Tuesday, April 22, 2008

Does Animal Music Evolve?

Human music evolves, but what about the tones and rhythms of other critters?

Since we've only been able to record and hear sounds for the past century or so, we have no way of knowing what our forebears voices sounded like, much less the "music" created by ancient birds, elephants, whales, crickets.

Is it possible that each species has gone through its own evolution -- ragtime, Dixieland, swing, bop, blues, rock, fusion, hip-hop, adult contemporary?

And if we now start recording and playing back their music to them, and expose each species to the auditory delights of other species, how will that affect the planet's audio evolution?

Will future generations (of humans) chart the musical progress of the world's critters? Will distinctive styles emerge? Will animal bands entertain stadium crowds -- until the lead baboon enters rehab, causing the camel and kangaroo to part ways over creative differences?

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