The Power of Music: Pioneering Discoveries in the New Science of Song
1646
Why do humans (even as infants) dance to music or at least move to its beat? The award-winning creator of the acclaimed documentary “The Music Instinct: Science & Song,” explores the power of music and its connection to the body, the brain, and the world of nature. Only recently has science sought in earnest to understand and explain this impact. One remarkable recent study, analyzing the cries of newborns, shows that infants’ cries contain common musical intervals, and children tease each other in specific, singsong ways no matter where in the world they live. Physic…
Why do humans (even as infants) dance to music or at least move to its beat?(r/askscience)
This book has a whole chapter on it where they did a study involving babies bouncing to the beat of music…
To summarize, there are theories about babies learning speech patterns (or rhythm) in the last trimester of pregnancy. In addition, the same part of the brain that interprets language interprets music, and can stimulate the areas of the brain for movement (like dancing). It is further theorized that music can cause hormones to be released that generate action in us as humans (such as war chants or heavy metal exciting us and stimulating an adrenaline response). The book goes on to explain how music could be an older form of communication that evolved in our ancestry before spoken language, and that’s why it’s engrained into us before even birth, and why babies bounce to the beat. The specific study I referenced used French babies and German babies to be played a beat that could be interpreted as either a march or a waltz. All the French babies bounced like it was a waltz, and all the German babies bounced like it was a march, which corresponds to the pattern of dissonance and consonance in each of their respective languages.
The Power of Music: Pioneering Discoveries in the New Science of Song
1646
Why do humans (even as infants) dance to music or at least move to its beat?
The award-winning creator of the acclaimed documentary “The Music Instinct: Science & Song,” explores the power of music and its connection to the body, the brain, and the world of nature. Only recently has science sought in earnest to understand and explain this impact. One remarkable recent study, analyzing the cries of newborns, shows that infants’ cries contain common musical intervals, and children tease each other in specific, singsong ways no matter where in the world they live. Physic…
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This book has a whole chapter on it where they did a study involving babies bouncing to the beat of music…
To summarize, there are theories about babies learning speech patterns (or rhythm) in the last trimester of pregnancy. In addition, the same part of the brain that interprets language interprets music, and can stimulate the areas of the brain for movement (like dancing). It is further theorized that music can cause hormones to be released that generate action in us as humans (such as war chants or heavy metal exciting us and stimulating an adrenaline response). The book goes on to explain how music could be an older form of communication that evolved in our ancestry before spoken language, and that’s why it’s engrained into us before even birth, and why babies bounce to the beat. The specific study I referenced used French babies and German babies to be played a beat that could be interpreted as either a march or a waltz. All the French babies bounced like it was a waltz, and all the German babies bounced like it was a march, which corresponds to the pattern of dissonance and consonance in each of their respective languages.
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Additional Information
askscience
2
1596
$18.98
Hardcover
ABIS_BOOK
Elena Mannes
First Edition
Walker Books
The Power of Music: Pioneering Discoveries in the New Science of Song
Why do humans (even as infants) dance to music or at least move to its beat?
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/r/askscience/comments/yzdm3/why_do_humans_even_as_infants_dance_to_music_or/
More about the book on Amazon