Episode 5

Why Music?

This episode takes us from the evolution of human musicality into the realm of music itself, and its origins. That story is big, controversial, and messy. So, I've sorted it into easily digestible summaries of the ideas of Charles Darwin, Steven Brown, and Steven Pinker: three thinkers whose work is important for understanding how and why we started making music. It could have been really long, but I've cleverly limited it to under about 25 minutes.

Here's a link to a brief and delightfully tension-filled conversation between Police drummer Stewart Copeland and Harvard Linguist/Psychologist Steven Pinker, referenced in the last third or so of the episode.

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A People's History of the Guitar

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Grant Samuelsen

Grant Samuelsen has led a multi-modal professional life in the worlds of contemporary art and music, business, and academia, and he has degrees from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and Carnegie Mellon University. He has published essays, articles and criticism, and he's been a guitar player since he was 13. He's interested in everything, which can be a problem, but the global social and cultural history of the guitar has held his attention for the longest period of time, so now he's doing this podcast. He's originally from the Chicago area and now lives in Madison, Wisconsin with his family, guitars, and a female Staffordshire Terrier named after one of the male members of Black Flag.