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1.5.7
A Sense of Belonging: "Ring Around the Rosie" and Other Children's Chants

Usually, people make music in groups. Children show a pronounced drive to repeat sound elements in rhythmic synchrony. This ensures involvement and belonging with the group. (The same applies to conversation. One of the major ties that binds humans in groups is plain, ordinary talking.)

Both music and language probably have a common origin in long sequences of primate vocalizations in which individuals tried to repeat or match each other’s calls. These became formulaic phrases. You can hear echos of this phenomenon in the song-like patter of auctioneers, or in universal children’s chants such as “Ring Around The Rosie”:

Ring Around the Rosie children's social bonding chant.

Early hominid vocal music would have consisted of chorusing (and, later, drumming accompaniment). Various animal species exhibit chorusing and duetting:

  • Gibbons do a lot of duetting, mainly in mated pairs. Gibbon songs show clear coordination.

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