"Although a teaspoon of Mozart may not make a child a better mathematician, there is little doubt that regular exposure to music, and especially active participation in music, may stimulate development of many different areas of the brain--areas which have to work together to listen to or perform music. For the vast majority of students, music can be every bit as important educationally as reading or writing."
There are several scattered networks in the human brain and no one single music center. Every human has the ability to perceive tones, rhythyms, harmony pitch and timbre. We integrate all of these using many different parts of our brains. Most of this action is mainly unconcious but to this is added intense and profound emotional action to the music. Listening to music is not only emotional but is also muscular as we use our muscles to tap rhythms and to dance. We seem to have a great tenacity for musical memory as what was heard in our early years is retained for a lifetime.
However, this wonderful brain machinery is vulnerable to distortions, excesses and breakdowns. This can occur in a widespread range of cortical problems including Parkinsonism, Alzheimer's, strokes, autism, and other forms of dementia. One example of a debilitating syndrome involving music is musicogenic epilepsy. In these individuals, a certain melody or pitch or tone may trigger a site in the temporal lobe resulting in a seizure. These individuals learn to stay away from any event involving music.
No comments:
Post a Comment