Mathematicians claim that mathematics
is the language of God, but with equal authority
musicians claim that honor belongs to music!
Music's psychophysiological effects
on the body are undeniable. It has the ability to put us
in the zone/flow, that euphoric state of mind that can
only be induced by food, exercise, art, sex. Music is a
form of communication (language) that taps our deepest,
rawest emotions and helps us express or process them
when words fail us.
The body vibrates at about eight
cycles per second, which corresponds to the alpha
brainwave state and the fundamental vibrating rate of
earth itself. Vibration rates reflect our general health
and emotional state, and music's vibrations have a
direct impact on the body that will synchronize its
vibration rate to that of the music. Every bone, muscle,
organ, and gland creates and absorbs sound radiation.
That's why music can arouse us or calm us down, heal us
and reduce sensations of pain, relieve stress, and
stimulate creativity and cognition. I read a very
interesting article on how sound affects our DNA and
corroborates what you say in your article music is a
language:
Apparently the percentage of our DNA
which is used to build proteins is only 10% (some
sources say 2%). Russian biophysicist and molecular
biologist, Pjotr Garjajev and his colleagues, joined
linguists and geneticists to explore the use of the
other 90% (or 98%). They explored the vibrational
behavior of the DNA and found that the alkalines of our
DNA follow the basic rules of grammar with set rules as
is the case in human languages. Living chromosomes
vibrate at certain frequencies, and the Russian
scientists were actually able to modulate given
frequency patterns onto a laser ray and then used that
to influence the DNA frequency and subsequently the
genetic information itself. Therefore, this research
suggests that DNA are resonate structures that possess
the linguistic patterns of language and the vibrational
frequencies which responds to light and radio waves
language and music are in our genes! Apparently diseased
rats were able to regenerate their endocrine glands
after exposure to healing wave information.
Thanks to brain imaging devices,
researchers were able to determine that music activates
multiple brain regions, which is why it has such a
global impact on us memory, immune response, stress
response, and our emotions. The theory that music
induces more activity among all brain areas (called
coherence) is true: musicians have greater coherence
than non-musicians, and females have greater coherence
than males (due to more interhemispheric connections,
particularly in the anterior commissure).
In his book Music with the Brain
in Mind, Eric Jensen lists various brain regions
that are activated by different aspects of music. He
also states that brain region activation depends on the
experimental model used (I assume the specific song
and/or type of music) and the individual subject tested.
However, some universal brain region activation patterns
have been identified using PET scans:
Broca's area (left hemisphere) was
activated when subjects listened to familiar music
selections, except when the listener was trying to
remember the musical title. This finding may suggest
that all familiar sounds are processed in Broca's area,
not just word sounds.
-
Rhythm (the pattern of regular
or irregular pulses caused by strong and weak
melodic and harmonic beats) also activates
Broca's area, as well as the cerebellum.
-
Melody (a rhythmical
succession of single tones) activated both
hemispheres, but specific melody recognition mainly
activates the right hemisphere.
-
Harmony (the simultaneous
combination of tones) activates the left
hemisphere more than the right hemisphere, and also
the inferior temporal cortex.
-
Pitch (the key or keynote of a
melody; tonal standard) activates the precuneus
(located on the left back of the brain). Pitch may
also activate the right auditory cortex.
-
Timbre (quality of sound
produced by a particular instrument or voice)
activates the right hemisphere the only musical
element that did that!
Some more fascinating facts about the
brain and music:
-
In non-musician subjects,
background music activates the right hemisphere to a
greater degree, but concentrating on lyrics
activates the left hemisphere.
-
A right-ear superiority in
performance of words and a left-ear superiority in
performance of music was noted. This means that
music with lyrics activates the brain differently
than instrumental music.
-
Brain structures that are
activated are the temporal lobes (substantially),
but also the left inferior frontal lobe, right
dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, left occipital lobe,
and the cerebellum.
-
According to blood flow and brain
activity tests conducted by John Mazziotta,
non-musicians' right hemisphere was more active when
listening to music, while musician's left hemisphere
was more active.
-
Consonant sounds activate the
orbitofrontal brain region of the right hemisphere
(part of the reward system), as well as an area
below the corpus callosum. Dissonant sounds activate
the right parahippocampal gyrus.
-
The ear has 3,500 inner hair
cells compared to 100 million photoreceptors in the
eye. This makes the ear the sensory organ with the
fewest sensory cells.
-
Dyslexics reportedly read better
after playing a music game where they have to
respond to tones that change very fast.
-
People who stutter may stammer
and stumble over their words, but they sing
fluently. Recent research brought to light that
stutterers process speech and language in different
brain areas than non-stutterers. Stuttering stops
when singing in a rhythm pattern (called the choral
effect) or elongating the beginnings of sentences or
sounds that cause stuttering.
-
Premature babies gain weight
faster when exposed to soft background music and
their mother's or a nurse's humming. Infants at two
months of age will turn towards consonant sounds and
away from dissonant sounds.
-
Alzheimer's patients in nursing
homes or hospitals are difficult to organize when
participating in a group activity, such as mealtime.
The right kind of music calms the patients and
reduces confusion and disagreements.
-
The right kind of music lowers
blood pressure and increases the efficiency of
oxygen consumption by the heart.
Music is written in various scales
and the two most important scales are called major or
minor scales. Melody is a series of pitches that are
played one after the other, and harmony is groups of
pitches played simultaneously that enhance the melody.
When written in a major scale, the melody and harmony
relate such that the music sounds positive or happy and
in turn stimulates those emotional neurocircuits. Music
written in a minor scale (ballads and The Blues) sounds
serious, somber, even sad, and stimulates equivalent
emotional neurocircuits. In a classroom setting, music
written in major scales should be played to stimulate,
activate, and enhance learning. Music written in minor
scales should only be played to calm over-active
children. Baroque music (such as Bach or Vilvaldi's slow
movements) which is written at about 60 beats per minute
(one downbeat every second), aides in the increased
retention of information. This could be because the
heart rate slows, breathing deepens, the subject relaxes
tense muscles, stress evaporates (momentarily at least),
leaving the conscious mind free to focus on the
information being presented.
Music has such a widespread influence
on us (and other animals and even plants), from calming
us down and reducing stress hormones, to stimulating us
through all levels of arousal to euphoria! The power of
music should be part of every school's curriculum to
assist with math, language and reading skills. Music
should be applied in the classroom to activate (or warm
up) those neural circuits needed for spatial reasoning
tasks, language and reading, math, art, memory,
creativity, mood regulation, and emotional attention.
Music should be used more extensively in sports training
as it improves the brain's ability to conceptualize
space and also teaches rhythm and fluid execution of
movement (from gymnastics through ball control in
football). On a personal level, music can assist in
enhancing our spatial awareness in tasks such as driving
and parallel parking to creating harmonious home
interiors. Music may well be the language of a polyglot
God, but it resonates within us all the way down to our
genes!!
Marie-Louise Oosthuysen de
Gutierrez
Educational Brain Researcher
Mexico City, Mexico
moosdegut@prodigy.net.mx
