1 1 Musicality is defined here as a natural, spontaneously developing set of traits based on and constrained by our cognitive abilities and their underlying biology. If this is true, then music and musicality have little to do with our biology. In their opinion, every form of music in every culture is unique and is determined by human, social, and cultural conventions. 2, 3 However, some music researchers are skeptical about the biological foundations of musicality. It unites, consoles, and, simply, gives listening pleasure. Music supports many social and cultural activities, from rituals and concerts to dance parties and funerals. 1 No culture has yet been found that does not have music. Musical activity can be observed in all cultures, from the oldest civilizations of Africa, China, and the Middle East to the countless cultures of today's world. A comparative study of musicality in humans and well-known animal models (monkeys, birds, pinnipeds) will further our insights on which features of musicality are exclusive to humans and which are shared between humans and nonhuman animals, contribute to an understanding of the musical phenotype, and further constrain existing evolutionary theories of music and musicality. However, an alternative hypothesis is that musicality is an innate and widely shared capacity for music that can be seen as a natural, spontaneously developing set of traits based on and constrained by our cognitive abilities and their underlying biology. While it has been widely acknowledged that there are commonalities between speech, language, and musicality, several researchers explain this by considering musicality as an epiphenomenon of language.
This has led to a growing role and visibility of the contribution of (bio)musicology to the field of neuroscience and cognitive sciences at large. In recent years, music and musicality have been the focus of an increasing amount of research effort.
0 kommentar(er)
