An interesting article (
link ) in today's UK Telegraph paper about an ice cream maker hiring an Italian tenor to sing to his cows:
Quote:
The gelato, which goes on sale this month, has been faithfully recreated from a century old family recipe.
Its creator Antonio Federici, who lived near Portofino on the Italian Riviera, believed that listening to the opera he loved was beneficial to his cows and co-workers.
He was convinced that it stimulated the production of endorphin-rich milk and created a happy working environment and wrote it down as an essential ingredient to the recipe.
Back in the old West, the nightherder used to sing to the cattle on cattle drives to calm their nerves, lull them to sleep, and probably prevent stampedes (
link ).
So the voice probably has a lot more power than we give it credit for, even the cowboy's voice who can't hold a note. At least the cattle like the music!
I've always thought if one was stuck on a desert island and weeks later a boat rows a shore, and lo and behold it's that person who always sings Picture in that screechy voice you (used to) hate, you would welcome them with open arms and all of a sudden would love to hear them sing Picture--heck, you might even sing the other half of the duet with them...well, at least for the next few days! Then you might develop an acute case of cabin, or rather island fever, and want to boot them off the island.