What’s the difference between noise and music?

The Connecticut State Museum of Natural History will hold a free lecture - “The Origins of Music: Signals and Noise,” led by Dan Finkel from UConn’s Department of Anthropology, that will explore the evolution of music.

The event begins at 3 p.m. on Sunday, Nov. 8 and takes place in Room 130 in the Biology/Physics Building on the Storrs Campus.

In many parts of the world, music is something everyone does throughout their lives and its ubiquity suggests it may be an evolved part of human nature. If this is the case, what possible adaptive value might music possess?

This question has been the subject of passionate inquiry and debate among researchers, and though a wide variety of answers have been offered, there still lacks convincing evidence that music is an adaptation.

Sunday’s talk will examine the various theories concerning the evolutionary origins of music in order to determine what, if anything, we can really say about how music came to be a central part of the human experience.

Then, an attempt will be made to unify the evolutionary theories under an umbrella “signaling” theory… after all, music is a signal with both transmitters and audience, and could be approached from a behavioral-ecology perspective.

The program is open to children ages 10 and older accompanied by an adult. It is free and advanced registration isn’t required.

For more information, please visit http://www.cac.uconn.edu/mnhcurrentcalendar.html or call 860.486.4460 during office hours.

The Connecticut State Museum of Natural History and Department of Anthropology are part of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at UConn.

Posted Nov. 3, 2009