MUSIC AND THE BRAIN

1. MUSIC AND THE BRAIN “Music is so naturally united with us that we cannot be free from it even if we so desired” Storr

2. Music seems to be one of the basic actions of humans. Even if early music was not handed down from generation to generation, there is an evidence of prehistoric music from the findings of flutes and other music instrument played by Neanderthals at least 50.000 years ago.

3. The influence of music on society can be clearly seen from modern history. Music helped Thomas Jefferson write the Declaration of Indipendence, getting the words from his brain onto the paper. A little known fact about Einstein is that when he was young he did extremely poor in school and his teachers told his parents to take him out of school because he was “too stupid to learn” suggesting them to get Albert a manual and easy work. Albert’s parents did not think that he was stupid and they bought him a violin. Music was the key that helped Einstein become one of the smartest man who has ever lived. Einstein himself says that the reason he was so smart is because he played the violin. The influence of music

4. Bodily responses to music It has been proven that music influence humans both in good and bad ways. These effects are instant and long lasting. • Music is thought to link all of the emotional, spiritual, and physical elements of the universe. • People perceive and respond to music in different ways: an experienced and accomplished musician might hear and feel a piece of music in a totally different way than a non-musician or a beginner. Rhythm is also an important aspect of music to study when looking at responses to music. There are two responses to rhythm, they are related and one can’t exist without the other: • The actual hearing of the rhythm • The physical responses to the rhythm Rhythm organizes physical movements and is very much related to the human body. Another example of how rhythm orders movement is an autistic boy who can not tie his shoes; the rhythm helps organize his physical movements in time.

5. Responses to music are easy to be detected in the human body. • Classical music from the baroque period causes the heart beat and pulse rate to relax to the beat of the music. As the body becomes relaxed and alert, the mind is able to concentrate more easily. Furthermore, baroque music decreases blood pressure and enhances the ability to learn. Music affects the amplitude and frequency of brain waves, which can be misured by an electro-encephalogram. It has been observed to cause the pupils to dilate, increase blood pressure, and increase the heart rate.

6. The power of music • On memory and learning • Cutting crime • Providing therapy • Restoring memories

7. The power of music on memory and learning The power of music to affect memory is quite intruing. Mozart’s music and baroque music, with a 60 beats per minute beat pattern, activate the left and right brain. The information being studied activates the left brain while the music activates the right brain. Music and other sounds entering the ears go to the auditory cortex, assemblages of cells just above both ears. The right side of the cortex is crucial for perceiving pitch as well as certain aspects of melody, harmony, timbre, and rhythm. The left side of the brain in most people excels at processing rapid changes in frequency and intensity, both in music and words. Such rapid changes occur when someone plucks a violin string versus running a bow across it. Also activities which engage both sides of the brain at the same time causes the nrain to be more capable of processing information.

8. According to The Center for New Descoveries in Learning, learning potential can be increased a minimum of five times using these 60 beats per minute music. A renowned psycologist, Dr. George Lozanov, designed a way to teach foreign languages in a fraction of the normal learning time. Using his system, students could learn up to one half of the vocabulary in one day. Dr. Lozanov system involved using certain clessical music pieces from the baroque period. He has proven that foreign languages can be learned with 85-100% efficiency in only thirty days. However, simply using music while learning does not absolutely guarantee recall but can possibly improve it. Background music in itself is not a part of the learning process, but it does enter into memory along with the information learned.

9. Cutting crime & Changing your drive Music can be a powerful weapon in the fight against crime. A UK study of the use of classical music in trains found robberies fell by 33%, assults on staff by 25%, and vandalism by 37%. The power of music has been also exploited by military forces as a weapon of war: allied troups were bombarded by tunes designed to remind them of home and sap their morale during operations against japanese forces during the Second World War. Music has found its most sinister use during the interrogation of prisoners. Certain types of music can have a fatal effect on drivers: tests in simulators showed that drivers listening to fast-tempo music were twice as likely to jump red lights and drive badly as those driving in silence.

10. Providing therapy A number of medical conditions including autism, depression and chronic pain have been shown in clinical studies to improve significantly as the result of so called “music therapy”, in which patients are helped to relax or express their emotions by listening to music or playing musical instruments under the guidance of a therapist Many revealing scientific experiments, studies have been performed to try and discover the extent of the power of music . It was founded that slow music could slow the heart beat and the breathing rate as well as the blood pressure; faster music was found to speed up the same body measurements.

11. Restoring memories Music can help stimulate long-forgotten memories and may help the elderly combat memory loss, according to new research. According to the researchers, the results suggest memories are not lost because they are badly stored in the brain, but because of problems retrieving them. The music may help provide a mnemonic “ trigger”.

12. On animals and plants too! Tests on the effects of music on living organisms besides humans have shown that special pieces of music aid hens in laying more eggs. Music can also help cows to yield more milk. Rats were test by psychologists to see how they would react to Bach’s music and rock music. The rats were placed in two different boxes, rock music was played in one of the boxes, while Bach’s music in the second one. The rats could choose to switch boxes through a tunnel that connected both boxes. Almost all the racts chose to go into the box with the bach music. In 1968 a college student, Dorthy Retallack, started researching the effects of music on plants. He tested the effects of music on plants growth by using styles including classical, jazz, pop, rock, acid rock, east indian, and country. Jazz and classical music turned out to be the most helpful to the plants. However the plants tested with the rock music withered and died. The acid rock music also had negative effects on the plants growth.