EDC, Stagecoach, and Vans Warped tour – though vastly different in style, share one core commonality: the ability to attract large crowds of people who come out of love for the music. No matter what setting or genre played, the energy is the same; everyone in attendance comes with a smile on their face and exudes excitement while dancing together in front of the massive stages. It’s gatherings like these that show the effect that music can have on people; a single song can turn a bad day into a good one, and create close friends out of strangers based on the simple fact that they like the same music. Seeing that effect happen in every part of the world regardless of genre often makes one wonder what it is that causes this effect.

The answer to that question has been discovered through a scientific study by the University of Exeter and Tokyo University, which aimed to prove that there are common features seen in all types of global music. What they found is that globally, music has always acted like a “social glue,” allowing societal coordination and bonds to be built that extended beyond language. In order to obtain their findings, scientists from both universities collected and analyzed 304 different types of music from across the globe; though there were no complete commonalities between the types, several statistical universals included pitch, rhythm, and social context. The lead author, Pat Savage, was able to describe the study perfectly: “…despite its great surface diversity, most of the music throughout the world is actually constructed with very similar basic building blocks and performs very similar functions, which mainly revolve around bringing people together.”

via: Phys.org

Tags: global music

Categories: News