By Richard Harris
National Public Radio
September 2, 2009
Music has great power to alter our emotions — making us happy or sad, agitated or calm. Psychologists have tried in vain to figure out why that happens. Now, a composer says he's has a clue. And he got it by writing music not for humans, but for monkeys.
David Teie plays cello with the National Symphony Orchestra and even on occasion with the heavy metal band Metallica. He's also a composer.
Teie has been developing a theory to explain why music plays on human emotions. His theory is that music relates to the most primitive sounds we make and respond to, like laughter, heartbeats, or a mother's cooing...
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