It seems to me you did bind the skeleton to the mesh since you stated you move the head joint and the head moves, there is a connection between the two alright.

The first thing I can think of is the following... click the "Maya" menu on the top left... now click "Preferences"... now clllll the way on the bottom click "Time Slider". Where it says "Playback Speed", change it to "Play every frame", now hit SAVE on the bottom.

That should work, if it doesn't then I would have to see the file, since I'm not sure if you use mocap data or how you originally made the connection between the joints and geometry.

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