Author: Luuk ★2017
Date: 2019-03-06 18:02
So, an important question appears to be whether the presence of a human intention is a necessary condition for something to be called music. When music is limited to the domain of art, which seems plausible, I tend to agree. Also, thinking about the argument of the meowing cat, more seems necessary because I would like to exclude the crying baby from the domain too, and also normal spoken language. It appears to me now that my definition of music, given above, is not complete and something more is necessary, but I have to think more about this to point is out.
Regarding the possibility of alien music. According to Pinker (1997) music is an emergent phenomenon, appearing because of other (biological) phenomena important for the evolutionary succes of mankind. Language is seen as important for social structures, so it is evolutionary advantageous. Language involves rhythm and melody, and music would be an unnecessary by-product of those cognitive skills. However, this reasoning can be reversed so that language is the result of feeling for rhythm and melody. Anyway: music seems to have biological and evolutionary roots.
Experts (I'm certainly not one) still struggle with this matter. However, it seems clear that some characteristics typical for humans and thus the result of more than 4 billion years of evolution are necessary for music to exist. Why would aliens have evolved the same characteristics?
Reference (only available in Dutch, I'm afraid): https://dspace.library.uu.nl/handle/1874/243611
Regards,
Luuk
Philips Symphonic Band
The Netherlands
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