By: Laura Sanders Musical training tunes the developing brain, scientists report in the Sept. 3 Journal of Neuroscience. After two years in a music enrichment program, children in Los Angeles had more sophisticated brain responses to spoken syllables than kids who had only a year of training. [Read more…] Source: Science News
By: Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences A musician’s brain is different to that of a non-musician. Making music requires an interplay of abilities which are also reflected in more developed brain structures. Scientists have discovered that these capabilities are embedded in a much more finely tuned way than assumed: The brain Read more about The brains of jazz and classical pianists work differently[…]
Could learning to play a musical instrument help the elderly react faster and stay alert? Quite likely, according to a new study by Université de Montréal’s School of Speech Language Pathology and Audiology, part of UdeM’s medical faculty. Published in the U.S. journal Brain and Cognition, the study shows that musicians have faster reaction Read more about Playing an Instrument Boosts Reaction Time[…]
By: Jeremy Montagu How did music begin? Did our early ancestors first start by beating things together to create rhythm, or use their voices to sing? What types of instruments did they use? Has music always been important in human society, and if so, why? These are some of the questions explored in a recent Read more about What is music?[…]
By: Hannah Furness Anyone who has been tutted at for turning the pages of their programme too loudly may be permitted a wry smile at news of the latest innovation: an app which texts notes straight to ticket-holders’ phones. The mobile phone app promises to deliver programme notes live as the orchestra plays, allowing curious Read more about Classical music app to send programme notes to your phone as orchestra plays[…]
By: Michael Waters A creation of the Hupfeld Company, at the time the largest global distributor of automatic instruments with an employee count reaching into the thousands, the creation capped off a growing trend to automate increasingly complex musical instruments. Though player pianos had already attained widespread usage, the Phonoliszt-Violin was revolutionary for its addition Read more about The Self-Playing Violins That Mastered Chopin[…]
By: Diane Wakoski Poet’s Introduction: When I had been living in New York several years after I had graduated from Berkeley, I heard from my mother who lived in Southern California where I grew up. During the call (I hate telephones and almost never talk on them), she said, “All those years I paid for Read more about Thanking My Mother for Piano Lessons[…]
By: Nancy M. Williams …presence applies beautifully to a concert pianist’s Olympian challenge of a 10-city tour. Yet presence also matters for the daily, dogged commitment to practice. To sight-read, practice repetitive scales, master tricky rhythms like three against two, and ease into a rapid trill, we must occupy the piano bench with presence, Read more about Power Poses for Piano Practice[…]
Yuja Wang is ridiculously talented and a genius.
John Green shares some little known facts about the science of music! [Text Version] Source: Mental Floss