Song and smile

A PBS special, The Music Instinct: Science & Song included exploration of, among other things, music’s “biological, emotional and psychological impact on humans.”

I didn’t get to see the program, just read a commentary that mentioned how music affects babies. Quotes from that follow:

“If we are, as some scientists believe, “wired for music,” then babies are ideal test subjects since their reactions are, by definition, instinctual.

Part of this research involved the effect of music on fetuses. While we knew that mothers often sing to their unborn children, we weren’t sure that the unborn child could hear them.

We are now. A segment of The Music Instinct featured Sheila C. Woodward of the University of Southern California, who has studied fetal responses to music. A camera and a microphone designed for underwater use were inserted into the uterus of a pregnant woman. And then Woodward sang.

The hydrophone picked up two sounds: the “whooshing” of the uterine artery and the unmistakable sound of a woman singing a lullaby.

Then something extraordinary happened. Upon hearing the woman’s voice, the unborn child smiled.”

Woman’s voice in song yields smiles. It definitely makes me want to sing more to my grandbaby.