Animal Music (EC)

Subject associations
HUM 327 / MUS 327 / CGS 327 / PSY 328
Term
Fall 2025
Instructors
Asif A. Ghazanfar
Gavin Steingo
Registrar description

This course brings together scholarship from musicologists, cognitive scientists, and biologists to explore the concept of "animal music" from a cross-disciplinary perspective. Animal music is an important topic because it harbors profound information about the history of life--by examining it in relation to human music making, we stand to gain a better understanding of everything from social synchronization and linguistic turn-taking to (bio)semiotics and cultural evolution. Using a combination of short lectures, student presentations, and creative projects, this course provides students with a comprehensive understanding of the field.