My cat Mati shows complete indifference towards jazz. It doesn't matter what kind of jazz. Trad, jazz funk, fusion, bebop, mainstream, cool, Latin, smooth – you name it – it makes no difference. Since jazz makes up 99% of the music listened to chez nous, I haven't checked her reactions to other genres, though I fear poor Mati just can't appreciate music. But are all animals musically sterile (Figure 1)?

Carthusian monk (cool jazz name!) Bonaventure d'Argonne asked himself that very question, and in his Mélanges d'Histoire et de Litterature; Recveillis par M de Vigneul‐Marville (1700, volume II, Rotterdam: Chez Elie Yvans) (with Monsieur de Vigneul‐Marville being a pseudonym he used for writing about matters of the present world rather than the next), he recounted how different animals in a corral reacted to his companion's playing of a trumpet marine, a now little‐used instrument something like a brass‐sounding double bass in which the hand positions are reversed (https://bit.ly/3jeYyrl). Just like Mati, a cat was completely indifferent, as was an ass, a rooster, and some hens. A horse gave the odd look, and some cows managed a cursory glance. A dog, however, sat up and paid continued attention, as did a captive deer, and some caged birds apparently sprang into song. Grown men knocking out a tune on a trumpet marine from a farmhouse window to an audience of barnyard animals (deer notwithstanding); it must have made for a humorous anecdote in the village tavern. But it is no more than that. d'Argonne's sample sizes were tiny, we don't know the piece(s) played, and his experiment was not repeated with any other instrument or type of music. Gradually, however, we might be moving towards answering what d'Argonne could not.

Though hardly conclusive, what we've found out so far is intriguing. That long‐held idea that cows give more when milked to music? Some research suggests that they do, and that the genre matters less than keeping to a tempo below 120 beats per minute. Other studies report that cotton‐top tamarins (Saguinus oedipus) and common marmosets (Callithrix jacchus) have little interest in “human music”, and prefer silence when given the choice (and slower tempos when not). However, play them specially composed “monkey music” and things change. Compositions based on these creatures’ vocalizations that communicate calmness and fear seem to elicit these responses when played within the species’ frequency range and at upbeat tempos that better match small monkey metabolism. The same composers later wrote calming music specific for cats, and while their opuses have no effect on Mati (try them on your pet here: https://bit.ly/30kQi0q), the felines they tested seemed to show significantly greater interest in them than in calming human tunes. Further investigations have revealed that cockatoos and other parrots have rhythm and can change their movements to match a beat, as indeed can at least one California sea lion (Zalophus californianus), and bonobos (Pan paniscus) can get down on a drum kit if it's ergonomically designed for them. It's even been reported that their bigger brothers, chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes), have a preference for Indian and West African music over Japanese themes. And it may be that birds, and perhaps whales, compose music. Rather than just churn out old repertoires, some birds vary their songs, using musical devices such as repetition; they may even invent new material. Of course, there is controversy over whether birdsong qualifies as music, not least because it's hard to prove birds compose for aesthetic (rather than simply functional) reasons – something inherent to many definitions of music.

“But if a definition hopes to take in all the world's music, we need a cross‐species approach”, suggests Hollis Taylor, a research fellow who studies the Music of Nature and the Nature of Music at Macquarie University (Sydney, Australia). “To date, very few species have been canvassed for their musical capacities. Enter zoomusicology, a young field that recognizes that animals can have musical lives. It begins by ditching heritage Western art music as the persistent reference point. Instead, zoomusicology builds on the notion that the functional and the aesthetic are not mutually exclusive. If we share something of our ability to appreciate music with other [animals], this could provide insight into the evolution of music and language, and the neurobiology and psychology of our own and other species.”

The things we discover might also have implications for our relationships with some animals. If we worry about the ethics of keeping chimpanzees captive because of their intelligence, how might we feel about species with proven aesthetic sensitivities?

I'm still watching Mati for a reaction to jazz, but so far neither tempo, nor arrangement, nor virtuosity seem to affect her one bit. It's all the same to her whether the guitarist is some legendary figure or me. Actually, maybe I'll stop observing her right now! That's the best comparison with George Benson I'm ever going to get!

Adrian Burton

我的猫马蒂（Mati）对爵士乐完全漠不关心。哪种爵士乐都没关系。传统，爵士放克，融合，波普风，主流，酷，拉丁，柔和-随便你说-没什么区别。由于爵士音乐占Chez nous听音乐的99％，所以我没有检查她对其他流派的反应，尽管我担心可怜的马蒂人无法欣赏音乐。但是，所有动物在音乐上都是不育的（图1）吗？

卡尔特教团的和尚（很酷的爵士乐名字！）博纳芬蒂尔·德阿贡（ Bonaventure d'Argonne）在他的《法兰西历史与文学》中问了这个问题。威格纳·马维尔庄园（1700年，第II卷，鹿特丹：Chez Elie Yvans）（Vigneul-Marville先生是化名，他用来写关于当今世界而不是下一个世界的事物），他叙述了畜栏中不同动物对同伴的反应如何演奏小号海军陆战队乐器，这是一种现在很少使用的乐器，例如铜管乐器的低音提琴，其手的位置相反（https://bit.ly/3jeYyrl）。就像马蒂一样，猫，驴，公鸡和一些母鸡也完全漠不关心。一匹马看上去有些古怪，有些母牛粗略地瞥了一眼。但是，一只狗坐起来并继续注意，一只圈养的鹿也照做了，一些笼中的鸟显然跳了起来。成年男子从农舍的窗户向to动物的听众敲打小号海军陆战队的曲调（尽管有鹿）；它一定是在乡村小酒馆里做成幽默的轶事的。但是，仅此而已。d'Argonne的样本规模很小，我们不知道所演奏的作品，并且他的实验也没有在任何其他乐器或音乐类型中进行过重复。但是，逐渐地，我们可能会朝着解决d'Argonne无法解决的问题迈进。

尽管几乎没有定论，但到目前为止我们发现的内容很有趣。长期存在的想法是，当牛奶挤入音乐中时，母牛会付出更多？一些研究表明，它们确实起作用，而且这种类型的重要性远不及将节奏保持在每分钟120拍以下。其他研究报告称，棉顶绢毛猴（Saguinus oedipus）和普通mar猴（Callithrix jacchus））对“人类音乐”几乎没有兴趣，并且在选择时更喜欢保持沉默（在没有节奏时则选择较慢的节奏）。但是，演奏它们特别组成的“猴子音乐”，情况就会改变。当这些动物在特定物种的频率范围内，以乐观的节奏与小猴子的新陈代谢更好地进行比赛时，基于表达这些生物的镇静和恐惧的发声的构图似乎会引发这些反应。后来，同一位作曲家创作了专门针对猫的平静音乐，虽然他们的反对对马蒂没有影响（在这里对您的宠物进行尝试：https：//bit.ly/30kQi0q），但他们测试的猫科动物似乎表现出了极大的兴趣他们比在平息人类的曲调上要好。进一步的调查表明，凤头鹦鹉和其他鹦鹉具有节律，可以改变其动作以适应节拍，如果Zalophus californianus）和bo黑猩猩（Pan paniscus）符合人体工学，则可以放在架子鼓上。甚至有报道说，他们的大兄弟黑猩猩（Pan troglodytes）对印度和西非音乐的喜爱程度要高于日本主题。也许是鸟类，也许是鲸鱼组成了音乐。有些鸟类不仅使用旧曲目，还使用诸如重复的音乐设备来改变歌曲。他们甚至可能发明新材料。当然，关于鸟鸣是否符合音乐的说法存在争议，这不仅是因为很难证明鸟是出于审美（而不是单纯地出于功能性）的原因而构成音乐-这是许多音乐定义所固有的。

“但是，如果一个定义希望吸收世界上所有的音乐，我们就需要一种跨物种的方法，”麦格理大学（澳大利亚悉尼）研究自然音乐和音乐自然的研究员Hollis Taylor建议。“迄今为止，极少有人因其音乐能力而进行过布道。输入zoomusicology，这是一个年轻的领域，它认识到动物可以过音乐的生活。首先，放弃传统的西方艺术音乐作为永恒的参考点。取而代之的是，缩放音乐学建立在功能和美学不相互排斥的概念上。如果我们与其他[动物]分享我们欣赏音乐的能力，则可以洞悉音乐和语言的发展，以及我们自己和其他物种的神经生物学和心理学。”

我们发现的事物也可能会影响我们与某些动物的关系。如果我们担心由于黑猩猩的机智而将其圈养的道德准则，那么我们会对具有成熟美学敏感性的物种有何感想？

我仍然在看马蒂（Mati）对爵士乐的反应，但是到目前为止，节奏，安排，技巧都不影响她。无论吉他手是传奇人物还是我，对她来说都是一样的。实际上，也许我现在将停止观察她！这是我将得到的与乔治·本森的最好的比较！

阿德里安·伯顿（Adrian Burton）