From Smithsonian Magazine by Theresa Machemer
“No matter where you are, a bop is a bop. Whether a melody makes people get up and dance, soothes their sadness, fall in love, or lull them to sleep, similar rhythms and tones make music a universal language, as the saying goes. Now, there might be science to back it up.
To better understand the similarities in music that could provide insight into its biological roots, a team of researchers focused on music with lyrics. They started by looking at ethnographic descriptions of music in 315 cultures worldwide, all of which featured vocal music, before analyzing musical recordings from 60 well-documented cultures, according to a study published in the journal Science.”