RE: Music in our genes?

[Jewish Music Institute <jewishmusic...>]

Re the thread of musicians brains, I once  heard on the radio,  the sounds
of human DNA, that someone had turned into synthesized sound. It was a
revelation as it sounded like the soaring tones and pizzicato plunks that
music has been trying to be in all its various forms.  That seemed to tell
me that music is something biological, not just in the mind, and that we
strive for it as it resonates with our bodies - as we strive to find stasis.

That lead me to think that if music really was in our genes, then that may
be why Jewish music appeals so much, and is why it is pouring out of so many
young Jewish  musicians almost whether they like it or not.

Just thoughts
Geraldine

-----Original Message-----
From: owner-jewish-music (at) shamash(dot)org
[mailto:owner-jewish-music (at) shamash(dot)org]On Behalf Of Susan Lerner
Sent: Friday, November 16, 2001 4:32 PM
To: World music from a Jewish slant
Subject: Fwd: Study: Musicians' brains wired for sound


Alright, not Jewish, but certainly music related.  Too interesting not to
forward.

Shira


>>From http://www.cnn.com/2001/HEALTH/11/15/musicians.brains.ap/index.html
>>Study: Musicians' brains wired for sound
>>
>>SAN DIEGO, California (AP) --The brain waves of professional musicians
respond to music in a way that suggests they have an intuitive sense of the
notes that amateurs lack, researchers said Wednesday.
>>
>>Neuroscientists, using brain-scanning MRI machines to peer inside the
minds of professional German violinists, found they could hear the music
simply by thinking about it, a skill amateurs in the study were unable to
match.
>>
>>The research offers insight into the inner workings of the brain and shows
that musicians' brains are uniquely wired for sound, researchers said at the
annual meeting of the Society for Neuroscience.
>>
>>Neuroscientists often study how we hear and play music because it is one
of the few activities that use many functions of the brain, including
memory, learning, motor control, emotion, hearing and creativity, said Dr.
Robert Zatorre of the Montreal Neurological Institute.
>>
>>"It offers a window onto the highest levels of human cognition," Zatorre
said.
>>
>>In a study by researchers at the University of Tuebingen, the brains of
eight violinists with German orchestras and eight amateurs were analyzed as
they silently tapped out the first 16 bars of Mozart's violin concerto in G
major.
>>
>>Brain scans showed professionals had significant activity in the part of
their brains that controlled hearing, said Dr. Gabriela Scheler of the
University of Tuebingen.
>>
>>"When the professionals move their fingers, they are also hearing the
music in their heads," Scheler said.
>>
>>Amateurs, by contrast, showed more activity in the motor cortex, the
region that controls finger movements, suggesting they were more preoccupied
with hitting the correct notes, she said.
>>
>>Scheler, a former violinist with the Nuremberg Philharmonic Orchestra,
said the findings suggested that professionals have "liberated" their minds
from worrying about hitting the right notes. As a result, they are able to
listen, judge and control their play, Scheler said.
>>
>>"Presumably, this enhances the musical performance," she said.
>>
>>In a second experiment, the violinists were asked to imagine playing the
concerto without moving their fingers. Brain scans showed again that the
professionals were hearing the music in their heads.
>>
>>Zatorre, who has studied the brain's response to music for two decades,
said it was the first time anyone had studied music and its relationship to
motor control and imagery.
>>
>>
>>Copyright 2001 The Associated Press.



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