Sarah Darwin explores music, evolution and birdsong in new book foreword

Charles Darwin Trust trustee Dr Sarah Darwin has written a foreword to Why Music is Genetic, a new book by human geneticist Jörn Bullerdiek and musician Christine Süßmuth. The book explores why humans make and enjoy music, bringing together genetics, evolution, music history and the study of birdsong.

Sarah begins at Down House, where music was part of family life: Charles Darwin loved listening to music, while Emma Darwin was an accomplished pianist. Sarah connects that household with Charles’s ideas about music and sexual selection, then turns to birdsong and her own research into the feelings and memories evoked by nightingales.

The book follows sound from its source to the listener’s brain and considers musical ability, inheritance and the songs of birds. Sarah describes it as “playful, well researched, informative”.