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Can animals understand music? (random stoner/hippie topic warning)
- Thread starter QSD
- Start date
S
SLoWMoTIoN
Unconfirmed Member
Yes, but what they enjoy is different than our own music from what I've gathered.
#Phonepunk#
Banned
Yes for sure. whenever I play my piano my cat lays on his back and is clearly enjoying it
SaturnSaturn
Member
Yes, everything in the universe is energy and frequency so of course animals understand music, on a deeper level then we can experience it.
QSD
Member
tell me what you have gathered!
the scientist/skeptic in me asks: yeah but what if you just sit there and don't play? would the cat not do the same? how can you be sure he's "enjoying it"?
also, smaller animals live "faster" lives, so would the music appear to them 'slow' or pitched down in some way?
frequencies AND rhythm!
why do you think they understand it on a deeper level?
it's a funny video but parrots will do this head banging thing even when there's no music I think... maybe they have awesome tunes playing in their heads at random times?
QSD
Member
What's his name? (just to complete the picture for me)
So I'm pretty sure birds are still too big to hear anything like radio waves. But maybe flies can hear them...? I bet "normal" music would just be a bunch of nondescript low rumbling to them
Pejo
Member
Doug. It's great because it's a single syllable and has a hard sound at the beginning and end. Sometimes I'll just mix it in like "Take me down to the paradise city where the Doug is green and the girls are pretty, Oh won't you please take me hoooome" Other times I'll replace entire verses with it like doing Axel F using only his name.
And no, it's not a reference to UP. I had him before that movie.
QSD
Member
I was thinking yeah that's pretty amusing, a bird that can imitate other birds, and then the bird just started imitating camera's, car alarms and friggin' chainsaws
That's some next level beatboxing shit right there. The level of detail is seriously impressive.Awwww... Is that you playing?
do a rendition of beethoven's 5th!
Anyway, so the consensus here is: yes indeed they do... So yeah I wonder what animals would make of different styles of music? Dubstep has been mentioned, so I wonder if animals get the same sort of "heavy" valence from it that we do. Like do animals understand the 'aggressive' nature of metal music? Or are the emotional valences that we attribute to music purely a human 'invention'?
Also, more pressingly, do animals understand the evil nature of Phil Collins? And is that why they attack him mercilessly whenever he leaves the house?
elektrokats
Banned
Bigger question. Do you think Animals can have musical preferences? Like do you think they like certain parts in songs? I wonder if there is a perfect musical masterpiece out there for an elephant or a cat?
I know cats tend to respond better to higher pitch tones. I wonder if this has ever been tested before.
I know cats tend to respond better to higher pitch tones. I wonder if this has ever been tested before.
QSD
Member
Yeah that's what I was getting at as well... I'd imagine that the perfect music for elephants would almost have to be horn music. Maybe they should go for a jazz ensemble over there in the elephant reserve. But who knows, maybe that's not how it works at all and maybe elephants, sick of the sound of trumpeting, would flock to a completely different sound, just for the novelty value.
A friend of mine used to own this weird CD called "music for cats"...
Davey Cakes
Member
I sometimes play "music for cats" playlists on Spotify when my cat is around. Makes for a relaxing atmosphere.
QSD
Member
So what kind of music is in those playlists?
Also, TIL that apparently cows like jazz:
Davey Cakes
Member
borborygmus
Member
I had a small bird for 20 years or so (a sparrow, extremely intelligent species), and she got visibly annoyed by Flock of Seagulls, but loved Accept. Fast as a Shark made her face light up and she'd become playful.
EverydayBeast
thinks Halo Infinite is a new graphical benchmark
Getting “lost” in the music can be for anyone and anything.
QSD
Member
Hmm, so yeah I get the part where it's just instrumental music. But is there any reason to assume cats wouldn't like music with more excitement? Or has this more or less been established through experience?
It's actually pretty amazing how they will gather and just stand there at a polite distance like they know exactly how to enjoy a 'performance'. No need for security, no stage diving, no c(r)ow(d) surfing etc.
Interesting to hear that there seemed to be definite preferences. And yeah LOL everyone knows seagulls are the worst, so it figures
You sayin' even rocks like to rock?
Rentahamster
Rodent Whores
Hamsters understand death metal and K-pop.
bender
What time is it?
QSD
Member
Interesting, it seems that cats are widely employed in that part of the world as rhythmical aides. Nice (cat-assisted) drumming btw.
I recently heard from a colleague that hamsters are actually all-round pretty grimdark... don't they eat their own young? Perhaps these sacrifices to the dark one earn them a certain "insight".
MetalAlien
Banned
Boss Mog
Member
That cat is edited in.