Bouncing to the Beatles Breeds Benevolent Babies

I love this study - researchers showed that children as young as 14 months can be influenced to exhibit spontaneous helping behavior if they have previously engaged in synchronous behavior with the object of their assistance!  read the article for the details but the takeaway for me is that it isn't necessarily about music - the researchers reckoned that music probably wasn't necessary - what was necessary was the movement and visual recognition that another human being was moving in the same way as them.  What music was doing here was to deliver the auditory cues on when to move - and that for me is a huge insight into how music affects us.  It's often not that music has some special magic that makes things happen - it's that music is so prevalent and we're so used to acting on its inherent nature (i.e rhythm, beat, melody, mood, bass lines) that its our actions that are the cause but we attribute them to music.

 

5 Ways to Incorporate Music into the Workplace

Nice overview on music in the workplace - complete with some listening recommendations - The Simcity 4 soundtrack is a favorite for many knowledge workers


Relaxation Techniques for Migraines and Headaches

Headaches are horrible and dealing with them can be a nightmare.  This article looks at relaxation techniques which have been shown to help people suffering from headaches and migraines.  One of the recommendations is to use calming music in the background - which makes sense so long as it isn't "loud" music!  Some music2work2 would be perfect for this.


This Music Will Make You Feel Invincible

This one has been making the rounds this week for obvious reasons.  If just listening to music can make you feel and act more powerful then that's pretty good information to have.  the study isolated the driver to be heavy bass beats in the tracks which has certainly been a major growth area in popular music over the last decade or so.  Nothing terribly new here - athletes and competitors of all kinds have used music to pump themselves up before an event - it's just interesting to see that one specific aspect of the music - the bass - can have such an impact.


#musictoworkto #musicandpain #workmusic #musicatwork

​Written while listening to: Drive (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)