Mandarin & Music

Food for thought - excerpts on Mandarin & Music

1. Mandarin Language Is Music To The Brain Science Daily 13 December 2006 — It’s been shown that the left side of the brain processes language and the right side processes music; but what about a language like Mandarin Chinese, which is musical in nature with wide tonal ranges? . . . Note: This story has been adapted from a news release issued by University of California - Irvine.

2. Mandarin Chinese speaks volumes in giving the young an ear for music Ian Sample in San Diego and Faisal al Yafai - Thursday November 18, 2004 - The Guardian

Scientists have discovered an unusual tip for parents who want their little darlings to grow up to be musical geniuses - teach them Mandarin Chinese.

Psychologists at the University of California in San Diego found that children who learnt Mandarin as babies were far more likely to have perfect pitch - the ability to name or sing a musical note at will - than those raised to speak English. Perfect pitch, though common among the great composers, is extremely rare in Europe and the US, where just one in 10,000 is thought to have the skill.

3. Tone Language Translates To Perfect Pitch: Mandarin Speakers More Likely To Acquire Rare Musical Ability Science Daily 15 November 2004 — Could it be that cellist Yo-Yo Ma owes his perfect musical pitch to his Chinese parents? While we may never know the definitive answer, new research from the University of California, San Diego has found a strong link between speaking a tone language - such as Mandarin - and having perfect pitch, the ability once thought to be the rare province of super-talented musicians. . . . Or read the study yourself, with graphic figures of the results and sound files of the test.