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Understanding Twins
We Got Rhythm, We Got Music (Three Viral Videos)
Twin girls filmed every August for three years while listening to music
Posted December 5, 2014
If you're a fan of Michael Apted's 7 Up films, which tracks the lives of fourteen people every 7 years-
you might be intrigued by these three viral videos of twin girls who were filmed every August for 3 years - as they listened to their Dad playing guitar. (The last video was released a few months ago)
August 2012: Here they are at 11 months (23+ million views)
August 2013: One year later, at 23 months (1+ million views)
August 2104: Another year later, at 35 months
What an amazing opportunity to observe development! The videos are "windows" to the remarkable physical, cognitive, and socioemotional changes in these girls, year by year.
As a developmentalist interested in music, I will focus on the musical aspects...
To what extent are the twins really "dancing" to the guitar music?
Are the twins really moving in synchrony with the music?
Although a recent 2014 study by Fujii et al. showed that some 3- and 4- month old infants demonstrate “sporadic synchronization” (brief moments of limb movements matching the beat) – true synchronization with music is rarely seen before age 4 years.
Personally, I was surprised by the twins' ability to sometimes bounce exactly in time with the music. But infants can match the beat for short spurts – especially if the music fits the naturally fast tempo (pace) of their movements. For instance, we observe this at 0:10-18 in the second video at 23 months, when the twins are bouncing in perfect time with the music.
Being seated in chairs limits movement possibilities, which can increase matches with music. When the same twin girls are dancing while standing at 19 months - we see greater freedom of movement, and less synchrony with the music. (Though the spirit of the song is still wonderfully conveyed)
Another important element of all three videos is that the twins are watching a live performance by their Dad. Many researchers (e.g. Jane Davidson) have shown that performers naturally convey musical structure through their movements – in obvious and subtle ways.
Their father's head or body movements, or pronounced strumming for the rhythmic songs - may have provided cues for the beat of the song. But it still takes musically sensitive children to match those cues to the music and to their own body movements.
Year by year, the twins seem to more closely capture the rhythmic character of the music, from bursts of swaying head movements at 11 months, to bouncing at 23 months, and to a variety of swaying, hand movements, vocalizations, and full-body motions to the changing pulse of the music in the third video at 35 months. (See Tan, Pfordresher, & Harré, 2013, ch 9)
Aside from the pulse - do the twins' movements seem to reflect other aspects of the music?
It was intriguing to observe the twins' ability to capture some of the broad features of each song in their movements.
For instance in the second video of the twins (23 months), they immediately respond with large body movements (forceful bouncing, swaying) to the rhythmic opening section. But at 0:32 - when the music becomes lighter and more melodic - the large body movements cease and give way to smaller arm movements, and more delicate wriggles of the body. By 0:42, when a cadenza begins without a well-defined pulse, their movements become less patterned and attention wanes.
In the third video (35 months), the girls' humming is in time with the pulse of the music, and follows the rising and falling pitch of the melody at 0:10-26.
Year by year, the twins' responses become richer. As they grow, we can expect the twins' movements to express more parameters of music, as Kohn and Eitan (2009) showed that 5- to 8-year olds progressively reflect more features of music in their body movements. For instance, children often convey increase in loudness (and to a lesser extent, rising pitch) by increasing the speed and energy of their actions, and making more rising and forward movements.
What's next?
I don't use the terms "exceptional" or “gifted” easily – as I find all children to be exceptional and gifted in some way. But I will say that I found the girls’ responsiveness to music to be remarkable, and I hope that their parents will continue to nurture the twins’ great love and enjoyment of music that have captivated 25 million viewers so far, and inspired us all...
Will there be another video in August 2015?
© 2014 Siu-Lan Tan
Co-author of Psychology of Music: From Sound to Significance and The Psychology of Music in Multimedia
For another analysis of a viral video (Emotional Baby: "Why Does this Baby Cry when her Mother Sings?" ) click here
Sources
Fujii, S., Watanabe, H., Oohashi, H., Hirashima, M., Nozaki, D., & Taga, G. (2014). Precursors of dancing and singing to music in three- to four-month-old infants. PLoS ONE 9(5): e97680.
Kohn, D., & Eitan, Z. (2009). Musical parameters and children’s movement responses. In J. Louhivuori, T. Eerola, S. Saarikallio, T. Himberg, & P. S. Eerola (Eds.), Proceedings of the 7th Triennial Conference of European Society for the Cognitive Sciences of Music, (pp. 233–241). Jyväskylä, Finland: ESCOM
Tan, S.-L., Pfordresher, P., & Harré, R. (2013). Psychology of Music: From Sound to Significance. NY: Psychology Press. [Chapter 9]
Acknowledgments
This is a modified and expanded version of articles I wrote for an event for Psychology Press billed as #askdrtan. I am very grateful to Trish Pomar for her partnership in this project. Copyright retained by Siu-Lan Tan 2014
The original videos were posted by Brovadere and can be found at
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=to7uIG8KYhg
