A number of scientific studies have demonstrated the benefits of live music for our mental and physical health. But can babies benefit too? A Canadian study set out to investigate.
Researchers at the University of Toronto Scarborough (UTSC) conducted an experiment with 120 infants aged between 6 and 14 months. They divided them into two groups: the first attended an opera in a concert hall that doubles as a research center at McMaster University, while the second watched a recording of the same performance. The scientists observed the babies’ reactions using heart monitors and tablets installed on the backs of concert hall seats.
These devices enabled them to observe that the infants seemed much more interested in the live performance than in its recording. As the opera unfolded before their eyes over a period of 12 minutes, their attention was retained for 72 per cent of the time, compared with 54 per cent for the video recording. What’s more, the babies stayed focused longer when watching the live opera than when watching the recorded version.
This indicates that they were significantly more engaged when watching live music, according to Laura Cirelli, Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychology at UTSC and co-author of the study, published in the journal Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts. “Even little babies who may or may not have experienced music in a community context before are already engaging more when it’s delivered this way,” Cirelli says. “That’s one question we have as music cognition researchers: What is it about the live experience that’s worth it? Why would people go if there’s not something fundamental about that live music experience that’s above and beyond listening to music by yourself?” the researcher said in a statement.
A beneficial collective experience
If live music seems to fascinate babies, this doesn’t mean that opera and other concert recordings don’t interest them. They just stimulate them in a different way. Attending a musical performance is a collective experience during which the audience becomes a “rhythmic mass,” in the words of the writer and essayist Elias Canetti. As such, all those present all are moving in phase with the beat of the music and become one.
These moments of togetherness that can be experienced at any age. In fact, the UTSC scientists noted that the babies had similar reactions to certain operatic passages: they can be very calm and silent, before all becoming animated when they hear a change of key or a note that attracts their attention. “Their heart rates were speeding up and slowing down in a similar fashion to other babies watching the show,” explains Laura Cirelli.
This study shows just how effective music can be as a cognitive stimulant for young children. Previous research, published in 2019 in the journal PNAS, showed that listening to musical melodies can improve brain maturation in premature babies. All the more reason for parents to encourage their children to listen to music from an early age.
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