The music of nature; the nature of music | Patricia Gray | TEDxGreensboro

This talk was given at a local TEDx event, produced independently of the TED Conferences.

Patricia Gray is a research scientist and a concert pianist. She is on the cutting edge of research about the role of musical behaviors in life and leads a global network of scientists and musicians engaged in basic research using music's building blocks as tools for understanding animal behaviors and cognition -- including humans.

When you grow up
in a musical family as I did,

it never occurs to you
not to be a musician.

As part of family activities
you sing and dance together.

No, really, that's what we do.

And as you grow older,
you find your own path.

For me, it's the piano.
It's become my musical voice.

At some point as you go
deeper into this musical world,

you typically learn and become conversant

in the formal language
of your preferred music.

This is true of classical
musical systems worldwide.

You learn the symbol system
of your preferred music.

These symbols convey musical concepts
and practices of your preferred music.

They also make it possible

to preserve musical
creations for the ages

and to transfer musical ideas
to other musicians.

So as a result of this kind of process,

the musical score, that written document,
has become extremely important.

And musicians who know how to "read"
music are highly valued.

Whether it's the shakuhachi,
tradition of Japan,

or the chromatic musical system
of South India,

or Gregorian Chant, Beethoven,

movie music, patriotic songs,

the musical score makes it
possible to recreate

a musical experience any time, anywhere.

As a result, most of our music
arrives to us ready-made.

Ready-made for our consumption,
our entertainment,

our enlightenment.

We are typically passive consumers
of ready-made music,

delivered to us by musicians who are
literate in that musical system.

But there is another world of music
where the emphasis is on doing it.

Everyone, doing it.

Let's go there.

(Singing)

(Singing)

(Stamping and clapping)
Come on.

Shh...
(Softer stamping and clapping)

(Louder clapping)

(Clapping stopped)

(Singing)

(Audience singing together)

Okay, when did you get the music?

When did you get the score?
When did you learn the music?

This is a fine example of the difference

between music as a product,
meaning the musical score,

and the doing of it,
the musical process.

And this little improvisation

was made possible because
we're all born musical.

That's right. You are born musical.
We're all born musical.

What does that mean?

You were born with
certain musical capacities.

They're innate.

Let's think back on what
we just did as an improvisation.

I sang out a melody to you

and your brain discerned
that those were different pitches.

That's called pitch discrimination.

Then, I set a tempo
and a rhythmic pattern.

You found the beat
and used your body to join in.

That's called rhythmic entrainment.

Then, you remembered the melody
that I sang. You sang it back to me.

That's called musical memory.

Pitch discrimination,
rhythmic entrainment, musical memory.

These are things that you were born with.

You didn't have to learn it.
You didn't have to buy it.

They're virtually yours
for being a Homo sapiens.

We know this because new research
has focused on infants and babies.

Let's stick right now with
rhythmic entrainment.

(Music)

Here is a baby, just being balanced,
listening to a drum track.

(Laughter)

She can't get enough with this.

(Laughter)

(Music stops)

What this kind of research
has shown us

is that our brains are
beautifully wired for music.

This is not a right-brain,
left-brain world.

The music receptors in your brain
are all over the brain.

Regardless of your preferred music.

So this raises a question:

if all of this in innate
and we're all pre-wired for music,

what about other species?

Let's stick with rhythmic
entrainment for the moment.

(Music)

Here is Snowball.

(Laughter)

(Music) (Laughter)

(End of music) (Applause)

He could do this all day.

(Laughter)

Okay, how about a sea lion?
Here is Roland.

(Music)

(Same music, with faster tempo)

This is my research with
our closest primate cousin: bonobo.

(Bonobo drumming)

(Voices of people talking to the bonobos)

Okay, that's rhythmic entrainment.

What about pitch discrimination
and musical memory?

(Humpback whale calls)

Let me talk a little bit about
humpback whale song.

All the males in a specific ocean
sing the same seasonal song.

And they create this seasonal song
as a collaborative effort.

It's done by one whale singing out phrase

and if it's sung back to him,

it's incorporated in this seasonal song.

And they spend six months creating
this seasonal song together.

Then they go silent for six months,
while they go to the feeding grounds.

When they resume singing
six months later,

they start with last year's seasonal song.

Pitch discrimination, musical memory.

So what does all of this mean?

I work in a field called BioMusic,

which studies musical brains
and musical capacities in all species.

Because your ability to interact with
others and with your environment

is dependent on these musical capacities.

They also forecast
your ability to survive and to get along.

Let's think about being together
with our fellow human beings.

Where would marching,
singing together, dancing,

team sports, even cheerleading be
without rhythmic entrainment?

In a conversation with another person,
all speech doesn't have to come

to a grinding halt of silence
for the other person to begin speaking.

No. The uptake of that conversation
by the other person

happens at that natural rhythmic moment
that has just flowed from you.

This kind of conversational
turn-taking is rhythmical

and your brain does it automatically.

Think about how you entrain with yourself.

When you're walking, your arms naturally
rhythmically entrain to your walk.

And if you are gesturing while you speak,

your gestures automatically entrain
to your stress,

and to the tempo of your speech.

Rhythmic entrainment.

As far as pitch discrimination
is concerned,

in this whole room with cell phones,

you all know what your
own ringtone sounds like.

(Laughter)

And we could all break out right now
in the course of Happy Birthday

because of our musical memory.

All these scenarios are supported by
a magnificent musical communication system

that resides within us and around us.

And what we're finding in this research
is that we're not alone,

that these musical capacities are
embedded deeply in the wild.

Furthermore,
these musical capacities are primal.

This has really profound implications
for our species

and for other species.

I'm engaged in soundmapping
the Meso-American Reef.

We're dropping hydrophones at the
second largest reef system in the world,

because vision is not
the best tool in the ocean.

We're capturing the sounds of the animals

that live at the reef
and migrate by the reef.

And we're learning, in a whole new way,
how they interact with each other

and with their environment.

Returning to our species,
new therapies are being developed

that use this magnificent
musical system in our brain

to reprogram damaged brains.

So by using music-making,
we can actually recapture lost abilities

due to stroke or traumatic brain injury.

And, when it comes to interventions,
we have new interventions

that use music-making combination
with hand-eye coordination

to stimulate an increased learning.

Going forward into the future,

we want to continue to expand
our understanding

of this fabulous music
communication system

and to learn better
how to use it to our advantage.

So in the future, we will design sound
environments that support wellness.

We will design sound environments
that are prescriptive,

and individualized, that support healing.

We will manage the sound environments

that will preserve
and protect other species.

Consider that new technology
is now on the drawing board,

that is going to be able
to record the sounds

of individual cells within your body.

That means that
we can use patterns of sound

and time to listen to cells
that are healthy

versus cells that are diseased.

This opens up the possibilities for us

to have a diagnostic tool
that is not invasive,

that listens to the body
and pinpoints diseased cells.

And it may be possible
to write a code of sound waves

to neutralize those diseased cells.

You should also know that NASA

has already sent recordings
of human music-making

and whale songs
into intergalactic space,

with the possibility

that extraterrestrial intelligent life

will know us by these sounds,

creating the possibility that
the first communication with an E.T.

may actually be a musical communication.

With all this said,
perhaps we should reconsider

the importance
of music-making in our lives

and the role that it plays with educating
and mentoring our children.

Because they're going to need
height into musical capacities

to be able to walk
into these new careers and jobs.

Music is not just a literate activity.

It's a potent communication system

that is embedded in the wild and
that connects all the life on the planet.

So, embrace your musicality.

Experience this world as a musical place.

And know that the future holds
a robust and fast musical conversation.

Thank you.

(Applause)