Thus, Tramo writes, there is "no grossly identifiable brain structure that works solely during music cognition. But the left planum temporale also plays an important role in language processing. This tiny brain region is critical to the golden musical gift of perfect pitchthe rare ability to recognize by ear a perfect middle C hit on the piano, or the E of a passing car horn. As an example, he points to the left planum temporale. For this reason, Mark Jude Tramo of the Harvard Medical School argues in a recent issue of Science that the brain doesn't have a specific "music center," as others have suggested. Perhaps most basic, researchers have discovered that musiclike languagestimulates many areas in the brain, including regions normally involved in other kinds of thinking. How does the brain process music? Are there special neural circuits dedicated to creating or interpreting it? If so, are they, like language, unique to human beings? Or do other animals possess true musical ability? Why is an appreciation for music practically universal? Has it conveyed some evolutionary advantage through time? The field of biomusicology is still fairly young, but during the past few years, it has started to answer some of these questions. Some of these instruments, carved from animal bones, are as much as 53,000 years oldmore than twice as old as the famed cave paintings in Lascaux.ĭespite the ancient and primal nature of music, though, scientists have struggled with some very fundamental questions about its origins and purpose. Take, for instance, the recent discoveries in France and Slovenia of surprisingly sophisticated, sweet-sounding flutes, made by our Neandertal cousins. Perhaps for that very reason, no human culture on earth has ever lived without it: people making music predates agriculture and perhaps even language. Music is indeed remarkable in its power over all humankind. It can bring us to tears or to our feet, drive us into battle or lull us to sleep. The remarkable musical instruments are as much as 53,000 years oldmore than twice as old as the famed cave paintings in Lascaux. NEANDERTAL FIREPLACE in France may have offered warmth to our ancestors as they joined to play and listen to the animal-bone flutes recently found in the area.
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