bilateral damage
Music therapy (part 2)
I owe my art to the fact that I did not commit suicide.
Oh, people, if you ever read this, you will remember that you have been unjust to me; let the unfortunate be comforted by seeing a fellow-sufferer who, in spite of all the opposition of nature, has done everything in his power to become a worthy artist and man.
Goodbye and don’t forget me at all. Be happy.
Ludwig Beethoven. Heiligenstadt, 1801.” Continue reading
Sounds that are not
Let’s listen to a tape of spiritual music — Tibetan monks or Gregorian singing. If you listen, you can hear the voices merge, forming one pulsating tone.
This is one of the most interesting effects peculiar to some musical instruments and chorus of people singing in about one key — the formation of beats . When voices or instruments converge in unison, the beats slow, and when they diverge — they accelerate. Continue reading
Musically gifted brain
Just as short-term learning increases the number of neurons that respond to sound, long-term learning increases the responses of nerve cells and even causes physical changes in the brain. Brain reactions of professional musicians differ significantly from those of non-musicians, and some areas of their brain are over-developed.
In 1998, Christo Pantev (Christo Pantev) from the University of münster in Germany showed that when musicians listen to piano playing, the area of auditory zones reacting to music, they have 25% more than non-musicians. Studies of children also confirm the assumption that early musical experience facilitates the “musical” development of the brain. In 2004 Antoine Shahin (Shahin Antoine), Larry Roberts (Larry E. Roberts) and Laurel Trainor (Laurel J. Trainor) from McMaster University in Ontario recorded the reaction of the brain 4-5 year old children to the sounds of piano, violin and pure tones. Continue reading
