Songs seem to have power over our moods, don't they? The right song can make you want to dance, even when you're supposed to be sitting still. Fancy restaurants sometimes choose quiet, soothing music. Football teams use marching bands at halftime to make the crowd want to stand up and cheer.
A new study designed by Dr. Charles T. Snowden, a psychologist, and cello player David Teie seems to show that specially composed "monkey music" can change a monkey's mood, too.
The cello player figured that monkeys wouldn’t show much interest in music written for people, and he was right. Mr. Teie then composed songs that used sounds similar to monkey calls. One song was designed to stir monkeys up. He started with sounds similar to monkey distress calls, but put these sounds into a standard song format. The other song was built around sounds that monkeys make when they're relaxed.
When they heard the "anxious monkey" song, the monkeys looked around, shook their heads, and seemed all worked up. During and after the "calm monkey" song, they slowed down, ate, and looked relaxed.
The cello player would like to try composing music for zoo animals next. "I'd like to start up a program to bring music to all captive mammals. The enjoyment of music should be available to all mammalian species," he said in the Washington Post.
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