Music Monday - Music’s healing power and cultural foundations
/On Saturday I listened to The Science Show with Robyn Williams on ABC Radio. It was a fascinating discussion about the effect of music on the brain and on emotion - very apt for Valentine’s Day.
The speakers were:
Psyche Loui, Associate Professor and Director MIND Lab, Northeastern University, MA, USA
Elizabeth Margulis, Professor of Music, Princeton University, NJ, USA
Daniel Levitin, Dean of Arts and Humanities at the Minerva Schools, San Francisco, USA
At Stagepage we have often referred to the benefits of music to brain development in children, in particular the wonderful work at Bigger Better Brains.
This was more of a look at music affects the brain overall.
I would urge you to have a listen to the whole show – it’s less than 30 minutes.
Here, in points form, is what resonated most with me:
Musical anhedonia, an inability to experience pleasure from music, and the difference in the brains of those who have it – estimated less than 5% of humans. They are not ‘tone deaf’ or ‘worse at music’ – they simply don’t like it.
The rewards in the brain from experiencing music is linked to social bonding.
Our perception of music is strongly linked to culture and context. The famous Washington Post experiment (where a concert violinist busked in the subway and the majority of passers-by did not recognise his talent) was quoted, as was the perception of atonal music by western cultures with a tradition of tonal centres as opposed to people in say, rural China.
The variability in timing and amplitude that musicians use naturally, strongly affect the perception of the listener.
The entire brain is involved in music. Recent research seems to indicate that music uses older pathways in the brain – more resistant to transmission difficulty.
Music is a unique stimulus to the brain; different parts of the brain are used for rhythm, melody, harmony, form and expression and different parts again bring them all together.
Point 6 may explain the effect of music in Alzheimers patients. Even after the pathways that affect speech and facial recognition have failed, the effect of familiar music can be a way to get at the brain of Alzheimers patients and help them recognise themselves.
The as yet underexplored area of the possible effect of music on health. For the past 2 decades there has been research but not empirical or rigorous. That is apparently changing.
The systemic interplay between prediction and reward when you listen to music that you enjoy.
Preliminary research into how music could help wounds heal faster. Music enhances mood. We have about 100 neurochemicals in our brains but scientists know only 8 of them so far. One of the famous ones – serotonin – is activated by music. Boosting levels of serotonin increases the T and K cells, the ‘James Bond’ of the immune system. Inflammation is a significant issue in wound healing and in some situations music can reduce inflammation.
I could go on, but you really need to listen for yourself and draw your own conclusions.
Like all music lovers, I have from a very young age, found certain pieces of music so achingly beautiful that they are almost too painfully beautiful. Many piano concerto slow movements fall into that category for me. I think I was drawn to this podcast because it explains some of this addiction to music.
