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Pat Savage

@patrickesavage.bsky.social

2.4K followers 680 following 610 posts

Director: @compmusiclab.bsky.social. Rutherford Discovery Fellow @U Auckland. Assoc. Prof. @Keio U. PI @manyvoices.bsky.social. Music, evolution, diversity. He/him. Tangata tiriti.

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Pat Savage @patrickesavage.bsky.social · Jun 11

7.5 years after signing the contract, I finally submitted the full manuscript of my book to Oxford University Press!!!
Thanks to Keio's Fukuzawa Fund, it will be published open access. You can already read the submitted version as a preprint at osf.io/b36fm
I hope you all find it useful!

Comparative Musicology
Evolution, Universals, and the Science of the World’s Music

Patrick E. Savage
Senior Research Fellow, School of Psychology, University of Auckland / Waipapa Taumata Rau
Associate Professor, Faculty of Environment and Information Studies, Keio University

Contents

Prologue: How to read/teach this book ii

Epigraphs vi

Foreword (Psyche Loui, President of the Society for Music Perception and Cognition) x

Foreword (Svanibor Pettan, Past President of the International Council for Traditions of Music and Dance) xii

Acknowledgments xiv

Ch. 1. Introduction: Aims, chapter structure, and key definitions 1

Ch. 2. Tutorial: Acoustic comparison within and between societies (and species) 12

Ch. 3. History: The rise and fall and rise of comparative musicology 34

Ch. 4. Universals: Absolute, statistical, and non-universal aspects of music beyond the “universal language” metaphor 72

Ch. 5. Evolution: Cultural and biological evolution of music(ality), language, and animal song 94

Ch. 6. Applications: Copyright, music therapy, language acquisition, cultural heritage, social bonding, AI, and beyond 120

Epilogue: “Many Voices” and the future of qualitative comparative musicology 135

Appendix: Companion audio recordings/code availability statement 139

Index 140

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Cultural Evolution Society @culturalevolsoc.bsky.social · 1d

We're pleased to announce and congratulate the winners of the Advancing Cultural Evolution Course Design Awards! This competition recognises leading educators in the field of cultural evolution and their existing efforts to advance its teaching.

We have 7 winners and 2 runners up (listed below):

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Pat Savage @patrickesavage.bsky.social · 2d

I’ve just finished a symposium in Leipzig where I got to meet Svante. It’s mind-blowing how much his work has revolutionized our understanding of human evolution 🤯

www.eva.mpg.de/events/2025-...

Svante Pääbo and I at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology symposium on “What makes us human?”

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Philip Ball @philipcball.bsky.social · 3d

The always brilliant Anjana Ahuja calls out the Royal Society for failing to stand up to Elon Musk.
www.ft.com/content/d4eb...

The Royal Society should be protecting science, not Musk

The esteemed club risks becoming a bystander as reason and rationality come under attack

www.ft.com

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ouinne @ouinne.bsky.social · 2d

The only correct take on a fundamentally anti-human technology.

Screenshot of David Simon interview
SHAPIRO: OK, so you've spent your career creating television without Al, and I could imagine today you thinking, boy, I wish I had had that tool to solve those thorny problems...
SIMON: What?
SHAPIRO: ...Or saying...
SIMON: You imagine that?
SHAPIRO: ...Boy, if that had existed, it would have screwed me over.
SIMON: I don't think Al can remotely challenge what writers do at a fundamentally creative level.
SHAPIRO: But if you're trying to transition from scene five to scene six, and you're stuck with that transition, you could imagine plugging that portion of the script into an Al and say, give me 10 ideas for how to transition this.
SIMON: I'd rather put a gun in my mouth.

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KOJAMF🤘🖤🤘 @kojamf.bsky.social · 6d

Dr. Jane Goodall filmed an interview with Netflix in March 2025 that she understood would only be released after her death.

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Pat Savage @patrickesavage.bsky.social · 5d

Yes, this is great. Have you considered including something like that "AI is research misconduct" wording in the title?

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Carl Zimmer @carlzimmer.com · 9d

I never met Jane Goodall, but she loomed over much of my reporting over the years. With @emilyanthes.bsky.social I wrote a piece about her scientific legacy. Gift link: nyti.ms/46PGBtd

nyti.ms

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Pat Savage @patrickesavage.bsky.social · 11d

Relatedly, I’m curious: how do people feel about reading books vs listening to audiobooks? It was only really with audiobooks I was able to rediscover the joy of reading for fun since feeling like I didn’t have time to sit and read (especially after becoming a parent)

Kat Tenbarge @kattenbarge.bsky.social · 12d

The real generational divide is people who refuse to watch a video if it could be an article versus people who refuse to read an article if it could be a video

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Claire Zagorski, MSc, EMT-P @clairezagorski.bsky.social · 12d

Hi! Did you know that you aren’t pronouncing axolotl correctly?

Suppression of indigenous languages by the Spanish is one of the Four Wounds of Colonization. This is a small subversion of colonial power you can use!

Axolotl is a Nahuatl word, and it sounds like this:

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Pat Savage @patrickesavage.bsky.social · 15d

How much did Colossal pay you for this ad (sorry, “Career Feature”)?

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Tomer Ullman @tomerullman.bsky.social · 17d

Although we cannot offer to move your review request further, we believe Communications Tomer may find it of interest, see the link to transfer your review there.

I'm sorry to not respond more positively, and I hope that you continue to see Tomer Ullman as a venue for your future review requests.

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Dr Tara McAllister @taramcallister.bsky.social · 18d

I really like our paper published today. It is written directly for Māori and Pacific prospective and current PhD students in STEM www.journal.mai.ac.nz/10.20507/MAI...

www.journal.mai.ac.nz

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Ben Dickson @drbenomycin.bsky.social · 17d

The working link to Tara's latest, share this with the Māori and Pacific grads around you!

Dr Tara McAllister @taramcallister.bsky.social · 18d

Damn pēhea tēnei? www.journal.mai.ac.nz/system/files...

www.journal.mai.ac.nz

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Pat Savage @patrickesavage.bsky.social · 18d

Non-citizen permanent residents can vote in New Zealand

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manvir singh @manvir.bsky.social · 18d

Honored to have been interviewed for this week's issue of @currentbiology.bsky.social!

Current Biology @currentbiology.bsky.social · 18d

From burying beetles to shamans, follow Manvir Singh @manvir.bsky.social in his sweeping Q&A from our latest issue.

www.cell.com/current-biol...

Manvir Singh

Interview with Manvir Singh, who studies the evolutionary and cognitive origins of human cultural behaviors at the University of California, Davis.

www.cell.com

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David W Lawson @davidwlawson.bsky.social · 23d

Teaching advice please —

I’m deciding if I should replace traditional paper assignments with an alternative now that we are all battling AI generated student papers…

But what is the best alternative?

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Pat Savage @patrickesavage.bsky.social · 23d

I’ve started usually requiring all students to give group oral presentations with Q&A in addition to final papers. And in-class participation is weighted most.
Doesn’t solve everything but has helped.

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Simon J. Greenhill @simongreenhill.bsky.social · 23d

HEY GUYS Let's take money from basic science and use give it the outcome of basic science 🤡
#NZGovtAntiScience
www.nzherald.co.nz/business/ret...

Govt's $70m boost for AI

Funding will be over 10 years and will be rolled out in two phases.

www.nzherald.co.nz

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Pat Savage @patrickesavage.bsky.social · 23d

🙃

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Guy Lavender Forsyth @guylavenderforsyth.bsky.social · 23d

New paper alert! 🧪

www.doi.org/10.1057/s415...

Language endangerment in Vanuatu: Bislama likely does pose a threat in the world’s most language-diverse country - Humanities and Social Sciences Communications

Humanities and Social Sciences Communications - Language endangerment in Vanuatu: Bislama likely does pose a threat in the world’s most language-diverse country

www.doi.org

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Bret Beheim @babeheim.bsky.social · 25d

How to quantify the impact of AI on long-run cultural evolution? Published today, I give it a go!

400+ years of strategic dynamics in the game of Go (Baduk/Weiqi), from feudalism to AlphaGo!

Miyagawa Shuntei's 1898 painting, "Playing Go (Japanese Chess)"

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Cultural Evolution Society @culturalevolsoc.bsky.social · 28d

The count down starts for #CESRabat! Follow @ces2026.bsky.social and join us May 11-13 next year for an exciting meeting in Rabat, Morocco.

Massive thanks to the #CESRabat organising committee:
Sarah Alami (co-chair)
Mathieu Charbonneau (co-chair)
Zachary Garfield
Edmond Seabright