Lions And Tigers And Beats, Oh My: Can Animals Make Music?
Zoomusicology is the study of the music of animals, or rather the musical aspects of sound or communication produced and received by animals. This is a brief, slightly whimsical summary of zoomusicology that tries to answer two questions that we all secretly want answered:
Can animals compose music? Can they play musical instruments?
First off, not all noise is music. Music is sound with a discernible start and end, and has been rationally created, while noise is just random sounds. Secondly, music can be considered composed into its rationally created form on the basis of the consideration of some of the 10 fundamentals of music, which we’ll look at the animal kingdoms grasp of in a moment. Thirdly and finally, we’ll discuss instruments, if only to reassure ourselves that even if a snake could write a Christmas number one, all they could do with a flute is get stuck in it.
Can Animals Compose Music? Yes.
We could use birdsong as an example here, but apparently humpback whales are the most musical animals. There’s even a whale with a multi-platinum album, called Songs Of A Humpback Whale. Music is composed of the features above, but can animals master each and compose them together?
| Beat and Meter | Dynamics |
| Yes. Whale song contains beat patterns. | Yes. Whale song has moments of emphasis. |
| Timbre | Melody |
| Yes. They have recognisably different timbre. | Yes. But only male whales. |
| Pitch | Rhythm |
| Yes. Perfect pitch. | Yes. See beat and meter. |
| Tempo | Texture |
| Yes. Although it is characteristically slow, it varies in speed. | Yes. Although reliant on groups singing together. |
| Harmony | |
| Yes. Whales understand harmony, even harmonising with a cello player once. |
All together now. Do they compose music?
Yes. Although they do not write it down. They have been found to compose and repeat music, both individually and in groups, including with humans. However, this is not an accurate representation of other animals, as whales are notoriously mentally advanced creatures. However this means animals can make music and looking at each individually would take too long for one article. So they can make music, but can they use anything other than their voice to play it?
Can Animals Play Instruments? Yes.
We can teach our kids to play piano, no matter how hard it may be, but can animals learn to play musical instruments? As most of us will know, most animals can sing in their own way, like whales and birds. But beyond that, what are their capabilities? Chimpanzees are known to tap out beats, as well as tap along with music they hear, which is basically using their arms as percussive instruments. As for actual instruments, made for the purpose of music, while animals cannot make these themselves (as far as we know) they have been recorded using them on multiple occasions. Check out these videos, which prove without a doubt that not only can animals compose music, they can play music using instruments:
Conclusion
Yes they can compose music that not only sounds good, it goes multi-platinum and can also play instruments. However, they are not nearly on the same scale as us, so the rampant mob of musicians can put down the tuning forks and torches, for the moment. These displays of animal ingenuity should remind us we are just another species, using a synthesizer to channel a natural urge to sing together.
