Singing helps us work together

Embargoed until: Publicly released: 2026-04-22 09:01

International

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Groups of workers throughout human history that sing together while they work likely used their work songs to stay in sync with their team, according to international research. The researchers say tasks that require human synchronisation, such as rowing, often come with the challenge of staying coordinated or the problem of a group eventually speeding up. To test how singing influences this, the researchers conducted experiments where pairs performed tasks where they had to tap in unison. When a participant was singing during the task, the researchers say rushing was eliminated and coordination improved. They say this could mean human cultures developed work songs as a method to work better together.

News release

From: The Royal Society

Whistle while you work - Singing while working may increase teamwork by helping people synchronize in collaborative tasks, such as rowing, where joint rushing of pace is a common problem. Through experiments where pairs of participants performed rhythmic tapping, researchers found that when one participant vocalised a subdivided rhythm (dividing the main beat into smaller, equal rhythmic parts), joint rushing was completely eliminated. The authors said this shows how work songs may have culturally evolved as tools to enhance collaborations. Proceedings of the Royal Society B

How characteristics of work songs facilitate tempo-keeping in social interactions

Singing while working together has been a common practice across cultures, but its benefits have rarely been studied. This research investigates how work songs, particularly those featuring solo vocalizations and rhythmic subdivisions, can improve teamwork. In three experiments, pairs of participants performed rhythmic tapping tasks, simulating aspects of work songs. When one person vocalized a subdivided rhythm, joint rushing (a common timing problem in group tasks) was eliminated, and coordination improved. These findings suggest that work songs may function as tools that enhance teamwork by leveraging cognitive mechanisms, helping people better synchronize in collaborative tasks.

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Journal/
conference: Proceedings of the Royal Society B

Research:Paper

Organisation/s: Central European University, Austria

Funder: No funding has been received for this article.

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