Friday, September 11th, 2009

Primate Music

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Kanzi, a bonobo ape, is rocking out with a researcher at the Great Ape Trust of Iowa. (Credits: Courtesy of Music Research Institute at University of North Carolina at Greensboro.) Viewed 4714 times. See More Videos

There's research on whales singing and birds dancing, but what about monkeys and apes? In this segment, we'll look at the musical abilities of our fellow primates. In one study, researchers gave electronic keyboards to bonobos and asked them to play along with musicians such as Peter Gabriel and Paul McCartney. In another study, published this month in in the journal Biology Letters, researchers examined whether humans could compose music tailored to produce an emotional response in cotton-top tamarin monkeys. We'll talk about what other members of the primate kingdom can teach humans about music.

Guests

Patricia Gray
Clinical Professor and Senior Research Scientist of BioMusic
Music Research Institute
University of North Carolina-Greensboro
Greensboro, North Carolina

David Teie
Cellist, National Symphony Orchestra
Washington D.C.