Music Helps You Work (Out): Art Knew That Already

Just whistle while you work
And cheerfully together we can tidy up the place
So hum a merry tune
It won't take long when there's a song to help you set the pace

And as you sweep the room
Imagine that the broom is someone that you love
And soon you'll find you're dancing to the tune

(Spoken: Oh, no, no, no, no! Put them in the tub)
When hearts are high the time will fly so whistle while you work

Whistle While You Work, by Frank Churchill and Larry Morey.

We dig dig dig dig dig dig dig in our mine the
whole day through
To dig dig dig dig dig dig dig is what we really like to do
It ain't no trick to get rich quick
If you dig dig dig with a shovel or a pick
In a mine! In a mine! In a mine! In a mine!
Where a million diamonds shine! 

We dig dig dig dig dig dig dig from early morn till night
We dig dig dig dig dig dig dig up everything in sight
We dig up diamonds by the score
A thousand rubies, sometimes more
But we don't know what we dig 'em for
We dig dig dig a-dig dig 

Heigh-ho, Heigh-ho
Heigh-ho, Heigh-ho
Heigh-ho 

[Chorus]
Heigh-ho, Heigh-ho
It's home from work we go 

[Whistle]
Heigh-ho, Heigh-ho, Heigh-ho 

[Chorus]
Heigh-ho, Heigh-ho 

[Whistle]
Heigh-ho, Heigh-ho
Heigh-ho, Heigh-ho
Heigh-ho, Heigh-ho
Heigh-ho hum

Heigh-ho, by Frank Churchill and Larry Morey

Churchill and Morey wrote these beloved songs for the 1937 Disney film "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs."

How Music Can Boost our Workouts

Enter: A group of researchers from Belgium and Germany.

In brief, the researchers installed electronic devices on exercise machines, which played music whenever volunteers worked out on these machines.  The music - for example, rhythm and tempo - they heard depended on how they exercised.  They effectively created music, while working out.

Results showed that musical agency significantly decreased perceived exertion during workout, indicating that musical agency may actually facilitate physically strenuous activities. This indicates that the positive effect of music on perceived exertion cannot always be explained by an effect of diversion from proprioceptive feedback. Furthermore, this finding suggests that the down-modulating effect of musical agency on perceived exertion may be a previously unacknowledged driving force for the development of music in humans: making music makes strenuous physical activities less exhausting.

Reference: Musical agency reduces perceived exertion during strenuous physical performance.

How did Western science get to be so late to the party?  Moreover, how does it come across as insightful, even ground-breaking, when in fact art (à la Walt Disney) knew decades ago that making music not only made work less exhausting, but also made it positively delightful?