{"id":5213,"date":"2015-01-06T12:49:19","date_gmt":"2015-01-06T16:49:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/?p=5213"},"modified":"2022-03-23T16:18:55","modified_gmt":"2022-03-23T20:18:55","slug":"first-language-music","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/first-language-music\/","title":{"rendered":"First Language: Music!"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Kalamazoo<\/a>Our first “language” is music, according to the latest Psychology Today<\/em> blog post of Kalamazoo College Professor of Psychology Siu-Lan Tan<\/strong>. Or, more accurately, our first language is the interaction of our bodies with music, which begins as young as 10 months old! We may not synchronize our movements with the sound until the age of four (or thereabouts), but as infants we sure love to enlist our new skills in movement to explore sounds. In fact, this is how we build our knowledge about the physical properties of objects. And young as they may be, infants engage in that exploration very systematically. Finally, infants express their musical sensitivity in the way they listen to music. Siu-Lan provides video examples of the many nuances she discusses in this, her most recent blog post, and the infants she enlists to underscore her points are unforgettable (some have been seen by more than 20 million viewers). Our music-body language may be our first, but it lasts. I was thinking about this idea (and Siu-Lan\u2019s blog) just yesterday on my walk to the bus, reciting in my head two lines from Shakespeare\u2019s Romeo and Juliet<\/em> (nearly the last words the two lovers speak to each other when both are conscious). Juliet: “O, now begone! More light and light it grows.”\/ Romeo: “More light and light, more dark and dark our woes.” Two lines of iambic pentameter that match the iambs of a human heart beat, or a walk to the bus stop. What\u2019s interesting is whether the music of the lines (and heart\u2019s systole and diastole) help the hearer more deeply understand the complex combination of sorrow and joy that Shakespeare explores in his play. If so (and this reader thinks it is), then our first language matters a great deal to a life deeply lived.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Our first “language” is music, according to the latest Psychology Today blog post of Kalamazoo College Professor of Psychology Siu-Lan Tan. Or, more accurately, our first language is the interaction of our bodies with music, which begins as young as 10 months old! We may not synchronize our movements with the sound until the age […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":5215,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[233],"tags":[61,60],"post_formats":[],"class_list":["post-5213","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-faculty-staff","tag-music","tag-psychology"],"yoast_head":"\r\nFirst Language: Music! - News and Events<\/title>\r\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Our first "language" is music, according to the latest Psychology Today blog post of Kalamazoo College Professor of Psychology Siu-Lan Tan. Or, more\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\r\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/first-language-music\/\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"First Language: Music! - News and Events\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Our first "language" is music, according to the latest Psychology Today blog post of Kalamazoo College Professor of Psychology Siu-Lan Tan. Or, more\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/first-language-music\/\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"News and Events\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/KalamazooCollege\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2015-01-06T16:49:19+00:00\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-03-23T20:18:55+00:00\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/files\/2015\/01\/anThumb.jpg\" \/>\r\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"225\" \/>\r\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"225\" \/>\r\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Jim Van Sweden\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@kcollege\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@kcollege\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Jim Van Sweden\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\r\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/first-language-music\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/first-language-music\/\",\"name\":\"First Language: Music! - News and Events\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/first-language-music\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/first-language-music\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/files\/2015\/01\/anThumb.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2015-01-06T16:49:19+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-03-23T20:18:55+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/33b812ef7fd17031ab566856049c97af\"},\"description\":\"Our first \\\"language\\\" is music, according to the latest Psychology Today blog post of Kalamazoo College Professor of Psychology Siu-Lan Tan. Or, more\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/first-language-music\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/first-language-music\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/first-language-music\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/files\/2015\/01\/anThumb.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/files\/2015\/01\/anThumb.jpg\",\"width\":\"225\",\"height\":\"225\",\"caption\":\"Kalamazoo College Psychology Professor Siu-Lan Tan\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/first-language-music\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"http:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"First Language: Music!\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/#website\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/\",\"name\":\"News and Events\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"http:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/33b812ef7fd17031ab566856049c97af\",\"name\":\"Jim Van Sweden\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/25d851921c00e5d3b76e386535f86c38?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/25d851921c00e5d3b76e386535f86c38?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Jim Van Sweden\"},\"description\":\"Director, College Communications\"}]}<\/script>\r\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"First Language: Music! - News and Events","description":"Our first \"language\" is music, according to the latest Psychology Today blog post of Kalamazoo College Professor of Psychology Siu-Lan Tan. Or, more","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/first-language-music\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"First Language: Music! - News and Events","og_description":"Our first \"language\" is music, according to the latest Psychology Today blog post of Kalamazoo College Professor of Psychology Siu-Lan Tan. Or, more","og_url":"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/first-language-music\/","og_site_name":"News and Events","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/KalamazooCollege","article_published_time":"2015-01-06T16:49:19+00:00","article_modified_time":"2022-03-23T20:18:55+00:00","og_image":[{"width":"225","height":"225","url":"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/files\/2015\/01\/anThumb.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Jim Van Sweden","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@kcollege","twitter_site":"@kcollege","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Jim Van Sweden","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/first-language-music\/","url":"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/first-language-music\/","name":"First Language: Music! - News and Events","isPartOf":{"@id":"http:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/first-language-music\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/first-language-music\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/files\/2015\/01\/anThumb.jpg","datePublished":"2015-01-06T16:49:19+00:00","dateModified":"2022-03-23T20:18:55+00:00","author":{"@id":"http:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/33b812ef7fd17031ab566856049c97af"},"description":"Our first \"language\" is music, according to the latest Psychology Today blog post of Kalamazoo College Professor of Psychology Siu-Lan Tan. Or, more","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/first-language-music\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/first-language-music\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/first-language-music\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/files\/2015\/01\/anThumb.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/files\/2015\/01\/anThumb.jpg","width":"225","height":"225","caption":"Kalamazoo College Psychology Professor Siu-Lan Tan"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/first-language-music\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"http:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"First Language: Music!"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"http:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/#website","url":"http:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/","name":"News and Events","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"http:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"http:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/33b812ef7fd17031ab566856049c97af","name":"Jim Van Sweden","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"http:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/25d851921c00e5d3b76e386535f86c38?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/25d851921c00e5d3b76e386535f86c38?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Jim Van Sweden"},"description":"Director, College Communications"}]}},"featured_image_src":"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/files\/2015\/01\/anThumb.jpg","featured_image_src_square":"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/files\/2015\/01\/anThumb.jpg","author_info":{"display_name":"Jim Van Sweden","author_link":"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/author\/jvsweden\/"},"guten_post_layout_featured_media_urls":{"full":["https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/files\/2015\/01\/anThumb.jpg",225,225,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/files\/2015\/01\/anThumb-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/files\/2015\/01\/anThumb.jpg",225,225,false],"medium_large":["https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/files\/2015\/01\/anThumb.jpg","225","225",false],"large":["https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/files\/2015\/01\/anThumb.jpg",225,225,false],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/files\/2015\/01\/anThumb.jpg",225,225,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/files\/2015\/01\/anThumb.jpg",225,225,false],"ab-block-post-grid-landscape":["https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/files\/2015\/01\/anThumb.jpg",225,225,false],"ab-block-post-grid-square":["https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/files\/2015\/01\/anThumb.jpg",225,225,false],"pl-blogpost-landscape":["https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/files\/2015\/01\/anThumb.jpg",225,225,false],"pl-blogpost-square":["https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/files\/2015\/01\/anThumb.jpg",225,225,false],"guten_post_layout_landscape_large":["https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/files\/2015\/01\/anThumb.jpg",225,225,false],"guten_post_layout_portrait_large":["https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/files\/2015\/01\/anThumb.jpg",225,225,false],"guten_post_layout_square_large":["https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/files\/2015\/01\/anThumb.jpg",225,225,false],"guten_post_layout_landscape":["https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/files\/2015\/01\/anThumb.jpg",225,225,false],"guten_post_layout_portrait":["https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/files\/2015\/01\/anThumb.jpg",225,225,false],"guten_post_layout_square":["https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/files\/2015\/01\/anThumb.jpg",225,225,false],"campus-posts-thumbnail":["https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/files\/2015\/01\/anThumb.jpg",225,225,false],"gform-image-choice-sm":["https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/files\/2015\/01\/anThumb.jpg",225,225,false],"gform-image-choice-md":["https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/files\/2015\/01\/anThumb.jpg",225,225,false],"gform-image-choice-lg":["https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/files\/2015\/01\/anThumb.jpg",225,225,false]},"category_info":"<a aria-label=\"archive of category Faculty & Staff\" href=\"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/category\/faculty-staff\/\" rel=\"category tag\">Faculty & Staff<\/a>","tags_info":"<a href=\"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/tag\/music\/\" rel=\"tag\">music<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/tag\/psychology\/\" rel=\"tag\">psychology<\/a>","social_share_info":"<a data-share=\"facebook\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/first-language-music\/\" class=\"pl-facebook-share social-share-default pl-social-share\" target=\"_blank\"><i class=\"fab fa-facebook-f\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><\/i><\/a><a data-share=\"twitter\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/share?url=https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/first-language-music\/\" class=\"pl-twiiter-share social-share-default pl-social-share\" target=\"_blank\"><i class=\"fab fa-twitter\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><\/i><\/a><a data-share=\"linkedin\" href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/shareArticle?url=https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/first-language-music\/\" class=\"pl-linkedin-share social-share-default pl-social-share\" target=\"_blank\"><i class=\"fab fa-linkedin-in\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><\/i><\/a>","wordExcerpt_info":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/files\/2015\/01\/u-Lan-Tan-234x300.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignleft wp-image-5214 size-full\" src=\"\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/files\/2015\/01\/u-Lan-Tan-234x300.jpg\" alt=\"Kalamazoo College Professor of Psychology Siu-Lan Tan\" width=\"234\" height=\"300\" \/><\/a>Our first “language” is music, according to the latest <em>Psychology Today<\/em> blog post of Kalamazoo College Professor of Psychology <strong>Siu-Lan Tan<\/strong>. Or, more accurately, our first language is the interaction of our bodies with music, which begins as young as 10 months old! We may not synchronize our movements with the sound until the age of four (or thereabouts), but as infants we sure love to enlist our new skills in movement to explore sounds. In fact, this is how we build our knowledge about the physical properties of objects. And young as they may be, infants engage in that exploration very systematically. Finally, infants express their musical sensitivity in the way they listen to music. Siu-Lan provides video examples of the many nuances she discusses in this, her most recent blog post, and the infants she enlists to underscore her points are unforgettable (some have been seen by more than 20 million viewers). Our music-body language may be our first, but it lasts. I was thinking about this idea (and Siu-Lan\u2019s blog) just yesterday on my walk to the bus, reciting in my head two lines from Shakespeare\u2019s <em>Romeo and Juliet<\/em> (nearly the last words the two lovers speak to each other when both are conscious). Juliet: “O, now begone! More light and light it grows.”\/ Romeo: “More light and light, more dark and dark our woes.” Two lines of iambic pentameter that match the iambs of a human heart beat, or a walk to the bus stop. What\u2019s interesting is whether the music of the lines (and heart\u2019s systole and diastole) help the hearer more deeply understand the complex combination of sorrow and joy that Shakespeare explores in his play. If so (and this reader thinks it is), then our first language matters a great deal to a life deeply lived.<\/p>\n","comment_info":"No Comments","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5213","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5213"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5213\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11449,"href":"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5213\/revisions\/11449"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5215"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5213"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5213"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5213"},{"taxonomy":"post_format","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/post_formats?post=5213"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}