音乐缘何而起 经济学人杂志

Whymusic?音乐缘何而起？Biologistsareaddressingoneofhumanity’sstrangestattributes,itsall-singing,all-dancingculture生物学家正在对人类最怪异的特征——载歌载舞的文化——加以解释“IFMUSICbethefoodoflove,playon,givemeexcessofit.”Andifnot?Well,whatexactlyisitfor?Theproductionandconsumptionofmusicisabigpartoftheeconomy.Thefirstusetowhichcommercialrecording,intheformofEdison’sphonographs,wastobringmusictothelivingroomsandpicnictablesofthosewhocouldnotaffordtopaylivemusicians.Today,peoplearesosurroundedbyotherpeople’smusicthattheytakeitforgranted,butaslittleas100yearsagosingsongsathome,thechoirinthechurchandfiddlersinthepubwereallthatmostpeopleheard.“如果音乐是爱的食粮，奏下去，直到漫溢。”如果不是呢？究竟音乐是为了什么？音乐的生产和消费是经济的重要组成部分。以爱迪生的留声机形式首度出现的商业录音，就是为了将音乐带入那些请不起现场乐队的家庭，引入他们的客厅和野餐桌上。今天，人们已经被音乐层层包围，觉得不足为奇，但就在100年前，大部分人们听到的不过是家中的吟唱，教堂的唱诗和酒吧中的小提琴手。Otherappetites,too,havebeensatedeventoexcessbymodernbusiness.Foodfarbeyondthesimpleneedsofstomachs,andsex(oratleastimagesofit)farbeyondtheneedsofreproduction,bombardthemodernmanandwoman,andareeagerlyconsumed.Buttheseexcessesarebuiltonobviousappetites.WhatappetitedrivestheproliferationofmusictothepointwheretheaverageAmericanteenagerspends1½-2½hoursaday—aneighthofhiswakinglife—listeningtoit?其他欲望也和音乐一样，在现代商业的作用下甚至发展到闲赘。食物远非仅仅填饱肚子，性（至少是与性有关的画面）远非仅为繁衍，它们都像炮弹一样轰炸着现代人的头脑，还十分畅销。不过这些过度消费建立于显而易见的欲望之上。是什么样的需求推动着音乐的繁荣，让美国青少年每天平均花1½-2½小时——即清醒时间的八分之一——洗耳恭听呢？Well,thatfact—thathe,orshe,isateenager—supportsonehypothesisaboutthefunctionofmusic.Around40%ofthelyricsofpopularsongsspeakofromance,sexualrelationshipsandsexualbehaviour.TheShakespeareantheory,thatmusicisatleastoneofthefoodsoflove,hasastrongclaimtobetrue.Themoremellifluousthesinger,themoredexteroustheharpist,themorematesheattracts.受众是青少年这一事实，对音乐功能假说之一提供了支撑。约40%流行歌曲的作词都在讲述爱情，两性关系和性行为。莎翁曰，音乐至少为爱情食粮之一，很大程度上是正确的。歌手声音愈甜美，竖琴师弹奏越流畅，吸引的异性就越多。Asecondideathatiswidelytoutedisthatmusicbindsgroupsofpeopletogether.Theresultingsolidarity,itssupporterssuggest,mighthavehelpedbandsofearlyhumanstothriveattheexpenseofthosethatwerelessmusical.第二种广泛受到支持的说法是，音乐将人们联系到了一起。该理论的支持者认为，由此产生的团结可能帮助早期人群变得更加繁荣，音乐细胞不发达的群体则遭到淘汰。Bothoftheseideasarguethatmusicalabilityevolvedspecifically—thatitis,ifyoulike,avirtualorganaspreciselycraftedtoitspurposeastheheartorthespleen.Thethirdhypothesis,however,isthatmusicisacrossbetweenanaccidentandaninvention.Itisanaccidentbecauseitistheconsequenceofabilitiesthatevolvedforotherpurposes.Anditisaninventionbecause,havingthuscomeintoexistence,peoplehavebentittotheirwillandmadesomethingtheylikefromit.这两种观点都认为，音乐能力是特别发展起来的——也可以说是一个假想中完全为某种功能而产生的器官，类似心脏或脾脏。第三种假设却认为，音乐是偶然和创造的交集。说它是偶然，因为音乐是本为他用的能力产生的结果。说是创造，因为音乐自产生以来，人们就将它按照自己的意愿塑造，并从中得到所爱。Shelovesyou她爱你Shakespeare’sfamousquotewas,ofcourse,basedoncommonplaceobservation.Singing,donewell,iscertainlysexy.Butisitssexinessthereasonitexists?CharlesDarwinthoughtso.Twelveyearsafterhepublished“OntheOriginofSpecies”,whichdescribedtheideaofnaturalselection,asecondbookhitthepresses.“TheDescentofManandSelectioninRelationtoSex”suggestedthattheneedtofindamatebeingthepressingrequirementthatitis,alotofthefeaturesofanygivenanimalhavecomeaboutnottoaiditssurvival,buttoaiditscourtship.Themostfamousexampleisthetailofthepeacock.ButDarwinsuggestedhumanfeatures,too,mightbesexuallyselectedinthisway—andoneofthosehelitonwasmusic.莎翁名言当然基于日常观察。歌唱得好，固然性感。但性感是音乐存在的原因吗？查尔斯•达尔文认为如此。出版描述自然选择思想的《物种起源》十二载后，他的第二部书也付梓印刷。《人类的由来及性选择》称，寻求配偶的需求十分迫切，因此任意物种许多特征的存在并非为生存，而是为求偶。最著名的案例就是孔雀尾。但达尔文同时表示，人类特征可能也是由此方式进行的性选择——他阐述的其中一点就是音乐。Inthiscase,unlikethatofnaturalselection,Darwin’sthinkingdidnotsettheworldalight.ButhisideaswererevivedrecentlybyGeoffreyMiller,anevolutionarybiologistwhoworksattheUniversityofNewMexico.DrMillerstartswiththeobservationsthatmusicisahumanuniversal,thatitiscostlyintermsoftimeandenergytoproduce,andthatitis,atleastinsomesense,undergeneticcontrol.About4%ofthepopulationhas“amusia”ofonesortoranother,andatleastsometypesofamusiaareknowntobeheritable.Universality,costlinessandgeneticcontrolallsuggestthatmusichasaclearfunctioninsurvivalorreproduction,andDrMillerplumpsforreproduction.这一次，达尔文的观点并没有像自然选择学说一样，轰动世界。但他的观点最近被新墨西哥大学进化生物学家杰弗里•米勒恢复了生机。首先，米勒博士观察到：音乐在人类中普遍存在，生产过程消耗时间和精力，并且最起码在某些意义上受基因控制。约4%人口患有各种程度的“失歌症”，并且我们已经知道至少某些失歌症具有遗传性。普遍性、消耗性和基因控制，这些都显示音乐在生存和繁衍方面具有明显作用，米勒博士认为这是出于繁衍之故。Onereasonforbelievingthisisthatmusicalproductivity—atleastamongtherecordingartistswhohaveexploitedthephonographanditssuccessorsoverthepasthundredyearsorso—seemstomatchthecourseofanindividual’sreproductivelife.Inparticular,DrMillerstudiedjazzmusicians.Hefoundthattheiroutputrisesrapidlyafterpuberty,reachesitspeakduringyoung-adulthood,andthendeclineswithageandthedemandsofparenthood.该观点理由之一：音乐产量——至少在近百年来在利用留声机或留声机的升级产品留下录音的艺术家之中——似乎符合个人的生育期过程。米勒博士研究了爵士音乐家，发现他们的产量在青春期后迅速上升，青年时代达到顶峰，而后随年龄增长和照顾孩子的需要逐年下降。Asisoftenthecasewiththissortofobservation,itsoundsunremarkable;obvious,even.Butuniquelyhumanactivitiesassociatedwithsurvival—cooking,say—donotshowthispattern.Peoplecontinuetocookataboutthesameratefromthemomentthattheyhavemasteredtheartuntilthemomenttheydieoraretoodecrepittocontinue.Moreover,theanecdotalevidencelinkingmus