E-Letter responses to:

perspective: Patricia M. Gray, Bernie Krause, Jelle Atema, Roger Payne, Carol Krumhansl, and Luis Baptista BIOLOGY AND MUSIC: Enhanced: The Music of Nature and the Nature of Music Science 2001; 291: 52-54 [Summary] [Full text]

E-Letters: Submit a response to this article

Published E-Letter responses:

Music? Maybe.

Neil Frazer   (8 February 2001)

Skeptical in Seattle

Ed Burns   (18 January 2001)

Nietsche on Music

Clinton E. Tempereau   (17 January 2001)

"Music" is Physical

Donald Skiff   (10 January 2001)

Drumming

John McClellan   (10 January 2001)

A Bird Song in His Heart

Roland F. Hirsch   (8 January 2001)

Music? Maybe. 8 February 2001
Neil Frazer, Professor School of Earth and Ocean Sciences, University of Hawaii at Manoa Respond to this E-Letter: Re: Music? Maybe.	Not all "rythmic repeated utterances" are songs. Many of the common features of humpback whale songs, bird songs, and human songs noted in this Perspective can also be seen in the echolocation signals of bats and dolphins. The fact that different animal sounds have been described as "song" does not mean either that they serve similar purposes or that they have a common evolutionary origin. Humpback whale song may be an "intuitive, nonverbal form of communication," but the preponderance of observational data suggest that it is actually a form of long-range sonar [L. N. Frazer and E. Mercado III, IEEE J. Ocean Eng., vol. 25, p. 160 (2000)].
Skeptical in Seattle 18 January 2001
Ed Burns, Professor University of Washington Respond to this E-Letter: Re: Skeptical in Seattle	This response is directed equally to this Perspective and the accompanying one by M. J. Tramo. My complaint is, to paraphrase Bob Marley: half the story is not being told. For example, for every citation claiming evidence for an innate basis for certain musical phenomena, I will find at least one, and usually more, citations claiming the opposite. As I wrote concerning octave equivalence, "if the results of some relevant experiments are accepted at face value, octave equivalence is shown by rats, human infants, and musicians, but not by starlings, 4- to 9-year-old children, or nonmusicians." Given the similarities in avian and mammalian auditory systems, music signals and tonal communication signals are all subject to the same general processing constraints impossed by peripheral, and to a certain extent more central, auditory processing. Hence, the presence of repetitive patterns, discrete intervals, a limited frequency range, etc., in both types of signals is not particularly surprising. As for certain musical intervals occurring in the communication vocalizations of certain birds or whales (to the extent that they have actually been precisely measured), this is basically the "monkeys at typewriters" phenomenon; with all of the (tens of, hundreds of?) thousands of animal species using tonal communication signals, and given the constraints noted above, some of them will obviously have signals using intervals approximating those in some musical scales. I'm not faulting the authors for their speculations; after all, processing music does tax the capabilities of our auditory system to a much greater extent than does the processing of our primary communication signal, speech, so it's tempting to speculate on some grand innate/universal basis/purpose for music. And I'm certainly not knocking bird songs; after all, Eric Dolphy was inspired by birds (as well as by Bird).
Nietsche on Music 17 January 2001
Clinton E. Tempereau, MD Retired Respond to this E-Letter: Re: Nietsche on Music	Evidence that music permeates nature reflects Nietsche's observation that "without music life would be a mistake."
"Music" is Physical 10 January 2001
Donald Skiff Respond to this E-Letter: Re: "Music" is Physical	The authors's findings do not surprise me at all. The physics of musical tones involves regularities in the wave shapes as different tones are combined, easily seen on oscilloscope traces. It's reasonable to assume that the neuro-recognition is similar, whether the notes are sounded simultaneously or sequentially. The simpler ratios (octave-1:2, fifth-2:3, fourth-3:4, etc.) are more accessible to the ear and, presumably, to the nervous system, just as they are easier to recognize on the oscilloscope. The pentatonic scale (in any of its forms) uses these simple ratios, and the chromatic scale approximates the most accessible combinations in such a way that they can be transposed up or down in key. I'm not a physicist or a musicologist; just a lover of music who became curious about why certain notes "fit together." Now, the questions that arise in my mind are: can I teach my dog to recognize music? Will she like the same music I do?
Drumming 10 January 2001
John McClellan, Musical Ethnographer Naropa University Respond to this E-Letter: Re: Drumming	Gray et al., in their otherwise splendid Perspective, neglect the role played by drumming in the music- making activity of so many vertebrates, including of course, humans. Drumming---and its underlying inner structure, rhythm,--- may be the universal precursor to and continued foundation for most other forms of music. Certainly among native peoples everywhere the drum is a more widely used and significant instrument than the flute. And dance, that is, rhythmic expression in whole-body movements, is also closely related to music and should be included in their analysis. It could be that drumming might be the favored musical mode of expression for reptiles, which otherwise seem to be less expressive musically than other vertebrates. And what about fish? Does rhythm as expressed in some form of swimming dance provide for them the same creative expression that tonal music does for mammals and birds?
A Bird Song in His Heart 8 January 2001
Roland F. Hirsch, Science Manager U.S. Department of Energy Respond to this E-Letter: Re: A Bird Song in His Heart	This interesting and informative article is missing mention of a key musician, the 20th century French composer Olivier Messiaen. His "Catalogue d'oiseaux" and other compositions document numerous bird songs, and many of his other compositions incorporate bird songs as well. Interested readers should seek out recent recordings of the Catalogue by Haakon Austbö (Naxos 553532), the "Livre Du Saint-Sacrement" by Hans-Ola Ericsson (BIS 491; also includes 24 birdsong recordings), and the "Oiseaux exotiques" and other pieces by Yvonne Loriod (Koch-Schwann 311232). There are many other good recordings also available of relevant works by this influential composer.