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The Pentatonic Scale

By Miss Cellania in Music, Video Clips on Jul 31, 2009 at 9:08 pm



(Vimeo link)

Bobby McFerrin involves the audience in a music lesson during the 2009 World Science Festival. The seminar was called “Notes & Neurons: In Search of the Common Chorus.” I love how he knew exactly the way the crowd would follow along. -via Metafilter


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  1. Briannana
    Aug 1st, 2009 at 9:19 am

    I'm actually currently writing a book on the primitive and pervasive nature of pentatonic scales. They are truly mysterious.

    This, however, is a better example of neural programming. While it is interesting that everybody got the third note "correct", it's because of sensation triggers in the visual field. The ratio of the dance steps are proportional to one another. Thus, the expectation at even a subconcious level, is to follow the same musical distance, which we call an interval. In this case, it is a called a "major second", or "whole step" (think skipped notes on a piano).

    The other parts of mimicry, such as when the crowd gets the high and low notes merely by his movements, are directly related to the fact that they hear him singing these pitches earlier in the piece. In music, subtle neural programming goes on during repetition of simple material and listening to melody. The brain has this amazing ability to construct and compare, analyze and order. That's what's so cool about music. It's like fun exercise for your brain. NEAT!!!

  2. sadtomato
    Aug 1st, 2009 at 10:49 am

    That is so freaking cool!

  3. Mouserz
    Aug 1st, 2009 at 12:07 pm

    haha that was brilliant.

  4. Ali S.
    Aug 1st, 2009 at 2:15 pm

    I'll keep saying it, "Music is the universal language!"

  5. Mytake
    Aug 1st, 2009 at 3:13 pm

    That was quite simply awesome.

  6. theturbolemming
    Aug 1st, 2009 at 5:18 pm

    Briannana--What's the title of your book? When does it come out? I'm a total music nerd :)

  7. Briannana
    Aug 1st, 2009 at 5:33 pm

    theturbolemming,
    It is still really in its infantile state so far, and I'm a pretty busy guy. But I'm plotting and documenting, researching and picking up pieces here and there. I visit here often. I'll be pitching my book at neatorama anyway, so who knows?

  8. heather
    Aug 2nd, 2009 at 12:01 am

    That was a great way to start a lecture. Sometimes the best way to describe a neural phenomenon is to do it.

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