Most people react strongly to their mother’s voice – whether being talked to lovingly or being punished, all children become sniffling little babies when their mothers are around. But if your mother sings to you, are you moved to tears? In a YouTube video that’s gone viral, one baby is, and the emotion in the little girl’s eyes would make the coldest person weep. The video, posted by YouTube user Alain Leroux on Oct. 18, shows a 10-month-old baby become moved by her mother singing to her. The video currently has more than 3 million views. The mother is singing Rod Stewart’s My Heart Can’t Tell You No. The young child’s eyes well up with tears from the second her mother starts singing, and those tears quickly become streams flowing down the sweet baby’s smiling face. The baby girl doesn’t seem to be in pain or upset, just generally moved by her mother singing an emotional song. Why can music turn us into sniveling babies, dictating all emotive feeling in our bodies? According to the Scientific American, a study completed in 2009 showed that music “powerfully influenced the emotional ratings” of subjects who were given music clips to listen to and then given photographed facial expressions to view and rate, based on the sad or happy music they listened to. The baby might also be experiencing appoggiatura, defined by Merriam-Webster as “an embellishing note or tone preceding an essential melodic note or tone and usually written as a note of smaller size” that could invoke overwhelming feeling of emotions when used in music and singing. In February 2012, National Public Radio in the U.S. produced a two-part story on appoggiatura when it was used in reference to the song Someone Like You by Adele, after the news organization suffered backlash from many for improper use of the term. More often than not, crying while hearing music is connected to the classical genre, but in modern times, emotionally listening to music is as universal as music itself. Although nothing concrete has been discovered on why music is so emotive and powerful for many, the baby’s reaction to the power of her mother’s voice shows that music is as priceless as it is touching and sweet. RNN
