# Event Details - **Event Name**: The evolutionary origins of music and their role in shaping culture - **Event Start and End Date**: Fri, 15 May, 2026 at 01:00 pm – Fri, 15 May, 2026 at 02:00 pm (+01:00) - **Event Description**: Join Nicholas Bannan and Shoe Lane Library for a talk on music and the role it plays in human behaviour and culture.About this EventThis page is for in-person tickets for this event - please see our separate page for online tickets.This talk draws on archaeology, anthropology, linguistics, and the physics of sound to explore how the development of musicality may have influenced the evolution of human behaviour and culture.Building on Darwin’s 1871 suggestion that song likely emerged before language, it examines the fundamentally musical nature of vowel sounds and traces several key phonemes—central to all languages—to the facial expressions associated with different emotional states.The talk will conclude with a practical demonstration, offering participants the chance to experience and test this idea for themselves.Nicholas Bannan studied music at Clare College, Cambridge University, and received commissions from several choirs, the Guildhall String Ensemble and the Grieg Quartet. He taught at the University of Reading and the University of Western Australia. His research focuses on the evolutionary origins of the human singing voice. He edited with George Odam The Reflective Conservatoire (Ashgate, 2005), and edited Music, Language, and Human Evolution (OUP, 2012). As a teacher, he developed the evolutionarily informed pedagogical system he named ‘Harmony Signing’, which led to the publications Every Child a Composer (Peter Lang, 2019) and First Instruments (OUP, 2020).This event will be delivered both in-person and online. To book an online ticket, Looking for more compelling stories from Shoe Lane Library? Check out our Eventbrite profile for more talks, events, lectures and historical discussions!If you have a disability you wish us to consider when attending our events, please inform the staff in advance. - **Event URL**: https://allevents.in/london/the-evolutionary-origins-of-music-and-their-role-in-shaping-culture/100001982497125269 - **Event Categories**: Nonprofit - **Interested Audience**: - total_interested_count: 0 ## Ticket Details - **Ticket Price Range**: min: 0, max: 0, currency: GBP ## Event venue details - **city**: London - **state**: EN - **country**: United Kingdom - **location**: Shoe Lane Library - **lat**: 51.51546800000001 - **long**: -0.106491 - **full address**: Shoe Lane Library, 1 Little New Street, London, United Kingdom ## Event gallery - **Alt text**: The evolutionary origins of music and their role in shaping culture - **Image URL**: https://cdn-az.allevents.in/events7/banners/be7018c8f504176bb52b9902e1ff94a906239a3db4bc0bb56f50c7ed300d5dc8-rimg-w1200-h600-dcf5f2d3-gmir.jpg?v=1773036432 ## FAQs - **Q**: When and where is The evolutionary origins of music and their role in shaping culture being held? - **A:** The evolutionary origins of music and their role in shaping culture takes place on Fri, 15 May, 2026 at 01:00 pm to Fri, 15 May, 2026 at 02:00 pm at Shoe Lane Library, 1 Little New Street, London, United Kingdom. - **Q**: Who is organizing The evolutionary origins of music and their role in shaping culture? - **A:** The evolutionary origins of music and their role in shaping culture is organized by Shoe Lane Library - City of London Libraries. - **Q**: Who is this event for? Is it right for me? - **A:** The evolutionary origins of music and their role in shaping culture is ideal for music lovers, fans of all genres, and anyone who wants to celebrate the power of music - from intimate gigs and live sessions to festivals and cultural performances. Whether you're a first-time attendee or a longtime enthusiast in London, this event is thoughtfully curated to deliver a standout experience worth every moment. If The evolutionary origins of music and their role in shaping culture sounds like your kind of event, don't wait - spots fill up fast. ## Structured Data (JSON-LD) ```json [ { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@type": "Event", "name": "The evolutionary origins of music and their role in shaping culture", "image": "https://cdn-az.allevents.in/events7/banners/be7018c8f504176bb52b9902e1ff94a906239a3db4bc0bb56f50c7ed300d5dc8-rimg-w1200-h600-dcf5f2d3-gmir.jpg?v=1773036432", "startDate": "2026-05-15T13:00:00+01:00", "endDate": "2026-05-15T14:00:00+01:00", "url": "https://allevents.in/london/the-evolutionary-origins-of-music-and-their-role-in-shaping-culture/100001982497125269", "eventStatus": "https://schema.org/EventScheduled", "location": { "@type": "Place", "name": "Shoe Lane Library", "address": { "@type": "PostalAddress", "streetAddress": "1 Little New Street", "postalCode": "EC4A 3JR", "addressLocality": "London", "addressRegion": "EN", "addressCountry": "GB" }, "geo": { "@type": "GeoCoordinates", "latitude": "51.51546800000001", "longitude": "-0.106491" } }, "eventAttendanceMode": "https://schema.org/OfflineEventAttendanceMode", "description": "Join Nicholas Bannan and Shoe Lane Library for a talk on music and the role it plays in human behaviour and culture.", "offers": [ { "@type": "AggregateOffer", "availability": "https://schema.org/InStock", "priceCurrency": "GBP", "availabilityStarts": "2026-03-09", "availabilityEnds": "2026-05-15T14:00:00+01:00", "validFrom": "2026-03-09", "lowPrice": "0.00", "highPrice": "0.00", "price": "0.00", "url": "https://allevents.in/london/the-evolutionary-origins-of-music-and-their-role-in-shaping-culture/100001982497125269" }, { "@type": "Offer", "availability": "https://schema.org/InStock", "priceCurrency": "GBP", "availabilityStarts": "2026-03-09", "availabilityEnds": "", "validFrom": "2026-03-09", "url": "https://allevents.in/london/the-evolutionary-origins-of-music-and-their-role-in-shaping-culture/100001982497125269", "price": 0, "name": "In-Person ticket" } ], "organizer": [ { "@type": "Organization", "name": "Shoe Lane Library - City of London Libraries", "url": "https://allevents.in/org/shoe-lane-library-city-of-london-libraries/22975081", "description": "Books, computer access, study areas, workshops, children's spaces, friendly and knowledgeable staff, and more - all located just off of Fleet Street. As one of City of London's public libraries, we are open to anyone who lives, works, studies or is a regular visitor to the City of London." } ] } ] ```