Chimpanzee’s Drum Solo Offers Clues to Origins of Music

Researchers who analyzed dozens of spontaneous performances by a captive male chimpanzee named Ayumu say the animal’s regular rhythms and expressive “play face” suggest the extent to which early humans were able to transform vocal emotion into instrumental sound.

Ayumu the chimpanzee spontaneously produced long, multicomponent instrumental displays by drumming, dragging, and throwing self-detached objects. Transition and rhythm analyzes revealed non-random sequencing resembling in part a panting structure, predominantly isochronous timing, and a more stable tempo during tool use than with the body. The accompanying expressions of the playful face and silent bared teeth suggest high arousal and positive affect, supporting the idea that affective vocal expression can be externalized through instrumental sound. Image credit: Hattori and others., doi: 10.1111/nyas.70239.

In February 2023, Ayumu, a 26-year-old male chimpanzee from the Center for the Evolutionary Origins of Human Behavior at Kyoto University, treated researchers to a spontaneous musical performance.

He removed planks from a walkway and used them to drum, producing complex, structured sounds resembling vocal expressions.

“Ayumu drumming is nothing new,” said Dr. Yuko Hattori and colleagues at Kyoto University.

“Chimpanzees are well known for their instrumental behavior and are particularly skilled at drumming.”

“But on this occasion, Ayumu’s combination of percussion and vocalizations – exhibiting multiple rhythmic components – was a completely new case.”

Between February 2023 and March 2025, the authors recorded a total of 89 spontaneous Ayumu performances.

The recordings show how he removed the boards from a driveway and used them as tools to make music.

“It was fascinating for me to see how the chimpanzee used tools to produce various sounds while giving a vocal display,” Dr. Hattori said.

Using Ayumu’s performances, researchers examined whether vocal expression could transform into instrumental sound.

They began by assessing his behavior and breaking it down into elements such as hitting, dragging and throwing.

They then assessed the connections between these elements using transition analysis, determining which transitions occurred by chance and which were deliberate.

Finally, they analyzed the intervals between strikes and compared the rhythmic stability of tool use with that of drumming performed with the hands or feet.

The analysis revealed that the sequence of sounds produced with the tools was not random and that the intervals between strikes were isochronous – maintaining a constant tempo, like a metronome.

In fact, using tools produced a more stable rhythm than using hands or feet alone.

Scientists have also observed facial expressions such as the “game face”, typically associated with gaming, indicating positive emotions.

Such expressions are generally not reported in vocal displays, suggesting that emotional signals once transmitted vocally may have been externalized and developed into tool-based sounds.

“Ayumu’s performance proves that non-human primates also possess the ability to externalize vocal expressions with instruments,” the authors said.

“Next, we want to analyze the reactions of other chimpanzees and the impact of Ayumu’s exposure within his social group.”

The study was published in the Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences.

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Yuko Hattori and others. 2026. Combinatorial instrumental sound creation in a captive chimpanzee: evolution of vocal externalization. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences 1557 (1): e70239; doi: 10.1111/nyas.70239