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Hypotheses of Music Evolution: A Review and Future Research Directions

  • Journal of the Korean Society for Musicology
  • Abbr : JKSM
  • 2025, 33(1), pp.111~139
  • DOI : 10.34303/mscol.2025.33.1.004
  • Publisher : The Korean Society for Musicology
  • Research Area : Arts and Kinesiology > Musicology > Other Musicology
  • Received : May 3, 2025
  • Accepted : May 22, 2025
  • Published : June 30, 2025

Lee Mi-Kyung 1

1전남대학교

Accredited

ABSTRACT

The questions surrounding the origins of music cannot be resolved using traditional musicological research methods alone. As empirical scientific research in the related field continues to accumulate, discussions on music and evolution based on scientific evidence have gained new momentum. This paper examines how research on the origins of music has unfolded based on newly validated evidence since the 2000s. A book solely dedicated to the topic of music and origins was published-The Origins of Music (2000) edited by Wallin, Merker, & Brown. Since then, the origins of music have largely been explained by three traditional hypotheses: sexual selection, by-product, social bonding hypothesis. In 2021, a new debate emerged when two papers presenting constrasting arguments (Savage et al., 2021 and Mehr et al., 2021) were published in the journal Behavioral and Brain Sciences. They reexamined and integrated the three traditional hypotheses, leading to the formation of more advanced theories. Despite establishing two more persuasive and unified hypotheses, several unresolved issues remain. This paper discusses these problems while proposing future research directions for studies on the origins of music.

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