“Music has charms to soothe the savage beast” is a popular but incorrect quote of a line from a 1697 play “The Mourning Bride” by William Cosgrove. The correct quote is “Music has charms to soothe a savage breast.” Whether or not music can soothe a savage breast, until this time its effect on a beast has been open to question. However, a recent study indicates that in very special cases, music can be written that can affect the behavior of certain animals, specifically the cotton-top tamarin of Central and South American rain forests.
When the human style music was played for the monkeys, there was no reaction, but when the up-tempo music was played, they displayed signs of agitation in response to the heavy-metal style, and appeared to calm down when exposed to the ballad style.
It appears that these are the first controlled studies that show a response to music by an animal. The findings indicate that the human proclivity for music has a long evolutionary history.
There is no doubt that music can stimulate a strong reaction in humans (See my blog of September 15th). For example, in my own case the sound of country-western music (an oxymoron if there ever was one) causes an extreme allergy. My feet start moving toward the nearest exit, or if none is available I immediately start looking for a pillow or something with which to cover my ears. But I really do enjoy a good jazz concert.
As in my preferences for most contemporary entertainment, I seem to be outnumbered. But what do all those other folks know? Most of them can’t tell a breast from a beast.
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