Chapter 02 of 5
A Universal Language?
Every society makes music, but not everyone hears it the same way.
- The Saying
Universal language
People often say music is a universal language. Is it true, or a nice cliché?
- The Study
Harvard, 2019
In 2019 a team led by Samuel Mehr published a huge study in the journal Science, comparing music across the world.
- The Data
315 societies
They searched ethnographic records describing 315 societies, from hunter-gatherers to industrial nations.
17 more cards in this chapter
Could you answer this?
What did a 2019 study of 315 societies find about music?
🌍 The Song in Every Culture
- 01The Oldest InstrumentsFlutes carved from bird bones and mammoth ivory, made long before farming or writing.
- 02A Universal Language?Every society makes music, but not everyone hears it the same way.
- 03LullabiesWhy every culture sings to babies, and why it works even in a foreign language.
- 04Songs for WorkingSea shanties, weaving songs and why singing together makes hard work easier.
- 05Why We DanceThe urge to move, a dancing cockatoo and a medieval dancing plague.