Ode to our musical origins

Thesis (S.M. in Science Writing)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Humanities, Graduate Program in Science Writing, 2010."September 2010." Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.Includes bibliographical references (p. 29-32).Music is part of human culture and has been around for several thousand years. In spite of its strong emotional appeal, the history of this human characteristic, and the source of its allure remain elusive. This thesis is a report from the front lines of research into the origins of human music, presenting four popular scenarios for the source of music. Music is treated as a homolog for gibbon song, as a co-evolver with language, as a sexually selected adaptation and as a cultural artifact that elicits universally reaching, culturally exclusive emotional responses from listeners.by Nidhi Subbaraman.S.M.in Science Writin