Chords for What Does Music Sound Like To Dogs?

Have [Am] you ever found yourself playing guitar while a furry four-legged friend stared at you inquisitively?
[D] What's going on [A] an old rover's head in that moment?
What does the music sound like to him?
The [A#] other day I found myself pondering this and was genuinely [D] surprised at how interesting the answer turned out [B] to be.
[E] Today
[D] I'll share with you what I learned.
[A] First of all, let's [Bm] talk about how humans [Em] conceptualize music
So we have a point of reference and when you think about what's going [G] on in our brain when we listen to our favorite [A#] songs
It's [Dm] quite incredible.
[A] A lot of it is built on our ability to recognize and predict patterns
For example, if I play arbitrary notes at random time intervals on my guitar, [G] it sounds a little something like this
[C#] _ _ _
_ [F] _ [B] _ _ _ [G] _ _ _
_ [G#] _ _ _ _ Not overly pleasant sounds more like noise and music to me and the [Am] wisecrackers might say it sounds like jazz
There needs to be some sort of repetition and one of the places that that [D] repetition occurs is in the [B] rhythm
If I play arbitrary notes with an underlying time feel [C] it's definitely closer to our concept of music
_ _ _ [G] _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ [A] _ We're getting close here
And now when I implement some sort of repetition in my note choices most would agree that fundamentally
This is music even if [C] it's not to their taste
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ Throughout [Em] my entire [A] example
I only use three different [E] notes C E or [G] G right across my entire guitar our ear picks up on this
Subconsciously and is able to [F#] recognize it.
Of course.
This is [Em] rather rudimentary
We can expand on [G] these ideas and get more complicated based on our tastes
But for the [Gm] most part we are [A] identifying some sort of pattern that is agreeable to our [F] senses
Even if it's not happening [Dm] on a conscious level [Am] from a very young age our [E] expectations begin [B] to develop
[Am] There's a reason why [A] nursery rhymes are incredibly simple and not packed full of [F#] complicated jazz harmony
Our tiny little baby brains wouldn't be able to keep up as we get older our brains develop and our [F#m] tastes advance to our
[A] conceptualization of music is built on the ability to [D] recognize more and more complex patterns and the ability to [Dm] predict future ones as well our
Enjoyment [C#] of music is very [G#] much determined by how the music [F#m] subverts these expectations or plays into them
So, how does this apply to dogs?
Well, it [F] seems they can't [A] recognize these patterns
So their experience [D] listening to songs will be vastly different than ours people have tried
But no one's been able to prove that dogs can recognize rhythm like we do which isn't true for all animals [F#] in
2009 an experiment was done with a dancing cockatoo named snowball who seemingly moved his body to the music [E] to test this the [C#] tempo
Was sped up [F#m] and down and he was able to stay in time
Since then the University of California [G#] proved that a sea lion named Ronan [C#m] was also able to keep rhythm
But as of now no other mammals have been [B] confirmed to do so [F#] including dogs
Even the highly intelligent [G#] bonobo is unable to interact with the rhythm though
It [F#] does appear that they can recognize when one is present and even if you have seen footage of a dog dancing or playing an instrument
Online remember not everything is as it appears on the internet.
So what about another key component of music pitch?
Well, it turns out that canines are able to recognize how high or low a notice
I have a friend named Darren and whenever we play music together his dog starts howling like crazy
I looked into why this is and apparently the pup thinks that we are fellow members of the pack [G#] howling away.
So he joins in
[B] Interestingly if you try to match [E] the pitch of the dogs howl
He'll change notes [A] this phenomenon has also [G#] been recognized in [F#m] recordings of the distant [A] cousin of the dog the wolf
[F#] Maybe the distance created when a pack of wild wolves are all howling [Bm] away at different pitches is [Dm] scarier in the wild
[B] I don't know but their ability to do so and decipher this means that they're able to [F] recognize pitch now
Are they able to conceptualize the [F#] patterns within pitch [Am] like we do again likely not but [G] even if we did try to train a dog
To comprehend music it's likely that it's not even possible given their intellectual ability
The simplest songs to a dog probably sounds like what Ornette Coleman sounds like to us _ _
[B] _ _ _ _ _ _ However, it has been confirmed by researchers that dogs will react differently to different genres
According to an article in psychology today research confirms that dogs have [C#] musical preferences and [G] react differently to particular types of music
[Em] Psychologist Deborah Wells at Queen's University in Belfast
exposed [Am] dogs in an animal shelter to different types of music the kind of music that the dogs listen to made a difference when the
[G] Researchers played heavy metal music the dogs became quite agitated and began barking listening to popular music [Em] or human
Conversation did not [A] produce behaviors that were noticeably different from having no sound at all
Classical music on the other hand seemed to have a calming effect on the dogs
While listening to it their level of barking was significantly reduced and [G] the dogs often lay down and [D] settled in place
It's yet to be [A] determined what elements of music cause this reaction, but there's definitely something there
Interestingly a dog will hear recorded music differently than live music because of our [D] technology
[E] Humans have a [A] biological limit to our hearing there are high [D] and low pitches that we don't pick up of course these notes still exist
And there are some animals like dogs that hear many of the higher ones [E] which explains why a [A] dog will freak out when it hears
A dog whistle, but you'll hear nothing but recorded music doesn't capture the full [D] spectrum of sound
We don't capture the [Dm] notes that are too high or low for us [G] to hear because there's no point a dog which can hear these
Higher pitches would notice them lacking in recorded music
Let me do a demonstration what you're hearing now [C] encompasses the full [Am] range of human hearing _ _
[F] _ [G] _ _ and now [A] here it is with the upper bit cut out
_ [G] _ _ _ _ This may be a decent representation of how a canine might hear [B] recorded music now.
I am definitely no [G] neuroscientist
I am merely a musician if you have anything you want [C] to add to the discussion or [E] anything you want to [C#] correct
Please let me know [F#] in the comments
I hope you guys found this video [E] interesting and learned a little something about our furry friends
And [F#] if you're [B] sad [E] because your dog doesn't seem interested [A] in your music you [D] now know that you [G#m] don't need to take it [F#m] personally
If [E] this video interested you I want to recommend the book.
This is your [B] brain on music
[E] It breaks down some of [A] these sciencey principles and makes it easy and fun to [C#] understand for people [F#m] like me
[B] I'll put up [Fm] an Amazon link in the description [F#] check it out.
If you're [Dm] new here hit that [G] subscribe button.
I'm Samurai [F] guitarist
Thank you [F#m] all for watching and I will