Musical language

Yesterday I listened to an excellent episode of the radio program Radio Lab that covered the topic of music in relation to language. In the program they interview a professor who studied human ability for "perfect pitch" (that is, the ability to be able to identify any note upon hearing it without having to run to the piano) amongst different language speakers. The comparison between those who spoke English as their mother tongue and those who spoke Mandarin Chinese as their mother tongue were astounding: Chinese speakers were NINE TIMES more likely to have perfect pitch than their English speaking counterparts (all participants were students of music). Since tonal languages like Chinese and Vietnamese have a broader range of sounds that are constantly produced by the speakers at the same pitch, this suggests there may be a connection in the language we learn as infants and our ability for our brains to make sense of the sounds we hear. English is not a tonal language, yet plenty of speakers of non-tonal languages have become famous classical musicians, so this is not to suggest that one group has some special ability that others do not. But it does suggest, along with later content in the show to back this up, that we are able to accommodate new sounds and sound patterns over time (think of that song on the radio or CD you own that you have to hear 2 or 3 times before you decide you like it), however, until we adjust to these sound patterns, they are more-or-less gibberish to our ears.
In any case, as a music lover and a language learner, this was fascinating to me. It also puts some weight to the theory of playing Classical music to infants or even while a baby is still in the womb. It is said that this could increase the child's capacity for intelligence. If anything, it seems feasible to me that introducing the broad range of sounds that are contained in Classical music to a child at a young age would strengthen their acute hearing ability so that they are able to identify not only musical notes (as in "perfect pitch") but also the emotion expressed in human speech, the fine points of foreign languages and pronunciation, and maybe even assist in the complex thought process.
On a different note (no pun intended), think of the popularity of rock n' roll and later forms of music. Not only are they easy for people to relate to and identify with, but something like heavy metal music, that uses simple and sometimes dissonant musical chords, may resonate with someone who is feeling inner turmoil. Likewise, expressive singers may invoke emotions that we otherwise would suppress or pay little attention to. Even some pop musicians could trigger a sense of unity and calm our nerves by the simplicity of their music. At any rate, the affect music can have on our mood is nothing to be ignored, and understanding the language of music could help us to communicate better ourselves. By adapting to various types of music and acclimating to a broad range of patterns in sound, we are opening up our mind to new possibilities and possibly a solution to some conundrum that, up to that point, seemed like gibberish.
(link to Radio Lab episode)