Lecture alert: The Musical Instinct

Ever since Pythagoras, and certainly much earlier, science and music have been entangled in an intimate dance. From the geometrical relationships that obtain between vibrating strings and the tones they produce, to the neuroscience underlying human perception of harmony, the relationship between the art and science of music provides an unparalleled bridge between our subjective and objective natures.

Here in San Francisco, we are lucky to reside at one of the epicenters for the world of musical performance. Almost every night, we are presented with a rich musical smorgasbord at venues ranging from the Boom Boom Room to  Symphony Hall. Fortunately, we also have ample opportunity to indulge the scientific side of our musical appetite. Recently, Oliver Sacks passed through town as part of a tour promoting Musicophilia, a book presenting his theory that humans are fundamentally a musical species.

This Friday evening, May 30, we have another opportunity to learn about our long evolutionary relationship to music.  Dr. Steven Mithen, an archaeologist at the University of Reading, UK, will review the evolution of our musical and linguistic abilities. Dr Mithen is a pioneer in Cognitive Archaeology, a field that concerns itself with the discovery and analysis of mental artifacts - literally "fossil thoughts" - and their application towards an understanding of the overall story of human cognitive evolution. According to Dr. Mithen, music plays a significant role in that story

Dr. Mithen, author of The Prehistory of the Mind, will discuss the reasons why "the enjoyment of music is as widespread among humans living today as the enjoyment of food, the use of language, and any other trait that is recognized as universal and to be part of our biological constitution rather than just cultural history."

This promises to be an informative lecture for those interested in either the objective or the subjective side of our musical nature.

See you there!

Details:
Presented by the Leakey Foundation, in collaboration with the California Academy of Sciences and the Del Sol String Quartet.

Date/Time: May 30, 2008 at 8pm
City: San Francisco, CA
Location: Jewish Community Center of San Francisco, 3200 California Street
Tickets: $10 General; $8 Members; $6 students
Call: 415-321-8000

There will be a free reception, prior to the event, at 6:30 pm.

Sponsored by Wells Fargo
Topics: science , music , archaeology , human cognitive evolution