The Drum

The Why Factor

• Episode: The Drum
• Website: The Why Factor
• Feed URL: https://podcasts.files.bbci.co.uk/p00xtky9.rss
• Duration: 00:17:58
• Published: 2012-12-14 20:50

Why are human beings compelled to tap their feet or bob their heads to the beat of music?

It seems like a very basic thing to do. But no other animal is able to synchronise their whole body to a beat in the way we do, and very few other animals can even recognise a beat.

Mike Williams goes in search of where exactly in our bodies we feel this beat and what evolutionary purpose the ability to drum and move to the drum beat might have had.

(Image of a man playing drums - credit: Getty)