BIOLOGY OF MUSIC: THE EARTH HAS MUSIC FOR THOSE WHO LISTEN

By René A. Azeez, Honours BSc. Developmental Biology, University of Toronto. June 12, 2011.

               In William Shakespeare’s play, Twelfth Night, he is famously quoted as having written “If music be the food of love, play on; give me excess of it, that, surfeiting, the appetite may so sicken and die.” Biologists and philosophers have wondered for as long as there has been biology and philosophy, just how deeply intertwined is music in the very nature and success of life. Charles Darwin, the father of modern evolutionary theory, believed that it is in the process of sexual selection, that the origin of music lay. In commenting on the struggle of males for females as part of the greater goal of natural selection, Darwin says “These struggles are generally decided by the law of battle, but in the case of birds, apparently, by the charms of their song, by the beauty of the power of courtship, as in the dancing rock-thrush of Guiana.”

                David Rothenberg, professor of philosophy and music at the New Jersey Institute of Technology, is a great believer that one can use a musical vantage point to attempt to explain the vast beauty and diversity of nature. In particular he marvels at the commonality between the precise choreography of Australia’s lyrebird, flawless and beautiful, and the humpback whale, mysterious and awesome. Rothenberg remarks, “Why should whales and birds, two animals so different from each other, makes sounds that somehow seem related?”  In fact, if you were to speed up a whale’s song, the similarities to a complex bird song that you would observe is nothing short of remarkable. Rothenberg contends that humans may not be able to explain the beauty and profusion in the songs of species as different as lyrebirds and humpbacks, but that evolution has conserved them for some reason.

                In the Journal Lancelet, Claudius Conrad wrote an essay entitled, “Music for healing: from magic to medicine.” Depictions as far back as 4000BCE, he explains, illustrate harp-playing priests and musicians hinting at early contextual use of music for healing. While work remains to be done in understanding just how exactly music related to positive medical outcomes in yet unexplained ways, music is currently used to overcome some of the “anonymity and deindividuation of the clinical environment.”

                A culture without a musical compartment is yet to be identified. Mothers soothe their babies with a melodious “motherese” singsong; a quality that Dean Falk of the School for Advanced Research in Santa Fe, New Mexico, notes is unique to humans. Falk proposes that these singsongs are common across the human spectrum, higher in pitch and slower than adult speech, and are imperative to mother-child bonding.

                Robin Dunbar, a psychologist of Oxford University, investigates the musical role in bond strengthening in small groups of hominids. He proposes that the evolution of music occurred because the grooming practices of primates were impractical in human society, with groups becoming much larger. Dunbar and his group were able to find a remarkable connection between people who moved their bodies to music and those who merely listened, elevated thresholds for pain due to elevated levels of endorphin release.

                The mysteries and complexities of music and its role in our lives, everyday and over large time scales in an evolutionary sense, are far from understood. One can’t help but think; maybe it is better that way. Marvel as a part of our everyday existence, the wonder and the unknown, may just be music’s biggest gift to us.

REFERENCES:

Rothenberg D. Singing Nature’s Tune. USA Today, November 2010, 58-59.

Kivy P. Charles Darwin on Music. Journal of the American Musicological Society. 1959, 12(1): 42.

Zimmer C. The Brain: Is music for wooing, mothering, bonding, or is it just “auditory cheesecake”. Discover Magazine. December 2010.

Conrad C. Music for healing: from magic to medicine. The Lancelet, December 2010, 376 (9757): 1980-1981.

ALCOHOL: BEAUTY IN THE EYE OF THE BEERHOLDER

By René A. Azeez, Honours BSc. Developmental Biology, University of Toronto. June 09, 2011.

               

              Alcohol has in some way affected every individual, directly or indirectly, socially or religiously, positively or negatively, at one point or another in our lives. Whatever your beliefs about alcohol and its use or misuse, it is undeniable that alcohol is surrounded by many tales and equally as many truths. Despite its widespread social permeation, alcohol still retains the allure of mystery, especially to eager to grow up adolescents.

                In a study published in the Journal Addictive Behaviors entitled “Making Sense of alcohol experiences, young adolescents’ accounts of alcohol-related critical incidents”, Joris J. Van Hoof and his team decided to explore the implications of alcohol use in the life of young adolescents in the Netherlands. Researchers decided to look closely at the consequences, parental roles, and adolescent evaluations of alcohol use and incidents stemming from alcohol use.

                Researchers conducted 45 interviews using the ‘critical incident technique’ or CIT; a technique used in research to observe and inherently attempt to evaluate human behavior, in this case adolescents between 15 and 16; through methodically defined criteria.  Of the incidents recalled, researchers were able to find that the most prevalent consequence was that of ‘becoming ill’. This was seen in 19% of recollected alcohol related incidents, followed by ‘doing strange things’ seen in 16% of recollections, ‘interpersonal conflicts’ in 12%, ‘accidents or injuries’ in 11% and finally, ‘making contact more easily’ was recollected in 10% of incidents. Furthermore, parents were only aware of incidents in their entirety in about half the total number of cases.

                Perhaps the most important finding of the study was that whilst participants were clearly able to link the negative consequences of alcohol consumption to their personal experience or being witness to someone else’s negative experience, it was unlikely that they were deterred from intentions to consume alcohol again, or consume less alcohol. In fact, interview participants tended to label negative consequences as overall positive experiences in their accounts.

                Researchers believe that these findings point out two important observations in adolescent alcohol consumption. Firstly, it is complex in nature and a greater understanding of the roles of parents and the information being provided to adolescents is needed. Secondly, the study points towards the failure of the ‘scary story’ approach to prevention of alcohol consumption in teens and young adults. They contend that this approach may have the opposite effect and instead of deterring, encourage the early consumption of alcohol. Efforts in controlling availability and encouraging parental involvement seem to more likely offer a solution to the problem.

REFERENCE: Van Hoof J J V, Van den Boom S, and De Jong M D T. Making sense of alcohol experiences: young adolescents’ accounts of alcohol-related critical incidents. Addictive Behaviors, 36: 849-854; 2011.