Musical Minds
I watched part of the repeat of the NOVA show on PBS titled Musical Minds last night. I'd really like to see the entire episode sometime. They had some really interesting (to me) neurological information about how music relates to the brain. If you don't find this interesting, I understand. But I thought this was a really neat show. I've often wondered why I have such a powerful attraction to music, especially Joe's. It can change my mood, bring me down/up, change my stress level, blood pressure, outlook, have me dancing in the aisles. And this show kind of answered some of my questions.
Every culture, all of them worldwide have some type music. They now know the human brain is hardwired for it, making us what the scientists called natural musical animals. We are born with parts of our brains ready for anticipating musical parts, participating in and appreciating music. In a brainscan, they can't tell a visual artist, writer or mathematician, but they can tell a professional musician. That was a Way cool moment for me.
Neurologist Oliver Sacks (he wrote Awakenings, starring Di Nero and Robin Williams, a movie about his discoveries of what musical therapy did for his patients. Ones who couldn't talk could sing, ones that couldn't walk could dance, etc.) He's a Bach fan, but not Beethoven. They played popular pieces and when he heard the Bach, his brain really lit up, but not for Beethoven. Then they played rare pieces that he couldn't tell between the two, but his brain could, the same parts lit up for Bach, but not the other. I thought that was really interesting. I could relate, sometimes I'm not sure who I'm hearing, but I know I like it. It usually ends up being someone who's music I usually like but just didn't recognize at that moment. Good gawd, I am normal!
They also had case studies of Dr. Sacks including a young man who is a musical savante on the piano. He's blind, autistic and mentally disabled. He can't count to 10, but he can play back anything he hears, and do modulations and variations on the melody. It was amazing.
They had a woman who had Amusica, it's like vocal color blindness, she can't appreciate music like most (that'd be hell on earth for me). No rhythym, no pitch, no nothing. My friends and family would probably say I have this!
They also had an orthopaedic surgeon who'd always liked rock music, but he got struck by lightning in his head, and now is OCD about hearing/playing/creating classical piano pieces to the demise of his practice and marriage.
I alway knew in my heart music was way more than just sitting around, wasting time (HA Dad!) there's lots of brain parts involved. Fascinating stuff, I didn't do it justice here, but if you ever see this show scheduled, you might want to watch for a bit, pretty cool stuff.
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Originally Posted by TimothyBFan
