking’ has any effect. Many people do not understand the lyrics they hear well, even when played normally (in terms of comprehension).