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Concept
Zoomusicology
Summary
Zoomusicology (ˌzəʊəmjuːzɪˈkɒlədʒi) is the study of the musical aspects of sound and communication as produced and perceived by animals. It is a field of musicology and zoology, and is a type of zoosemiotics. Zoomusicology as a field dates to François-Bernard Mâche's 1983 book Music, Myth, and Nature, or the Dolphins of Arion (published in English in 1992), and has been developed more recently by scholars such as Dario Martinelli, David Rothenberg, Hollis Taylor, David Teie, and Emily Doolittle.
Zoomusicology is a separate field from ethnomusicology, the study of human music. Unlike other animals, mankind makes music for purposes other than attracting mates or defending territory.
Zoomusicologists in a wide range of fields including music, semiotics, philosophy and biology conduct zoomusicology research. This is due to the fact that the field of zoomusicology is so broad and reaches many disciplines. Musician and zoomusicologist Hollis Taylor has conducted an extensive study of the Pied Butcherbird, Cracticus nigrogularis over the past 15 years, including interdisciplinary research with philosophers and scientists. Clarinetist, and philosopher David Rothenberg plays music with animals, and has written books on the relationship between bird, insect, and whale song and human music. Composer Emily Doolittle has written numerous pieces based on animal songs, and has published interdisciplinary music-science research on the hermit thrush and the musician wren. Heavy metal bands such as Hatebeak, Caninus, Naegleria Fowleri, and Boar Glue have released music fronted by grey parrot, pit bull, Amazon parrot, and guinea pig, respectively. Susan Belanger has also contributed to the field of zoomusicology, with her work on soft song in the Asian corn borer moth, Ostrinia furnacalis and its relationship to the initiation of mating behaviour. Researcher Patricia Gray has examined the music that can be seen in whales and songbirds. This list is by no means all encompassing, but simply lists some notable members of the zoomusicology research community.
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