Are we wired fro music?

For all My Musical friends and the Science geeks repressed deep within them I suggest the world science festival this year one of the panel discussion was on
“Notes & Neurons” See the full discussion here.

They asked the questions Is our response to music hard-wired or culturally determined? Is the reaction to rhythm and melody universal or influenced by environment? The only name you may recognize is Bobby McFerrin but the other smart guys on the panel are Jamshed Barucha, scientist Daniel Levitin, and Professor Lawrence Parsons it was hosted by John Schaefer.

At one point, I was pleasantly surprised to see Bobby McFerrin give this simple, fun, and extremely effective demonstration of the universality of the pentatonic scale. Also, McFerrin made me raise my ear brows and smirk with approval when he gave the following quote:

“Music for me is like a spiritual journey down into the depths of my soul. And I like to think we’re all on a journey into our souls. What’s down there? That’s why I do what I do.”

Below is a clip the demonstration begins around 2:30 min into the clip.

World Science Festival 2009: Bobby McFerrin Demonstrates the Power of the Pentatonic Scale from World Science Festival on Vimeo.