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322features must have been present, because it is unlikely that hominids would actually startsinging after they descended from the safe trees to the hazardous ground.As a system of communication, pitch language shared common features with bothprimate calls and human speech. The features which link pitch language with primatecalls were the presence of melodic contour (modulation of a fundamental frequency) asthe main medium of communication, and possibly the presence of only a few consonants.On the other hand, liberation from limbic control and lateralization in the left hemispherelinks hominid pitch language with human speech (or spoken language). So, by its form,pitch language was still connected with primate calls, but by its content pitch languagewas closer to speech. Thus, I agree with the idea of Bruce Richman, expressed in the titleof his article “On the evolution of speech: singing in the middle term” (Richman, 1993).Considering the importance of good musical abilities for our Australopithecineancestors, I would suggest that their musical requirements must have been somehowclose to those of contemporary professional musicians: (1) a good musical ear isessential for the physical survival of both of them; (2) intensive musical learning fromearly childhood is another important common feature, and (3) as the result of theprevious point, in the brains of both the Australopithecine and the professional musicianmusical functions and extensive experiences are stored and processed by the lefthemisphere.The presence of a few consonant-like sounds in the primate call system heraldedthe future development of spoken language. You do not need to read Goodall or Stopapublications to notice that chimpanzees, Japanese macaques and some other primates doemploy “kh” and “k” consonant-like sounds in their vocalizations. These consonant-likesounds have long since been recognized as a part of primate and ape vocalizations(Peterson, 1982; Snowdon, 1982; Stopa, 1979). Therefore, there are no grounds to denythe use of at least a few consonants in the mostly pitch-based communication ofAustralopithecines. It is interesting that contemporary speaking humanity is still usingvocal communication based on these two elements: (1) consonants and (2) prosodic(pitch) elements, the same two elements that our not-so-close tree-living relatives still usein their communication.An increase in the importance of consonants (as well as the appearance of morevowels) in the evolution of human communication resulted in the emergence ofarticulated speech. But before this revolutionary increase in the variety of vowels andconsonants, our human ancestors must have communicated with the help of pitch contourpredominantly.There are a few other facts that point to the deep evolutionary roots of humanmusical abilities, and although I am not going to discuss them in detail, they deserve atleast a mention:• The genetic basis of human musicality is widely known. This includes pitchperception, sound production, and the feel of rhythm. All three faculties have a geneticcomponent. Readers may remember the example of Richard Wagner, who was among themost musically creative individuals in history, but could not sing in tune. Such factssuggest that seemingly interconnected different musical abilities are in fact independentfrom each other. So not only “musical ability” is a separate ability, different from other