ABSTRACT
This chapter argues that synchronization to music can enhance interpersonal coordination, and thus can improve social functioning and non-verbal communication skills. It introduces the theoretical links between interpersonal coordination and music synchronization. The chapter discusses the links among social factors, social contexts, and synchronization. It describes how social factors and social contexts can influence synchronization abilities. The chapter then demonstrates that this link is bi-directional by discussing how synchronization can in turn impact on social factors. Social factors and contexts may indeed influence interactional synchrony, but enforced synchronized movement within a group can also enhance social relationships. Much like interpersonal coordination, synchronization to music has itself been considered as a form of non-verbal communication, and has been discussed in the contexts of both cognitive and social psychology. Several neurological disorders have been associated with a decline in communication. Non-verbal communication in patients with dementia has been quantitatively measured in studies that have found benefits of music interventions.
