BioMusic Science Exhibition

What is music? Where does it come from? Are we the only musicians on earth? 

These fascinating and profound scientific questions bring together many different types of researchers to wrestle with answers for these complex topics. But they also greatly interest everyone—from young children to grandparents. Why? Because we humans are born musical and we interpret our world using our musicality but most people don’t know very much about how this works or what it means. When we hear birds singing or frogs chorusing, we sense there’s something going on that’s related to what we humans do. And as science helps us understand our musicality, we begin to grasp how important musical communication is to all life.

That’s why the National Science Foundation, along with Harman Industries and the NEC Foundation, funded a $3 million, 4,000 sq ft BioMusic science exhibition, “Wild Music: Sounds & Songs of Life”, that toured America and Canada attracting 1.5 million visitors! The exhibition featured key scientists and interactive experiences based on the latest research that ranged from musical infants to whales to compositions by humans and other animals. The exhibition experiences allowed children to explore their natural musicality and to compare their abilities with other species. It was ear and eye opening! And great fun to discover that music-making is an essential part of being alive!