Scientists played Bach to newborns, and found they can anticipate rhythms at two days old
6 February 2026, 16:23
Your two-day-old could be secretly judging your sense of timing, as new research finds we develop rhythm earlier than we first thought.
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If you’re worrying about whether three is too young for your little one to pick up an instrument, worry no more. Even when they’re as young as two days old, babies may already have a sense of musical time – but not melody, according to new research. So maybe hold off on the piccolo until they’re at least three and a half...
A new study published in PLOS Biology has found that newborns’ brains can anticipate rhythmic patterns in music, even while they sleep.
Researchers from the Italian Institute of Technology played piano sonatas by J.S. Bach to 49 dozing newborns and recorded their brain activity using electroencephalography (EEG). They then played scrambled versions of the same music with the structure removed.
They discovered that the babies’ brains reacted when they detected a rhythmical anomaly but not when a melodic pattern was broken.
Read more: Rediscovered Bach organ works performed for the first time in 300 years
Air on the G String by J. S. Bach - Philipp Schupelius | Classic FM
“This shows that rhythm is present at birth, likely as a biological predisposition, whereas melody seems to emerge later through experience and learning,” lead author Roberta Bianco told ZME Science.
The findings suggest that rhythm perception could be a fundamental survival instinct. “The auditory system acts as the brain’s early warning system, continuously extracting regularities from the environment,” Bianco said, “This is vital for survival, especially during sleep, when we still hear but can’t see.”
The researchers believe that this early connection between rhythm, movement and timing could form the foundation for how humans learn to interact with the world and eventually to appreciate music and language.
Her team now plans a longitudinal study to follow babies through their first year, tracing when awareness of melody begins to take shape.
