String quartet players continuously adjust the timing of their notes to stay in sync. But exactly how players do it has been unclear. New data tracking millisecond-scale corrections suggests that some ensembles are more autocratic — following one leader —while other musical groups are more democratic, making corrections equally. Researchers had two well-established quartets play Joseph Haydn’s String Quartet op. 74 no. 1. (1)

In the cosmos everything affects everything.

An no matter how, we are all synchronized to play the same tune.

Leaders or followers, we are all in the same music room.

Listen to the music...