What we learnt producing lullabies
A.K.A. The Fascinating Science of Lullabies
Context
One year ago, we started working on a Global Lullaby Library Project and it was a very interesting ride. This Idea that started as a fun cultural transmission also taught us more than we could imagine. It is quite a well-documented field. We will share here some of those discoveries.
1 - Lullabies might be the oldest form of Music
Lullabies may be the most primal form of music, possibly originating back to the ancient time in human evolution when we first needed to care for infants who are born in an essentially helpless state.
The oldest known lullaby is a Babylonian lullaby found inscribed on a clay tablet about 4000 years old.
2 - Play Songs are not Lullabies
Many lullabies possess a peaceful hypnotic quality. They have simple tones with short repetitions and long pauses between sections. Interestingly across diverse cultures these characteristics are consistent.
A Lullaby is a song, with or without music, performed for children. Often utilized to help children fall asleep or calm them during times of distress. Melody is one of the things that sticks out for lullabies. They are likely the first love songs children hear.
“ In comparison, in a lot of other song types, such as dance songs, you would see rhythm as being more of a driving force,” explained Connie Bainbridge, who co-led research in the Harvard Music Lab.
3 - Cross-cultural prevalence
Lullabies are carried across borders carrying traces of those who came before us and will carry traces of who we are long after we are gone.
Studies suggest that lullabies, dance songs, and, to a lesser extent, healing songs, share enough features across cultures to be universal features of human behavior
4 - Demographics
Historically lullabies are common to all cultures of the world and across countless generations.
From neonatal to 3-4 years old
https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.0809035106
5 - Therapeutic value
a . Studies conducted by Dr. Jeffery Perlman, chief of newborn medicine at NewYork–Presbyterian Hospital's Komansky Center for Children's Health, find that gentle music therapy not only slows down the heart rate of prematurely delivered infants but also helps them feed and sleep better. This helps them gain weight and speeds their recovery.
b. Much research has been generated on the role of lullabies in nurturing caregiving bonds between mother and child.
6 - Audio Frequencies and other “Functional Music” Lessons
Audio Frequencies
The slower the frequencies are, the calmer you feel.
The best sleep frequency is between 0 and 7 Hz. Theta or Delta.
Binaural Beats
A binaural beat is not music. It actually doesn’t often even have a beat. Binaural beats consist of two different, single tones, one that’s played into each ear.
When your brain processes this, instead of hearing two different frequencies, you hear a single tone - the difference between the two frequencies in your ears.
For example, if the tone in your left ear plays at 300 Hz and the one in your right ear is 320 HZ, the binaural beat is at 20 Hz.
7 - CONCLUSION
So in theory there could be ways to optimize the music we provide to infants, to make them more effective !!!
The Lullabeats Official Website