Did you know that the way you rock and bounce your baby can affect his sense of rhythm and even what type of music he prefers? Researchers at McMaster University in Ontario, Canada studied how babies perceive music. Since parents usually bounce or rock their babies while singing to them, the researchers wanted to see if there was any connection to the development of rhythm or later preference for music in the babies.
The researcher took a look at seven-month old babies. The babies listened to an ambiguous piece of music. That is, the music couldn’t be defined as any one type, such as a march, a tango or a waltz, for example.
While the babies listened to the music, they were bounced according to a specific music beat or style. One group of babies were bounced on every second beat, as if they were listening to a march, while the second set of babies were bounced every third beat, as if they were listening to a waltz. These types of music have their accents on their respective beats.
Later, the babies seemed to prefer the music that matched those beats that they had been bounced on. So the babies who were bounced on the third beats preferred the waltz, for example. The researchers took this to mean that the bouncing along with the music made the babies remember the music, and that the interpretation of sound is influenced not only by their music itself but by other senses.
I wonder, though, if a music preference can be inherent. I remember being a nervous new mother. Whenever I couldn’t feel my son move in my womb, I would play some Beatles music. Inevitably, he would always start kicking. I tried other music, but it never worked as well. To this day, he likes the Beatles and Rock and Roll.
What do you think?
Click here for more articles by Mary Ann Romans.
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