The relationship between musical skills, music training, and intonation analysis skills.

PubMed

Dankovicová, Jana; House, Jill; Crooks, Anna; Jones, Katie

2007-01-01

Few attempts have been made to look systematically at the relationship between musical and intonation analysis skills, a relationship that has been to date suggested only by informal observations. Following Mackenzie Beck (2003), who showed that musical ability was a useful predictor of general phonetic skills, we report on two studies investigating the relationship between musical skills, musical training, and intonation analysis skills in English. The specially designed music tasks targeted pitch direction judgments and tonal memory. The intonation tasks involved locating the nucleus, identifying the nuclear tone in stimuli of different length and complexity, and same/different contour judgments. The subjects were university students with basic training in intonation analysis. Both studies revealed an overall significant relationship between musical training and intonation task scores, and between the music test scores and intonation test scores. A more detailed analysis, focusing on the relationship between the individual music and intonation tests, yielded a more complicated picture. The results are discussed with respect to differences and similarities between music and intonation, and with respect to form and function of intonation. Implications of musical training on development of intonation analysis skills are considered. We argue that it would be beneficial to investigate the differences between musically trained and untrained subjects in their analysis of both musical stimuli and intonational form from a cognitive point of view.

The Effect of Key on Vocal Sight-Reading Achievement

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Henry, Michele L.

2013-01-01

At its most basic level, sight-reading can be defined as the production of accurate pitch and rhythm from a previously unseen musical score. For vocalists, sight-reading principally involves the production of pitches by determining their relationship within a tonal framework. The ability to mentally conceive tonal function and convert it into…

Unit Planning Grids for Music: Grade 9-12 Basic.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Delaware State Dept. of Education, Dover.

This unit planning grid outlines the expectations of Delaware high school students for basic music studies. The grid identifies nine standards for music: (1) students will sing, independently and with others, a varied repertoire of music; (2) students will perform on instruments, independently and with others, a varied repertoire of music; (3)…

Explaining the association between music training and reading in adults.

PubMed

Swaminathan, Swathi; Schellenberg, E Glenn; Venkatesan, Kirthika

2018-06-01

We sought to clarify whether the positive association between music lessons and reading ability is explained better by shared resources for processing pitch and temporal information, or by general cognitive abilities. Participants were native and nonnative speakers of English with varying levels of music training. We measured reading ability (comprehension and speed), music-perception skills (melody and rhythm), general cognitive ability (nonverbal intelligence, short-term memory, and working memory), and socioeconomic status (SES; family income, parents' education). Reading ability was associated positively with music training, English as a native language, and general cognitive ability. The association between reading and music training was significant after SES, native language, and music-perception skills were controlled. After general cognitive abilities were held constant, however, there was no longer an association between reading and music training. These findings suggest that the association between reading ability and music training is a consequence of general cognitive abilities. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2018 APA, all rights reserved).

Self-generated sounds of locomotion and ventilation and the evolution of human rhythmic abilities.

PubMed

Larsson, Matz

2014-01-01

It has been suggested that the basic building blocks of music mimic sounds of moving humans, and because the brain was primed to exploit such sounds, they eventually became incorporated in human culture. However, that raises further questions. Why do genetically close, culturally well-developed apes lack musical abilities? Did our switch to bipedalism influence the origins of music? Four hypotheses are raised: (1) Human locomotion and ventilation can mask critical sounds in the environment. (2) Synchronization of locomotion reduces that problem. (3) Predictable sounds of locomotion may stimulate the evolution of synchronized behavior. (4) Bipedal gait and the associated sounds of locomotion influenced the evolution of human rhythmic abilities. Theoretical models and research data suggest that noise of locomotion and ventilation may mask critical auditory information. People often synchronize steps subconsciously. Human locomotion is likely to produce more predictable sounds than those of non-human primates. Predictable locomotion sounds may have improved our capacity of entrainment to external rhythms and to feel the beat in music. A sense of rhythm could aid the brain in distinguishing among sounds arising from discrete sources and also help individuals to synchronize their movements with one another. Synchronization of group movement may improve perception by providing periods of relative silence and by facilitating auditory processing. The adaptive value of such skills to early ancestors may have been keener detection of prey or stalkers and enhanced communication. Bipedal walking may have influenced the development of entrainment in humans and thereby the evolution of rhythmic abilities.

Effects of music therapy in the treatment of children with delayed speech development - results of a pilot study.

PubMed

Gross, Wibke; Linden, Ulrike; Ostermann, Thomas

2010-07-21

Language development is one of the most significant processes of early childhood development. Children with delayed speech development are more at risk of acquiring other cognitive, social-emotional, and school-related problems. Music therapy appears to facilitate speech development in children, even within a short period of time. The aim of this pilot study is to explore the effects of music therapy in children with delayed speech development. A total of 18 children aged 3.5 to 6 years with delayed speech development took part in this observational study in which music therapy and no treatment were compared to demonstrate effectiveness. Individual music therapy was provided on an outpatient basis. An ABAB reversal design with alternations between music therapy and no treatment with an interval of approximately eight weeks between the blocks was chosen. Before and after each study period, a speech development test, a non-verbal intelligence test for children, and music therapy assessment scales were used to evaluate the speech development of the children. Compared to the baseline, we found a positive development in the study group after receiving music therapy. Both phonological capacity and the children's understanding of speech increased under treatment, as well as their cognitive structures, action patterns, and level of intelligence. Throughout the study period, developmental age converged with their biological age. Ratings according to the Nordoff-Robbins scales showed clinically significant changes in the children, namely in the areas of client-therapist relationship and communication. This study suggests that music therapy may have a measurable effect on the speech development of children through the treatment's interactions with fundamental aspects of speech development, including the ability to form and maintain relationships and prosodic abilities. Thus, music therapy may provide a basic and supportive therapy for children with delayed speech development. Further studies should be conducted to investigate the mechanisms of these interactions in greater depth. The trial is registered in the German clinical trials register; Trial-No.: DRKS00000343.

Tuning the mind: Exploring the connections between musical ability and executive functions.

PubMed

Slevc, L Robert; Davey, Nicholas S; Buschkuehl, Martin; Jaeggi, Susanne M

2016-07-01

A growing body of research suggests that musical experience and ability are related to a variety of cognitive abilities, including executive functioning (EF). However, it is not yet clear if these relationships are limited to specific components of EF, limited to auditory tasks, or reflect very general cognitive advantages. This study investigated the existence and generality of the relationship between musical ability and EFs by evaluating the musical experience and ability of a large group of participants and investigating whether this predicts individual differences on three different components of EF - inhibition, updating, and switching - in both auditory and visual modalities. Musical ability predicted better performance on both auditory and visual updating tasks, even when controlling for a variety of potential confounds (age, handedness, bilingualism, and socio-economic status). However, musical ability was not clearly related to inhibitory control and was unrelated to switching performance. These data thus show that cognitive advantages associated with musical ability are not limited to auditory processes, but are limited to specific aspects of EF. This supports a process-specific (but modality-general) relationship between musical ability and non-musical aspects of cognition. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Absolute Memory for Tempo in Musicians and Non-Musicians

PubMed Central

Brandimonte, Maria A.; Bruno, Nicola

2016-01-01

The ability to remember tempo (the perceived frequency of musical pulse) without external references may be defined, by analogy with the notion of absolute pitch, as absolute tempo (AT). Anecdotal reports and sparse empirical evidence suggest that at least some individuals possess AT. However, to our knowledge, no systematic assessments of AT have been performed using laboratory tasks comparable to those assessing absolute pitch. In the present study, we operationalize AT as the ability to identify and reproduce tempo in the absence of rhythmic or melodic frames of reference and assess these abilities in musically trained and untrained participants. We asked 15 musicians and 15 non-musicians to listen to a seven-step `tempo scale’ of metronome beats, each associated to a numerical label, and then to perform two memory tasks. In the first task, participants heard one of the tempi and attempted to report the correct label (identification task), in the second, they saw one label and attempted to tap the correct tempo (production task). A musical and visual excerpt was presented between successive trials as a distractor to prevent participants from using previous tempi as anchors. Thus, participants needed to encode tempo information with the corresponding label, store the information, and recall it to give the response. We found that more than half were able to perform above chance in at least one of the tasks, and that musical training differentiated between participants in identification, but not in production. These results suggest that AT is relatively wide-spread, relatively independent of musical training in tempo production, but further refined by training in tempo identification. We propose that at least in production, the underlying motor representations are related to tactus, a basic internal rhythmic period that may provide a body-based reference for encoding tempo. PMID:27760198

Absolute Memory for Tempo in Musicians and Non-Musicians.

PubMed

Gratton, Irene; Brandimonte, Maria A; Bruno, Nicola

2016-01-01

The ability to remember tempo (the perceived frequency of musical pulse) without external references may be defined, by analogy with the notion of absolute pitch, as absolute tempo (AT). Anecdotal reports and sparse empirical evidence suggest that at least some individuals possess AT. However, to our knowledge, no systematic assessments of AT have been performed using laboratory tasks comparable to those assessing absolute pitch. In the present study, we operationalize AT as the ability to identify and reproduce tempo in the absence of rhythmic or melodic frames of reference and assess these abilities in musically trained and untrained participants. We asked 15 musicians and 15 non-musicians to listen to a seven-step `tempo scale' of metronome beats, each associated to a numerical label, and then to perform two memory tasks. In the first task, participants heard one of the tempi and attempted to report the correct label (identification task), in the second, they saw one label and attempted to tap the correct tempo (production task). A musical and visual excerpt was presented between successive trials as a distractor to prevent participants from using previous tempi as anchors. Thus, participants needed to encode tempo information with the corresponding label, store the information, and recall it to give the response. We found that more than half were able to perform above chance in at least one of the tasks, and that musical training differentiated between participants in identification, but not in production. These results suggest that AT is relatively wide-spread, relatively independent of musical training in tempo production, but further refined by training in tempo identification. We propose that at least in production, the underlying motor representations are related to tactus, a basic internal rhythmic period that may provide a body-based reference for encoding tempo.

The genetic basis of music ability

PubMed Central

Tan, Yi Ting; McPherson, Gary E.; Peretz, Isabelle; Berkovic, Samuel F.; Wilson, Sarah J.

2014-01-01

Music is an integral part of the cultural heritage of all known human societies, with the capacity for music perception and production present in most people. Researchers generally agree that both genetic and environmental factors contribute to the broader realization of music ability, with the degree of music aptitude varying, not only from individual to individual, but across various components of music ability within the same individual. While environmental factors influencing music development and expertise have been well investigated in the psychological and music literature, the interrogation of possible genetic influences has not progressed at the same rate. Recent advances in genetic research offer fertile ground for exploring the genetic basis of music ability. This paper begins with a brief overview of behavioral and molecular genetic approaches commonly used in human genetic analyses, and then critically reviews the key findings of genetic investigations of the components of music ability. Some promising and converging findings have emerged, with several loci on chromosome 4 implicated in singing and music perception, and certain loci on chromosome 8q implicated in absolute pitch and music perception. The gene AVPR1A on chromosome 12q has also been implicated in music perception, music memory, and music listening, whereas SLC6A4 on chromosome 17q has been associated with music memory and choir participation. Replication of these results in alternate populations and with larger samples is warranted to confirm the findings. Through increased research efforts, a clearer picture of the genetic mechanisms underpinning music ability will hopefully emerge. PMID:25018744

Geographies of American Popular Music: Introducing Students to Basic Geographic Concepts

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

McClain, Stephen S.

2010-01-01

Popular music can be used to study many subjects and issues related to the social sciences. "Geographies of American Popular Music" was a workshop that not only examined the history and development of select genres of American music, it also introduced students to basic geographic concepts such as the culture hearth and spatial diffusion. Through…

Biased emotional recognition in depression: perception of emotions in music by depressed patients.

PubMed

Punkanen, Marko; Eerola, Tuomas; Erkkilä, Jaakko

2011-04-01

Depression is a highly prevalent mood disorder, that impairs a person's social skills and also their quality of life. Populations affected with depression also suffer from a higher mortality rate. Depression affects person's ability to recognize emotions. We designed a novel experiment to test the hypothesis that depressed patients show a judgment bias towards negative emotions. To investigate how depressed patients differ in their perception of emotions conveyed by musical examples, both healthy (n=30) and depressed (n=79) participants were presented with a set of 30 musical excerpts, representing one of five basic target emotions, and asked to rate each excerpt using five Likert scales that represented the amount of each one of those same emotions perceived in the example. Depressed patients showed moderate but consistent negative self-report biases both in the overall use of the scales and their particular application to certain target emotions, when compared to healthy controls. Also, the severity of the clinical state (depression, anxiety and alexithymia) had an effect on the self-report biases for both positive and negative emotion ratings, particularly depression and alexithymia. Only musical stimuli were used, and they were all clear examples of one of the basic emotions of happiness, sadness, fear, anger and tenderness. No neutral or ambiguous excerpts were included. Depressed patients' negative emotional bias was demonstrated using musical stimuli. This suggests that the evaluation of emotional qualities in music could become a means to discriminate between depressed and non-depressed subjects. The practical implications of the present study relate both to diagnostic uses of such perceptual evaluations, as well as a better understanding of the emotional regulation strategies of the patients. Copyright © 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Associations between musical abilities and precursors of reading in preschool aged children

PubMed Central

Degé, Franziska; Kubicek, Claudia; Schwarzer, Gudrun

2015-01-01

The association between music and language, in particular, the overlap in their processing results in the possibility to use one domain for the enhancement of the other. Especially in the preschool years music may be a valuable tool to train language abilities (e.g., precursors of reading). Therefore, detailed knowledge about associations between musical abilities and precursors of reading can be of great use for designing future music intervention studies that target language-related abilities. Hence, the present study investigated the association between music perception as well as music production and precursors of reading. Thereby, not only phonological awareness, the mostly studied precursor of reading, was investigated, but also other precursors were examined. We assessed musical abilities (production and perception) and precursors of reading (phonological awareness, working memory, and rapid retrieval from long-term memory) in 55 preschoolers (27 boys). Fluid intelligence was measured and controlled in the analyses. Results showed that phonological awareness, working memory, and rapid retrieval from long-term memory were related to music perception as well as to music production. Our data suggest that several precursors of reading were associated with music perception as well as music production. PMID:26347687

Musical ability and non-native speech-sound processing are linked through sensitivity to pitch and spectral information.

PubMed

Kempe, Vera; Bublitz, Dennis; Brooks, Patricia J

2015-05-01

Is the observed link between musical ability and non-native speech-sound processing due to enhanced sensitivity to acoustic features underlying both musical and linguistic processing? To address this question, native English speakers (N = 118) discriminated Norwegian tonal contrasts and Norwegian vowels. Short tones differing in temporal, pitch, and spectral characteristics were used to measure sensitivity to the various acoustic features implicated in musical and speech processing. Musical ability was measured using Gordon's Advanced Measures of Musical Audiation. Results showed that sensitivity to specific acoustic features played a role in non-native speech-sound processing: Controlling for non-verbal intelligence, prior foreign language-learning experience, and sex, sensitivity to pitch and spectral information partially mediated the link between musical ability and discrimination of non-native vowels and lexical tones. The findings suggest that while sensitivity to certain acoustic features partially mediates the relationship between musical ability and non-native speech-sound processing, complex tests of musical ability also tap into other shared mechanisms. © 2014 The British Psychological Society.

Comparative Analysis of Musical Abilities of 11-Year-Olds from Slovenia and the Island of Martinique

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jerman, Janez; Pretnar, Tatjana

2006-01-01

The focus of the study is the comparison between the musical abilities of 11-year-old children on the island of Martinique and in Slovenia, and finding out to what extent their development of musical abilities is influenced by musical and cultural family background, music school attendance, choral singing and playing orchestral instruments. Our…

Redesigning the Content and Sequence of Instruction in Music Theory. Final Report to Fund for the Improvement of Post Secondary Education.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ashley, Richard D.

This report summarizes a project in which a number of new approaches were taken to improve learning in undergraduate basic music instruction for music majors. The basic viewpoint proposed was that music activities can be seen as skilled problem solving in the areas of aural analysis, visual analysis, and understanding of compositional processes.…

Revisiting the "enigma" of musicians with dyslexia: Auditory sequencing and speech abilities.

PubMed

Zuk, Jennifer; Bishop-Liebler, Paula; Ozernov-Palchik, Ola; Moore, Emma; Overy, Katie; Welch, Graham; Gaab, Nadine

2017-04-01

Previous research has suggested a link between musical training and auditory processing skills. Musicians have shown enhanced perception of auditory features critical to both music and speech, suggesting that this link extends beyond basic auditory processing. It remains unclear to what extent musicians who also have dyslexia show these specialized abilities, considering often-observed persistent deficits that coincide with reading impairments. The present study evaluated auditory sequencing and speech discrimination in 52 adults comprised of musicians with dyslexia, nonmusicians with dyslexia, and typical musicians. An auditory sequencing task measuring perceptual acuity for tone sequences of increasing length was administered. Furthermore, subjects were asked to discriminate synthesized syllable continua varying in acoustic components of speech necessary for intraphonemic discrimination, which included spectral (formant frequency) and temporal (voice onset time [VOT] and amplitude envelope) features. Results indicate that musicians with dyslexia did not significantly differ from typical musicians and performed better than nonmusicians with dyslexia for auditory sequencing as well as discrimination of spectral and VOT cues within syllable continua. However, typical musicians demonstrated superior performance relative to both groups with dyslexia for discrimination of syllables varying in amplitude information. These findings suggest a distinct profile of speech processing abilities in musicians with dyslexia, with specific weaknesses in discerning amplitude cues within speech. Because these difficulties seem to remain persistent in adults with dyslexia despite musical training, this study only partly supports the potential for musical training to enhance the auditory processing skills known to be crucial for literacy in individuals with dyslexia. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2017 APA, all rights reserved).

Evaluation of a Test Battery to Assess Perception of Music in Children With Cochlear Implants.

PubMed

Roy, Alexis T; Scattergood-Keepper, Lindsay; Carver, Courtney; Jiradejvong, Patpong; Butler, Caty; Limb, Charles J

2014-06-01

A number of studies have investigated music perception in adult cochlear implant (CI) users. However, little is known about how pediatric CI users perceive and process music, in part because suitable methods for assessing music perception in this population are lacking. Therefore, we developed the Music in Children With Cochlear Implants (MCCI) battery to assess music perception in pediatric CI users younger than 9 years. To pilot test the MCCI on a group of pediatric CI users to determine its feasibility for measuring music perception and to compare performance of CI users with that of normal-hearing (NH) control participants. The pilot test was conducted in an academic tertiary care center. The MCCI evaluated rhythm, pitch, melody, harmony, and timbre perception. For each section, 10 pediatric CI users and 10 NH controls were presented with a pair of stimuli that possibly varied along a single musical element (eg, rhythm). Participants were required to indicate whether the stimuli in the pair were the same or different. Administration of the MCCI. Percentage correct on each section of the MCCI and the aggregate score of all sections by group. The MCCI provided a basic characterization of musical perceptual abilities. In the aggregate, NH controls significantly outperformed CI users in music perception (mean [SD] accuracy for CI users vs NH controls: rhythm, 73% [20%] vs 78% [20%]; pitch, 84% [12%] vs 91% [13%]; melody, 65% [16%] vs 75% [18%]; harmony, 74% [13%] vs 75% [14%]; and timbre, 80% [17%] vs 90% [12%]; repeated-measures analysis of variance, F1,17 = 9.3; P < .01). Despite obtaining lower accuracies than NH controls, however, the CI users achieved above-chance accuracy in all sections of the MCCI (1-sample t test, P < .01), including pitch-based sections that are traditionally difficult for CI users. These results suggest that CI users can make use of temporal and spectral cues to discriminate between musical stimuli, although not to the extent of their NH peers. The MCCI provided an efficient and user-friendly assessment of music perception in pediatric CI users. This test battery may serve as a valuable tool to evaluate music perceptual abilities of pediatric CI users and measure the effects of interventions.

Effects of music therapy in the treatment of children with delayed speech development - results of a pilot study

PubMed Central

2010-01-01

Background Language development is one of the most significant processes of early childhood development. Children with delayed speech development are more at risk of acquiring other cognitive, social-emotional, and school-related problems. Music therapy appears to facilitate speech development in children, even within a short period of time. The aim of this pilot study is to explore the effects of music therapy in children with delayed speech development. Methods A total of 18 children aged 3.5 to 6 years with delayed speech development took part in this observational study in which music therapy and no treatment were compared to demonstrate effectiveness. Individual music therapy was provided on an outpatient basis. An ABAB reversal design with alternations between music therapy and no treatment with an interval of approximately eight weeks between the blocks was chosen. Before and after each study period, a speech development test, a non-verbal intelligence test for children, and music therapy assessment scales were used to evaluate the speech development of the children. Results Compared to the baseline, we found a positive development in the study group after receiving music therapy. Both phonological capacity and the children's understanding of speech increased under treatment, as well as their cognitive structures, action patterns, and level of intelligence. Throughout the study period, developmental age converged with their biological age. Ratings according to the Nordoff-Robbins scales showed clinically significant changes in the children, namely in the areas of client-therapist relationship and communication. Conclusions This study suggests that music therapy may have a measurable effect on the speech development of children through the treatment's interactions with fundamental aspects of speech development, including the ability to form and maintain relationships and prosodic abilities. Thus, music therapy may provide a basic and supportive therapy for children with delayed speech development. Further studies should be conducted to investigate the mechanisms of these interactions in greater depth. Trial registration The trial is registered in the German clinical trials register; Trial-No.: DRKS00000343 PMID:20663139

Music training, cognition, and personality.

PubMed

Corrigall, Kathleen A; Schellenberg, E Glenn; Misura, Nicole M

2013-01-01

Although most studies that examined associations between music training and cognitive abilities had correlational designs, the prevailing bias is that music training causes improvements in cognition. It is also possible, however, that high-functioning children are more likely than other children to take music lessons, and that they also differ in personality. We asked whether individual differences in cognition and personality predict who takes music lessons and for how long. The participants were 118 adults (Study 1) and 167 10- to 12-year-old children (Study 2). We collected demographic information and measured cognitive ability and the Big Five personality dimensions. As in previous research, cognitive ability was associated with musical involvement even when demographic variables were controlled statistically. Novel findings indicated that personality was associated with musical involvement when demographics and cognitive ability were held constant, and that openness-to-experience was the personality dimension with the best predictive power. These findings reveal that: (1) individual differences influence who takes music lessons and for how long, (2) personality variables are at least as good as cognitive variables at predicting music training, and (3) future correlational studies of links between music training and non-musical ability should account for individual differences in personality.

The music perception abilities of prelingually deaf children with cochlear implants.

PubMed

Stabej, Katja Kladnik; Smid, Lojze; Gros, Anton; Zargi, Miha; Kosir, Andrej; Vatovec, Jagoda

2012-10-01

To investigate the music perception abilities of prelingually deaf children with cochlear implants, in comparison to a group of normal-hearing children, and to consider the factors that contribute to music perception. The music perception abilities of 39 prelingually deaf children with unilateral cochlear implants were compared to the abilities of 39 normal hearing children. To assess the music listening abilities, the MuSIC perception test was adopted. The influence of the child's age, age at implantation, device experience and type of sound-processing strategy on the music perception were evaluated. The effects of auditory performance, nonverbal intellectual abilities, as well as the child's additional musical education on music perception were also considered. Children with cochlear implants and normal hearing children performed significantly differently with respect to rhythm discrimination (55% vs. 82%, p<0.001), instrument identification (57% vs. 88%, p<0.001) and emotion rating (p=0.022). However we found no significant difference in terms of melody discrimination and dissonance rating between the two groups. There was a positive correlation between auditory performance and melody discrimination (r=0.27; p=0.031), between auditory performance and instrument identification (r=0.20; p=0.059) and between the child's grade (mark) in school music classes and melody discrimination (r=0.34; p=0.030). In children with cochlear implant only, the music perception ability assessed by the emotion rating test was negatively correlated to the child's age (r(S)=-0.38; p=0.001), age at implantation (r(S)=-0.34; p=0.032), and device experience (r(S)=-0.38; p=0.019). The child's grade in school music classes showed a positive correlation to music perception abilities assessed by rhythm discrimination test (r(S)=0.46; p<0.001), melody discrimination test (r(S)=0.28; p=0.018), and instrument identification test (r(S)=0.23; p=0.05). As expected, there was a marked difference in the music perception abilities of prelingually deaf children with cochlear implants in comparison to the group of normal hearing children, but not for all the tests of music perception. Additional multi-centre studies, including a larger number of participants and a broader spectrum of music subtests, considering as many as possible of the factors that may contribute to music perception, seem reasonable. Copyright © 2012. Published by Elsevier Ireland Ltd.

Can Music Instruction Affect Children's Cognitive Development? ERIC Digest.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rauscher, Frances H.

Several studies have examined the effects of music instruction on children's abilities in other disciplines. Other studies have explored the effects of listening to music on adults' spatial abilities. Noting that these two sets of findings have been confused, leading to claims that listening to music can improve children's academic abilities, this…

Viewers' perceptions of a YouTube music therapy session video.

PubMed

Gregory, Dianne; Gooding, Lori G

2013-01-01

Recent research revealed diverse content and varying levels of quality in YouTube music therapy videos and prompted questions about viewers' discrimination abilities. This study compares ratings of a YouTube music therapy session video by viewers with different levels of music therapy expertise to determine video elements related to perceptions of representational quality. Eighty-one participants included 25 novices (freshmen and sophomores in an introductory music therapy course), 25 pre-interns (seniors and equivalency students who had completed all core Music Therapy courses), 26 professionals (MT-BC or MT-BC eligibility) with a mean of 1.75 years of experience, and an expert panel of 5 MT-BC professionals with a mean of 11 years of experience in special education. After viewing a music therapy special education video that in previous research met basic competency criteria and professional standards of the American Music Therapy Association, participants completed a 16-item questionnaire. Novices' ratings were more positive (less discriminating) compared to experienced viewers' neutral or negative ratings. Statistical analysis (ANOVA) of novice, pre-intern, and professional ratings of all items revealed significant differences p, .05) for specific therapy content and for a global rating of representational quality. Experienced viewers' ratings were similar to the expert panel's ratings. Content analysis of viewers' reasons for their representational quality ratings corroborated ratings of therapy-specific content. A video that combines and clearly depicts therapy objectives, client improvement, and the effectiveness of music within a therapeutic intervention best represent the music therapy profession in a public social platform like YouTube.

A Comparison of the Basic Song Repertoire of Vocal/Choral and Instrumental Music Education Majors.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Prickett, Carol A.; Bridges, Madeline S.

2000-01-01

Explores whether the basic song repertoire of vocal/choral music education majors is significantly better than instrumental music education majors. Participants attempted to identify 25 standard songs. Reveals no significant difference between the two groups, indicating that neither had developed a strong repertoire of songs. (CMK)

Subcortical processing of speech regularities underlies reading and music aptitude in children.

PubMed

Strait, Dana L; Hornickel, Jane; Kraus, Nina

2011-10-17

Neural sensitivity to acoustic regularities supports fundamental human behaviors such as hearing in noise and reading. Although the failure to encode acoustic regularities in ongoing speech has been associated with language and literacy deficits, how auditory expertise, such as the expertise that is associated with musical skill, relates to the brainstem processing of speech regularities is unknown. An association between musical skill and neural sensitivity to acoustic regularities would not be surprising given the importance of repetition and regularity in music. Here, we aimed to define relationships between the subcortical processing of speech regularities, music aptitude, and reading abilities in children with and without reading impairment. We hypothesized that, in combination with auditory cognitive abilities, neural sensitivity to regularities in ongoing speech provides a common biological mechanism underlying the development of music and reading abilities. We assessed auditory working memory and attention, music aptitude, reading ability, and neural sensitivity to acoustic regularities in 42 school-aged children with a wide range of reading ability. Neural sensitivity to acoustic regularities was assessed by recording brainstem responses to the same speech sound presented in predictable and variable speech streams. Through correlation analyses and structural equation modeling, we reveal that music aptitude and literacy both relate to the extent of subcortical adaptation to regularities in ongoing speech as well as with auditory working memory and attention. Relationships between music and speech processing are specifically driven by performance on a musical rhythm task, underscoring the importance of rhythmic regularity for both language and music. These data indicate common brain mechanisms underlying reading and music abilities that relate to how the nervous system responds to regularities in auditory input. Definition of common biological underpinnings for music and reading supports the usefulness of music for promoting child literacy, with the potential to improve reading remediation.

Library Resources in Special Areas of Music: Film Music.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wright, H. Stephen

Intended as an orientation for music librarians unfamiliar with the film music field, this presentation addresses the most common film music questions received from library patrons, including queries about composers, soundtrack albums, the subject of the music, and scores, and describes the basic film music reference sources to consult for…

We "Are" Musical

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Welch, Graham F.

2005-01-01

The challenge for music education is to nurture and develop each individual's basic musicality. Assuming normal neurological functioning and development, we are all musical. Our musical development begins pre-birth, with musical behaviours in one form or another being evident across the lifespan. Nevertheless, early enculturation can both foster…

Undergraduate Music Education Majors' Perceptions of Their Development as Conductors: Insights from a Basic Conducting Course

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Silvey, Brian A.; Major, Marci L.

2014-01-01

This multiple case study examined undergraduate music majors' perceptions of their experiences while enrolled in a basic conducting course. During the semester, three sophomore music majors with an emphasis in band, choir, or orchestra each participated in three interviews, completed weekly reflection logs, and attended an end-of-the-semester…

Communication and Language Development of Young Children with Autism: A Review of Research in Music

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Vaiouli, Potheini; Andreou, Georgia

2018-01-01

Research demonstrates connections among children's music actions, their engagement abilities, and their language development. Although the link between music and the engagement abilities of young children with autism is well established, there is not enough evidence on the effectiveness of music strategies and music therapy interventions to…

Identities of Dis/Ability and Music

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Watts, Michael; Ridley, Barbara

2012-01-01

Centring on a small-scale capability-based case study of music provision for adults with profound dis/abilities, this paper considers the significance of music and music education in people's lives. It offers a philosophical defence of music's importance in enjoying a truly human life and then, drawing on an overview of the work of dis/abled…

Rhythmic abilities and musical training in Parkinson's disease: do they help?

PubMed

Cochen De Cock, V; Dotov, D G; Ihalainen, P; Bégel, V; Galtier, F; Lebrun, C; Picot, M C; Driss, V; Landragin, N; Geny, C; Bardy, B; Dalla Bella, S

2018-01-01

Rhythmic auditory cues can immediately improve gait in Parkinson's disease. However, this effect varies considerably across patients. The factors associated with this individual variability are not known to date. Patients' rhythmic abilities and musicality (e.g., perceptual and singing abilities, emotional response to music, and musical training) may foster a positive response to rhythmic cues. To examine this hypothesis, we measured gait at baseline and with rhythmic cues in 39 non-demented patients with Parkinson's disease and 39 matched healthy controls. Cognition, rhythmic abilities and general musicality were assessed. A response to cueing was qualified as positive when the stimulation led to a clinically meaningful increase in gait speed. We observed that patients with positive response to cueing ( n  = 17) were more musically trained, aligned more often their steps to the rhythmic cues while walking, and showed better music perception as well as poorer cognitive flexibility than patients with non-positive response ( n  = 22). Gait performance with rhythmic cues worsened in six patients. We concluded that rhythmic and musical skills, which can be modulated by musical training, may increase beneficial effects of rhythmic auditory cueing in Parkinson's disease. Screening patients in terms of musical/rhythmic abilities and musical training may allow teasing apart patients who are likely to benefit from cueing from those who may worsen their performance due to the stimulation.

Puede afectar la instruccion en musica el desarrollo cognitivo de los ninos? ERIC Digest. (Can Music Instruction Affect Children's Cognitive Development? ERIC Digest).

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rauscher, Frances H.

Several studies have examined the effects of music instruction on children's abilities in other disciplines. Other studies have explored the effects of listening to music on adults' spatial abilities. Noting that these two sets of findings have been confused, leading to claims that listening to music can improve children's academic abilities, this…

Musical Development and Learning Characteristics of Students: A Compilation of Key Points from the Research Literature Organized by Age

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gooding, Lori; Standley, Jayne M.

2011-01-01

Development involves progressive changes in knowledge and abilities that occur across the life span. Current research on musical abilities suggests that the development of skills necessary for musicality begins in utero and continues through adulthood. Many of these skills, such as the ability to carry a tune, move in time to music, and respond…

The Development of Preschool Children's Musical Abilities through Specific Types of Musical Activities

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Stolic, Jasmina

2015-01-01

The goal of the conducted research was to explore how much preschool teachers value certain types of musical activities, which positively influence the development of preschool children's musical abilities. The assumption in the research was that preschool teachers would choose musical games as the most prominent activity type in their educational…

Functional correlates of musical and visual ability in frontotemporal dementia.

PubMed

Miller, B L; Boone, K; Cummings, J L; Read, S L; Mishkin, F

2000-05-01

The emergence of new skills in the setting of dementia suggests that loss of function in one brain area can release new functions elsewhere. To characterise 12 patients with frontotemporal dementia (FTD) who acquired, or sustained, new musical or visual abilities despite progression of their dementia. Twelve patients with FTD who acquired or maintained musical or artistic ability were compared with 46 patients with FTD in whom new or sustained ability was absent. The group with musical or visual ability performed better on visual, but worse on verbal tasks than did the other patients with FTD. Nine had asymmetrical left anterior dysfunction. Nine showed the temporal lobe variant of FTD. Loss of function in the left anterior temporal lobe may lead to facilitation of artistic or musical skills. Patients with the left-sided temporal lobe variant of FTD offer an unexpected window into the neurological mediation of visual and musical talents.

Subcortical processing of speech regularities underlies reading and music aptitude in children

PubMed Central

2011-01-01

Background Neural sensitivity to acoustic regularities supports fundamental human behaviors such as hearing in noise and reading. Although the failure to encode acoustic regularities in ongoing speech has been associated with language and literacy deficits, how auditory expertise, such as the expertise that is associated with musical skill, relates to the brainstem processing of speech regularities is unknown. An association between musical skill and neural sensitivity to acoustic regularities would not be surprising given the importance of repetition and regularity in music. Here, we aimed to define relationships between the subcortical processing of speech regularities, music aptitude, and reading abilities in children with and without reading impairment. We hypothesized that, in combination with auditory cognitive abilities, neural sensitivity to regularities in ongoing speech provides a common biological mechanism underlying the development of music and reading abilities. Methods We assessed auditory working memory and attention, music aptitude, reading ability, and neural sensitivity to acoustic regularities in 42 school-aged children with a wide range of reading ability. Neural sensitivity to acoustic regularities was assessed by recording brainstem responses to the same speech sound presented in predictable and variable speech streams. Results Through correlation analyses and structural equation modeling, we reveal that music aptitude and literacy both relate to the extent of subcortical adaptation to regularities in ongoing speech as well as with auditory working memory and attention. Relationships between music and speech processing are specifically driven by performance on a musical rhythm task, underscoring the importance of rhythmic regularity for both language and music. Conclusions These data indicate common brain mechanisms underlying reading and music abilities that relate to how the nervous system responds to regularities in auditory input. Definition of common biological underpinnings for music and reading supports the usefulness of music for promoting child literacy, with the potential to improve reading remediation. PMID:22005291

Music listening and cognitive abilities in 10- and 11-year-olds: the blur effect.

PubMed

Schellenberg, E Glenn; Hallam, Susan

2005-12-01

The spatial abilities of a large sample of 10 and 11 year olds were tested after they listened to contemporary pop music, music composed by Mozart, or a discussion about the present experiment. After being assigned at random to one of the three listening experiences, each child completed two tests of spatial abilities. Performance on one of the tests (square completion) did not differ as a function of the listening experience, but performance on the other test (paper folding) was superior for children who listened to popular music compared to the other two groups. These findings are consistent with the view that positive benefits of music listening on cognitive abilities are most likely to be evident when the music is enjoyed by the listener.

Music genetics research: Association with musicality of a polymorphism in the AVPR1A gene.

PubMed

Mariath, Luiza Monteavaro; Silva, Alexandre Mauat da; Kowalski, Thayne Woycinck; Gattino, Gustavo Schulz; Araujo, Gustavo Andrade de; Figueiredo, Felipe Grahl; Tagliani-Ribeiro, Alice; Roman, Tatiana; Vianna, Fernanda Sales Luiz; Schuler-Faccini, Lavínia; Schuch, Jaqueline Bohrer

2017-01-01

Musicality is defined as a natural tendency, sensibility, knowledge, or talent to create, perceive, and play music. Musical abilities involve a great range of social and cognitive behaviors, which are influenced by both environmental and genetic factors. Although a number of studies have yielded insights into music genetics research, genes and biological pathways related to these traits are not fully understood. Our hypothesis in the current study is that genes associated with different behaviors could also influence the musical phenotype. Our aim was to investigate whether polymorphisms in six genes (AVPR1A, SLC6A4, ITGB3, COMT, DRD2 and DRD4) related to social and cognitive traits are associated with musicality in a sample of children. Musicality was assessed through an individualized music therapy assessment profile (IMTAP) which has been validated in Brazil to measure musical ability. We show here that the RS1 microsatellite of the AVPR1A gene is nominally associated with musicality, corroborating previous results linking AVPR1A with musical activity. This study is one of the first to investigate musicality in a comprehensive way, and it contributes to better understand the genetic basis underlying musical ability.

(A)musicality in Williams syndrome: examining relationships among auditory perception, musical skill, and emotional responsiveness to music.

PubMed

Lense, Miriam D; Shivers, Carolyn M; Dykens, Elisabeth M

2013-01-01

Williams syndrome (WS), a genetic, neurodevelopmental disorder, is of keen interest to music cognition researchers because of its characteristic auditory sensitivities and emotional responsiveness to music. However, actual musical perception and production abilities are more variable. We examined musicality in WS through the lens of amusia and explored how their musical perception abilities related to their auditory sensitivities, musical production skills, and emotional responsiveness to music. In our sample of 73 adolescents and adults with WS, 11% met criteria for amusia, which is higher than the 4% prevalence rate reported in the typically developing (TD) population. Amusia was not related to auditory sensitivities but was related to musical training. Performance on the amusia measure strongly predicted musical skill but not emotional responsiveness to music, which was better predicted by general auditory sensitivities. This study represents the first time amusia has been examined in a population with a known neurodevelopmental genetic disorder with a range of cognitive abilities. Results have implications for the relationships across different levels of auditory processing, musical skill development, and emotional responsiveness to music, as well as the understanding of gene-brain-behavior relationships in individuals with WS and TD individuals with and without amusia.

Music genetics research: Association with musicality of a polymorphism in the AVPR1A gene

PubMed Central

Mariath, Luiza Monteavaro; da Silva, Alexandre Mauat; Kowalski, Thayne Woycinck; Gattino, Gustavo Schulz; de Araujo, Gustavo Andrade; Figueiredo, Felipe Grahl; Tagliani-Ribeiro, Alice; Roman, Tatiana; Vianna, Fernanda Sales Luiz; Schuler-Faccini, Lavínia; Schuch, Jaqueline Bohrer

2017-01-01

Abstract Musicality is defined as a natural tendency, sensibility, knowledge, or talent to create, perceive, and play music. Musical abilities involve a great range of social and cognitive behaviors, which are influenced by both environmental and genetic factors. Although a number of studies have yielded insights into music genetics research, genes and biological pathways related to these traits are not fully understood. Our hypothesis in the current study is that genes associated with different behaviors could also influence the musical phenotype. Our aim was to investigate whether polymorphisms in six genes (AVPR1A, SLC6A4, ITGB3, COMT, DRD2 and DRD4) related to social and cognitive traits are associated with musicality in a sample of children. Musicality was assessed through an individualized music therapy assessment profile (IMTAP) which has been validated in Brazil to measure musical ability. We show here that the RS1 microsatellite of the AVPR1A gene is nominally associated with musicality, corroborating previous results linking AVPR1A with musical activity. This study is one of the first to investigate musicality in a comprehensive way, and it contributes to better understand the genetic basis underlying musical ability. PMID:28534928

Music Education Suites.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kemp, Wayne

This publication describes options for designing and equipping middle and high school music education suites and suggests means of gaining community support for including full service music suites in new and renovated facilities. It covers the basic music suite, practice rooms, small ensemble rehearsal rooms, recording/MIDI (musical instrument…

Music, Music Education, and Institutional Ideology: A Praxial Philosophy of Musical Sociality

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Regelski, Thomas A.

2016-01-01

Music is a human action (praxis), guided by intentionality, that embodies sociality. The many significant "social" values of music, however, get lost in high-minded but faulty claims that music's essential value is to promote aesthetic experience. A survey of some basic aesthetic premises demonstrates that claims for "proper"…

Music Basic Skills.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kentucky State Dept. of Education, Frankfort.

This document is a statement of the basic music skills that Kentucky students should develop. This skills list does not replace any locally developed curriculum. It is intended as a guide for local school districts in Kentucky in their development of a detailed K-12 curriculum. The skills presented are considered basic to a sound education program…

Musical deficits and cortical thickness in people with schizophrenia.

PubMed

Fujito, Ryosuke; Minese, Masayoshi; Hatada, Sanae; Kamimura, Naoto; Morinobu, Shigeru; Lang, Donna J; Honer, William G; Sawada, Ken

2018-02-14

Investigation of acquired amusia caused by brain damage suggested that cortical lesions of the right hemisphere contributed to musical deficits. We previously reported reduced musical ability in schizophrenia; these deficits were correlated with clinical manifestations such as cognitive dysfunction and negative symptoms. However, the neural substrate underlying the musical disability in schizophrenia remains unclear. We investigated the relationship between musical deficits and cortical thickness in patients with schizophrenia using structural MRI. We recruited 24 patients (13 males; age mean=45.9years old), and 22 controls (14 males, age mean=43.5years old). Musical ability was assessed with the Montreal Battery for Evaluation of Amusia (MBEA), cognitive function with the Brief Assessment of Cognition in Schizophrenia (BACS) and clinical features of illness with the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS). MRI Images were acquired and processed using FreeSurfer. Surface-based analysis showed that thinner cortex in left temporal and inferior frontal region was associated with lower musical ability in schizophrenia. In contrast, in controls thicker cortex in the left supramarginal region was correlated with lower musical ability. These results shed light on the clinical pathology underlying the associations of musical ability, cognitive dysfunction and negative symptoms in patients with schizophrenia. Crown Copyright © 2018. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

From the Functions of Music to Music Preference

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Schafer, Thomas; Sedlmeier, Peter

2009-01-01

To date, not much is known about how the functions of music relate to music preference. This article examines the basic hypothesis that the strength of preference for a given kind of music depends on the degree to which that kind of music serves the needs of the listener; that is, how well the respective functions of music are fulfilled. Study 1,…

Playing Music, Playing with Music: A Proposal for Music Coding in Primary School

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Baratè, Adriano; Ludovico, Luca Andrea; Mangione, Giuseppina Rita; Rosa, Alessia

2015-01-01

In this work we will introduce the concept of "music coding," namely a new discipline that employs basic music activities and simplified languages to teach the computational way of thinking to musically-untrained children who attend the primary school. In this context, music represents both a mean and a goal: in fact, from one side…

Midbrain adaptation may set the stage for the perception of musical beat

PubMed Central

2017-01-01

The ability to spontaneously feel a beat in music is a phenomenon widely believed to be unique to humans. Though beat perception involves the coordinated engagement of sensory, motor and cognitive processes in humans, the contribution of low-level auditory processing to the activation of these networks in a beat-specific manner is poorly understood. Here, we present evidence from a rodent model that midbrain preprocessing of sounds may already be shaping where the beat is ultimately felt. For the tested set of musical rhythms, on-beat sounds on average evoked higher firing rates than off-beat sounds, and this difference was a defining feature of the set of beat interpretations most commonly perceived by human listeners over others. Basic firing rate adaptation provided a sufficient explanation for these results. Our findings suggest that midbrain adaptation, by encoding the temporal context of sounds, creates points of neural emphasis that may influence the perceptual emergence of a beat. PMID:29118141

Midbrain adaptation may set the stage for the perception of musical beat.

PubMed

Rajendran, Vani G; Harper, Nicol S; Garcia-Lazaro, Jose A; Lesica, Nicholas A; Schnupp, Jan W H

2017-11-15

The ability to spontaneously feel a beat in music is a phenomenon widely believed to be unique to humans. Though beat perception involves the coordinated engagement of sensory, motor and cognitive processes in humans, the contribution of low-level auditory processing to the activation of these networks in a beat-specific manner is poorly understood. Here, we present evidence from a rodent model that midbrain preprocessing of sounds may already be shaping where the beat is ultimately felt. For the tested set of musical rhythms, on-beat sounds on average evoked higher firing rates than off-beat sounds, and this difference was a defining feature of the set of beat interpretations most commonly perceived by human listeners over others. Basic firing rate adaptation provided a sufficient explanation for these results. Our findings suggest that midbrain adaptation, by encoding the temporal context of sounds, creates points of neural emphasis that may influence the perceptual emergence of a beat. © 2017 The Authors.

Generalized auditory agnosia with spared music recognition in a left-hander. Analysis of a case with a right temporal stroke.

PubMed

Mendez, M F

2001-02-01

After a right temporoparietal stroke, a left-handed man lost the ability to understand speech and environmental sounds but developed greater appreciation for music. The patient had preserved reading and writing but poor verbal comprehension. Slower speech, single syllable words, and minimal written cues greatly facilitated his verbal comprehension. On identifying environmental sounds, he made predominant acoustic errors. Although he failed to name melodies, he could match, describe, and sing them. The patient had normal hearing except for presbyacusis, right-ear dominance for phonemes, and normal discrimination of basic psychoacoustic features and rhythm. Further testing disclosed difficulty distinguishing tone sequences and discriminating two clicks and short-versus-long tones, particularly in the left ear. Together, these findings suggest impairment in a direct route for temporal analysis and auditory word forms in his right hemisphere to Wernicke's area in his left hemisphere. The findings further suggest a separate and possibly rhythm-based mechanism for music recognition.

Learning to Read Music Fluently

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Stauffer, Donald W.

2005-01-01

The ability to read music accurately at sight is an extremely important, if not indispensable, qualification of both professional and amateur musicians. Sight-reading can be defined as the ability to translate musical symbols and terms into a musical performance using strict time limits. The musician must quickly perceive symbols ahead while…

21st Century Conceptions of Musical Ability

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hallam, Susan

2010-01-01

This study explored conceptions of musical ability using an inventory derived from previous qualitative research. Participants included 102 musicians, 95 educators, 132 adult amateur musicians, 60 adults who were not actively engaged in making music, 193 children actively engaged in making music in addition to their engagement with the school…

Music through Braille. Final Report.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Burrows, Anne; Krolick, Bettye

The report describes a 1-month summer program at the Alberta College Music Centre (Edmonton) in which six visually impaired students (11-25 years old) were taught music through braille. Daily lessons covered such aspects as braille music signs, sight singing, music dictation, and basic conducting techniques. Extracurricular activities included…

The Nature of Music

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Peretz, Isabelle

2005-01-01

Music, as language, is a universal human trait. Throughout human history and across all cultures, individuals have produced and enjoyed music. Despite its ubiquity, music is rarely studied as a basic and distinct cognitive faculty. However, recent evidence suggests that music might well be distinct from other cognitive functions, in being…

Basic Timing Abilities Stay Intact in Patients with Musician's Dystonia

PubMed Central

van der Steen, M. C.; van Vugt, Floris T.; Keller, Peter E.; Altenmüller, Eckart

2014-01-01

Task-specific focal dystonia is a movement disorder that is characterized by the loss of voluntary motor control in extensively trained movements. Musician's dystonia is a type of task-specific dystonia that is elicited in professional musicians during instrumental playing. The disorder has been associated with deficits in timing. In order to test the hypothesis that basic timing abilities are affected by musician's dystonia, we investigated a group of patients (N = 15) and a matched control group (N = 15) on a battery of sensory and sensorimotor synchronization tasks. Results did not show any deficits in auditory-motor processing for patients relative to controls. Both groups benefited from a pacing sequence that adapted to their timing (in a sensorimotor synchronization task at a stable tempo). In a purely perceptual task, both groups were able to detect a misaligned metronome when it was late rather than early relative to a musical beat. Overall, the results suggest that basic timing abilities stay intact in patients with musician's dystonia. This supports the idea that musician's dystonia is a highly task-specific movement disorder in which patients are mostly impaired in tasks closely related to the demands of actually playing their instrument. PMID:24667273

A Basic Music Library for Schools Offering Undergraduate Degrees in Music.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

National Association of Schools of Music, Reston, VA.

This bibliography was designed as a guide for a music library in schools offering an undergraduate degree in music. Under the general topic of books are the following divisions: Appreciation, Anthologies, Bibliographies, Biography, Dictionaries and Encyclopedias, Discography, History, Music Education, and Theory. The second section includes…

The Effects of Musical Training on Verbal Memory

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Franklin, Michael S.; Moore, Katherine Sledge; Yip, Chun-Yu; Jonides, John; Rattray, Katie; Moher, Jeff

2008-01-01

A number of studies suggest a link between musical training and general cognitive abilities. Despite some positive results, there is disagreement about which abilities are improved. One line of research leads to the hypothesis that verbal abilities in general, and verbal memory in particular, are related to musical training. In the present…

Effect of Musical Expertise on Visuospatial Abilities: Evidence from Reaction Times and Mental Imagery

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Brochard, Renaud; Dufour, Andre; Despres, Olivier

2004-01-01

Recently, the relationship between music and nonmusical cognitive abilities has been highly debated. It has been documented that formal music training would improve verbal, mathematical or visuospatial performance in children. In the experiments described here, we tested if visual perception and imagery abilities were enhanced in adult musicians…

(A)musicality in Williams syndrome: examining relationships among auditory perception, musical skill, and emotional responsiveness to music

PubMed Central

Lense, Miriam D.; Shivers, Carolyn M.; Dykens, Elisabeth M.

2013-01-01

Williams syndrome (WS), a genetic, neurodevelopmental disorder, is of keen interest to music cognition researchers because of its characteristic auditory sensitivities and emotional responsiveness to music. However, actual musical perception and production abilities are more variable. We examined musicality in WS through the lens of amusia and explored how their musical perception abilities related to their auditory sensitivities, musical production skills, and emotional responsiveness to music. In our sample of 73 adolescents and adults with WS, 11% met criteria for amusia, which is higher than the 4% prevalence rate reported in the typically developing (TD) population. Amusia was not related to auditory sensitivities but was related to musical training. Performance on the amusia measure strongly predicted musical skill but not emotional responsiveness to music, which was better predicted by general auditory sensitivities. This study represents the first time amusia has been examined in a population with a known neurodevelopmental genetic disorder with a range of cognitive abilities. Results have implications for the relationships across different levels of auditory processing, musical skill development, and emotional responsiveness to music, as well as the understanding of gene-brain-behavior relationships in individuals with WS and TD individuals with and without amusia. PMID:23966965

Technology, Sound and Popular Music.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jones, Steve

The ability to record sound is power over sound. Musicians, producers, recording engineers, and the popular music audience often refer to the sound of a recording as something distinct from the music it contains. Popular music is primarily mediated via electronics, via sound, and not by means of written notes. The ability to preserve or modify…

Clinical investigations of receptive and expressive musical functions after stroke

PubMed Central

Rosslau, Ken; Steinwede, Daniel; Schröder, C.; Herholz, Sibylle C.; Lappe, Claudia; Dobel, Christian; Altenmüller, Eckart

2015-01-01

There is a long tradition of investigating various disorders of musical abilities after stroke. These impairments, associated with acquired amusia, can be highly selective, affecting only music perception (i.e., receptive abilities/functions) or expression (music production abilities), and some patients report that these may dramatically influence their emotional state. The aim of this study was to systematically test both the melodic and rhythmic domains of music perception and expression in left- and right-sided stroke patients compared to healthy subjects. Music perception was assessed using rhythmic and melodic discrimination tasks, while tests of expressive function involved the vocal or instrumental reproduction of rhythms and melodies. Our approach revealed deficits in receptive and expressive functions in stroke patients, mediated by musical expertise. Those patients who had experienced a short period of musical training in childhood and adolescence performed better in the receptive and expressive subtests compared to those without any previous musical training. While discrimination of specific musical patterns was unimpaired after a left-sided stroke, patients with a right-sided stroke had worse results for fine melodic and rhythmic analysis. In terms of expressive testing, the most consistent results were obtained from a test that required patients to reproduce sung melodies. This implies that the means of investigating production abilities can impact the identification of deficits. PMID:26124731

Musical Expertise and the Ability to Imagine Loudness

PubMed Central

Bishop, Laura; Bailes, Freya; Dean, Roger T.

2013-01-01

Most perceived parameters of sound (e.g. pitch, duration, timbre) can also be imagined in the absence of sound. These parameters are imagined more veridically by expert musicians than non-experts. Evidence for whether loudness is imagined, however, is conflicting. In music, the question of whether loudness is imagined is particularly relevant due to its role as a principal parameter of performance expression. This study addressed the hypothesis that the veridicality of imagined loudness improves with increasing musical expertise. Experts, novices and non-musicians imagined short passages of well-known classical music under two counterbalanced conditions: 1) while adjusting a slider to indicate imagined loudness of the music and 2) while tapping out the rhythm to indicate imagined timing. Subtests assessed music listening abilities and working memory span to determine whether these factors, also hypothesised to improve with increasing musical expertise, could account for imagery task performance. Similarity between each participant’s imagined and listening loudness profiles and reference recording intensity profiles was assessed using time series analysis and dynamic time warping. The results suggest a widespread ability to imagine the loudness of familiar music. The veridicality of imagined loudness tended to be greatest for the expert musicians, supporting the predicted relationship between musical expertise and musical imagery ability. PMID:23460791

Clinical investigations of receptive and expressive musical functions after stroke.

PubMed

Rosslau, Ken; Steinwede, Daniel; Schröder, C; Herholz, Sibylle C; Lappe, Claudia; Dobel, Christian; Altenmüller, Eckart

2015-01-01

There is a long tradition of investigating various disorders of musical abilities after stroke. These impairments, associated with acquired amusia, can be highly selective, affecting only music perception (i.e., receptive abilities/functions) or expression (music production abilities), and some patients report that these may dramatically influence their emotional state. The aim of this study was to systematically test both the melodic and rhythmic domains of music perception and expression in left- and right-sided stroke patients compared to healthy subjects. Music perception was assessed using rhythmic and melodic discrimination tasks, while tests of expressive function involved the vocal or instrumental reproduction of rhythms and melodies. Our approach revealed deficits in receptive and expressive functions in stroke patients, mediated by musical expertise. Those patients who had experienced a short period of musical training in childhood and adolescence performed better in the receptive and expressive subtests compared to those without any previous musical training. While discrimination of specific musical patterns was unimpaired after a left-sided stroke, patients with a right-sided stroke had worse results for fine melodic and rhythmic analysis. In terms of expressive testing, the most consistent results were obtained from a test that required patients to reproduce sung melodies. This implies that the means of investigating production abilities can impact the identification of deficits.

Musical expertise and the ability to imagine loudness.

PubMed

Bishop, Laura; Bailes, Freya; Dean, Roger T

2013-01-01

Most perceived parameters of sound (e.g. pitch, duration, timbre) can also be imagined in the absence of sound. These parameters are imagined more veridically by expert musicians than non-experts. Evidence for whether loudness is imagined, however, is conflicting. In music, the question of whether loudness is imagined is particularly relevant due to its role as a principal parameter of performance expression. This study addressed the hypothesis that the veridicality of imagined loudness improves with increasing musical expertise. Experts, novices and non-musicians imagined short passages of well-known classical music under two counterbalanced conditions: 1) while adjusting a slider to indicate imagined loudness of the music and 2) while tapping out the rhythm to indicate imagined timing. Subtests assessed music listening abilities and working memory span to determine whether these factors, also hypothesised to improve with increasing musical expertise, could account for imagery task performance. Similarity between each participant's imagined and listening loudness profiles and reference recording intensity profiles was assessed using time series analysis and dynamic time warping. The results suggest a widespread ability to imagine the loudness of familiar music. The veridicality of imagined loudness tended to be greatest for the expert musicians, supporting the predicted relationship between musical expertise and musical imagery ability.

Music Training Increases Phonological Awareness and Reading Skills in Developmental Dyslexia: A Randomized Control Trial

PubMed Central

Flaugnacco, Elena; Lopez, Luisa; Terribili, Chiara; Montico, Marcella; Zoia, Stefania; Schön, Daniele

2015-01-01

There is some evidence for a role of music training in boosting phonological awareness, word segmentation, working memory, as well as reading abilities in children with typical development. Poor performance in tasks requiring temporal processing, rhythm perception and sensorimotor synchronization seems to be a crucial factor underlying dyslexia in children. Interestingly, children with dyslexia show deficits in temporal processing, both in language and in music. Within this framework, we test the hypothesis that music training, by improving temporal processing and rhythm abilities, improves phonological awareness and reading skills in children with dyslexia. The study is a prospective, multicenter, open randomized controlled trial, consisting of test, rehabilitation and re-test (ID NCT02316873). After rehabilitation, the music group (N = 24) performed better than the control group (N = 22) in tasks assessing rhythmic abilities, phonological awareness and reading skills. This is the first randomized control trial testing the effect of music training in enhancing phonological and reading abilities in children with dyslexia. The findings show that music training can modify reading and phonological abilities even when these skills are severely impaired. Through the enhancement of temporal processing and rhythmic skills, music might become an important tool in both remediation and early intervention programs. Trial Registration ClinicalTrials.gov NCT02316873 PMID:26407242

Music Training Increases Phonological Awareness and Reading Skills in Developmental Dyslexia: A Randomized Control Trial.

PubMed

Flaugnacco, Elena; Lopez, Luisa; Terribili, Chiara; Montico, Marcella; Zoia, Stefania; Schön, Daniele

2015-01-01

There is some evidence for a role of music training in boosting phonological awareness, word segmentation, working memory, as well as reading abilities in children with typical development. Poor performance in tasks requiring temporal processing, rhythm perception and sensorimotor synchronization seems to be a crucial factor underlying dyslexia in children. Interestingly, children with dyslexia show deficits in temporal processing, both in language and in music. Within this framework, we test the hypothesis that music training, by improving temporal processing and rhythm abilities, improves phonological awareness and reading skills in children with dyslexia. The study is a prospective, multicenter, open randomized controlled trial, consisting of test, rehabilitation and re-test (ID NCT02316873). After rehabilitation, the music group (N = 24) performed better than the control group (N = 22) in tasks assessing rhythmic abilities, phonological awareness and reading skills. This is the first randomized control trial testing the effect of music training in enhancing phonological and reading abilities in children with dyslexia. The findings show that music training can modify reading and phonological abilities even when these skills are severely impaired. Through the enhancement of temporal processing and rhythmic skills, music might become an important tool in both remediation and early intervention programs.Trial Registration: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT02316873

Influence of music on steroid hormones and the relationship between receptor polymorphisms and musical ability: a pilot study.

PubMed

Fukui, Hajime; Toyoshima, Kumiko

2013-01-01

Studies have shown that music confers plasticity to the brain. In a preliminary pilot study, we examined the effect of music listening on steroid hormones and the relationship between steroid hormone receptor polymorphisms and musical ability. Twenty-one subjects (10 males and 11 females) were recruited and divided into musically talented and control groups. The subjects selected (1) music they preferred (chill-inducing music) and (2) music they did not like. Before and after the experiments, saliva was collected to measure the levels of steroid hormones such as testosterone, estradiol, and cortisol. DNA was also isolated from the saliva samples to determine the androgen receptor (AR) and arginine vasopressin receptor 1A genotypes. Advanced Measures of Music Audiation (AMMA) was used to determine the musical ability of the subjects. With both types of music, the cortisol levels decreased significantly in both sexes. The testosterone (T) levels declined in males when they listened to both types of music. In females, the T levels increased in those listening to chill-inducing music but declined when they listened to music they disliked. However, these differences were not significant. The 17-beta estradiol levels increased in males with both types of music, whereas the levels increased with chill-inducing music but declined with disliked music in females. The AMMA scores were higher for the short repeat length-type AR than for the long repeat length-type. Comparisons of AR polymorphisms and T levels before the experiments showed that the T levels were within the low range in the short repeat length-type group and there was a positive relationship with the repeat length, although it was not significant. This is the first study conducted in humans to analyze the relationships between the AR gene, T levels, and musical ability.

Influence of music on steroid hormones and the relationship between receptor polymorphisms and musical ability: a pilot study

PubMed Central

Fukui, Hajime; Toyoshima, Kumiko

2013-01-01

Studies have shown that music confers plasticity to the brain. In a preliminary pilot study, we examined the effect of music listening on steroid hormones and the relationship between steroid hormone receptor polymorphisms and musical ability. Twenty-one subjects (10 males and 11 females) were recruited and divided into musically talented and control groups. The subjects selected (1) music they preferred (chill-inducing music) and (2) music they did not like. Before and after the experiments, saliva was collected to measure the levels of steroid hormones such as testosterone, estradiol, and cortisol. DNA was also isolated from the saliva samples to determine the androgen receptor (AR) and arginine vasopressin receptor 1A genotypes. Advanced Measures of Music Audiation (AMMA) was used to determine the musical ability of the subjects. With both types of music, the cortisol levels decreased significantly in both sexes. The testosterone (T) levels declined in males when they listened to both types of music. In females, the T levels increased in those listening to chill-inducing music but declined when they listened to music they disliked. However, these differences were not significant. The 17-beta estradiol levels increased in males with both types of music, whereas the levels increased with chill-inducing music but declined with disliked music in females. The AMMA scores were higher for the short repeat length-type AR than for the long repeat length-type. Comparisons of AR polymorphisms and T levels before the experiments showed that the T levels were within the low range in the short repeat length-type group and there was a positive relationship with the repeat length, although it was not significant. This is the first study conducted in humans to analyze the relationships between the AR gene, T levels, and musical ability. PMID:24348454

Investigating the importance of self-theories of intelligence and musicality for students' academic and musical achievement.

PubMed

Müllensiefen, Daniel; Harrison, Peter; Caprini, Francesco; Fancourt, Amy

2015-01-01

Musical abilities and active engagement with music have been shown to be positively associated with many cognitive abilities as well as social skills and academic performance in secondary school students. While there is evidence from intervention studies that musical training can be a cause of these positive relationships, recent findings in the literature have suggested that other factors, such as genetics, family background or personality traits, might also be contributing factors. In addition, there is mounting evidence that self-concepts and beliefs can affect academic performance independently of intellectual ability. Students who believe that intelligence is malleable are more likely to attribute poor academic performances to effort rather than ability, and are more likely to take remedial action to improve their performance. However, it is currently not known whether student's beliefs about the nature of musical talent also influence the development of musical abilities in a similar fashion. Therefore, this study introduces a short self-report measure termed "Musical Self-Theories and Goals," closely modeled on validated measures for self-theories in academic scenarios. Using this measure the study investigates whether musical self-theories are related to students' musical development as indexed by their concurrent musical activities and their performance on a battery of listening tests. We use data from a cross-sectional sample of 313 secondary school students to construct a network model describing the relationships between self-theories and academic as well as musical outcome measures, while also assessing potential effects of intelligence and the Big Five personality dimensions. Results from the network model indicate that self-theories of intelligence and musicality are closely related. In addition, both kinds of self-theories are connected to the students' academic achievement through the personality dimension conscientiousness and academic effort. Finally, applying the do-calculus method to the network model we estimate that the size of the assumed causal effects between musical self-theories and academic achievement lie between 0.07 and 0.15 standard deviations.

Basic, specific, mechanistic? Conceptualizing musical emotions in the brain.

PubMed

Omigie, Diana

2016-06-01

The number of studies investigating music processing in the human brain continues to increase, with a large proportion of them focussing on the correlates of so-called musical emotions. The current Review highlights the recent development whereby such studies are no longer concerned only with basic emotions such as happiness and sadness but also with so-called music-specific or "aesthetic" ones such as nostalgia and wonder. It also highlights how mechanisms such as expectancy and empathy, which are seen as inducing musical emotions, are enjoying ever-increasing investigation and substantiation with physiological and neuroimaging methods. It is proposed that a combination of these approaches, namely, investigation of the precise mechanisms through which so-called music-specific or aesthetic emotions may arise, will provide the most important advances for our understanding of the unique nature of musical experience. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Music Tune Restoration Based on a Mother Wavelet Construction

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fadeev, A. S.; Konovalov, V. I.; Butakova, T. I.; Sobetsky, A. V.

2017-01-01

It is offered to use the mother wavelet function obtained from the local part of an analyzed music signal. Requirements for the constructed function are proposed and the implementation technique and its properties are described. The suggested approach allows construction of mother wavelet families with specified identifying properties. Consequently, this makes possible to identify the basic signal variations of complex music signals including local time-frequency characteristics of the basic one.

Music Education Suites

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kemp, Wayne

2009-01-01

This publication describes options for designing and equipping middle and high school music education suites, and suggests ways of gaining community support for including full service music suites in new and renovated school facilities. In addition to basic music suites, and practice rooms, other options detailed include: (1) small ensemble…

Resting-state functional connectivity and pitch identification ability in non-musicians

PubMed Central

Hou, Jiancheng; Chen, Chuansheng; Dong, Qi

2015-01-01

Previous studies have used task-related fMRI to investigate the neural basis of pitch identification (PI), but no study has examined the associations between resting-state functional connectivity (RSFC) and PI ability. Using a large sample of Chinese non-musicians (N = 320, with 56 having prior musical training), the current study examined the associations among musical training, PI ability, and RSFC. Results showed that musical training was associated with increased RSFC within the networks for multiple cognitive functions (such as vision, phonology, semantics, auditory encoding, and executive functions). PI ability was associated with RSFC with regions for perceptual and auditory encoding for participants with musical training, and with RSFC with regions for short-term memory, semantics, and phonology for participants without musical training. PMID:25717289

Top-down modulation of auditory processing: effects of sound context, musical expertise and attentional focus.

PubMed

Tervaniemi, M; Kruck, S; De Baene, W; Schröger, E; Alter, K; Friederici, A D

2009-10-01

By recording auditory electrical brain potentials, we investigated whether the basic sound parameters (frequency, duration and intensity) are differentially encoded among speech vs. music sounds by musicians and non-musicians during different attentional demands. To this end, a pseudoword and an instrumental sound of comparable frequency and duration were presented. The accuracy of neural discrimination was tested by manipulations of frequency, duration and intensity. Additionally, the subjects' attentional focus was manipulated by instructions to ignore the sounds while watching a silent movie or to attentively discriminate the different sounds. In both musicians and non-musicians, the pre-attentively evoked mismatch negativity (MMN) component was larger to slight changes in music than in speech sounds. The MMN was also larger to intensity changes in music sounds and to duration changes in speech sounds. During attentional listening, all subjects more readily discriminated changes among speech sounds than among music sounds as indexed by the N2b response strength. Furthermore, during attentional listening, musicians displayed larger MMN and N2b than non-musicians for both music and speech sounds. Taken together, the data indicate that the discriminative abilities in human audition differ between music and speech sounds as a function of the sound-change context and the subjective familiarity of the sound parameters. These findings provide clear evidence for top-down modulatory effects in audition. In other words, the processing of sounds is realized by a dynamically adapting network considering type of sound, expertise and attentional demands, rather than by a strictly modularly organized stimulus-driven system.

Musical, language, and reading abilities in early Portuguese readers

PubMed Central

Zuk, Jennifer; Andrade, Paulo E.; Andrade, Olga V. C. A.; Gardiner, Martin; Gaab, Nadine

2013-01-01

Early language and reading abilities have been shown to correlate with a variety of musical skills and elements of music perception in children. It has also been shown that reading impaired children can show difficulties with music perception. However, it is still unclear to what extent different aspects of music perception are associated with language and reading abilities. Here we investigated the relationship between cognitive-linguistic abilities and a music discrimination task that preserves an ecologically valid musical experience. 43 Portuguese-speaking students from an elementary school in Brazil participated in this study. Children completed a comprehensive cognitive-linguistic battery of assessments. The music task was presented live in the music classroom, and children were asked to code sequences of four sounds on the guitar. Results show a strong relationship between performance on the music task and a number of linguistic variables. A principle component analysis of the cognitive-linguistic battery revealed that the strongest component (Prin1) accounted for 33% of the variance and Prin1 was significantly related to the music task. Highest loadings on Prin1 were found for reading measures such as Reading Speed and Reading Accuracy. Interestingly, 22 children recorded responses for more than four sounds within a trial on the music task, which was classified as Superfluous Responses (SR). SR was negatively correlated with a variety of linguistic variables and showed a negative correlation with Prin1. When analyzing children with and without SR separately, only children with SR showed a significant correlation between Prin1 and the music task. Our results provide implications for the use of an ecologically valid music-based screening tool for the early identification of reading disabilities in a classroom setting. PMID:23785339

The Long-Term Effects of Childhood Music Instruction on Intelligence and General Cognitive Abilities

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Costa-Giomi, Eugenia

2015-01-01

This article reviews research on the effects of music instruction on general cognitive abilities. The review of more than 75 reports shows (1) the consistency in results pertaining to the short-term effects of music instruction on cognitive abilities and the lack of clear evidence on the long-term effects on intelligence; (2) the complex nature of…

Recognition of facial and musical emotions in Parkinson's disease.

PubMed

Saenz, A; Doé de Maindreville, A; Henry, A; de Labbey, S; Bakchine, S; Ehrlé, N

2013-03-01

Patients with amygdala lesions were found to be impaired in recognizing the fear emotion both from face and from music. In patients with Parkinson's disease (PD), impairment in recognition of emotions from facial expressions was reported for disgust, fear, sadness and anger, but no studies had yet investigated this population for the recognition of emotions from both face and music. The ability to recognize basic universal emotions (fear, happiness and sadness) from both face and music was investigated in 24 medicated patients with PD and 24 healthy controls. The patient group was tested for language (verbal fluency tasks), memory (digit and spatial span), executive functions (Similarities and Picture Completion subtests of the WAIS III, Brixton and Stroop tests), visual attention (Bells test), and fulfilled self-assessment tests for anxiety and depression. Results showed that the PD group was significantly impaired for recognition of both fear and sadness emotions from facial expressions, whereas their performance in recognition of emotions from musical excerpts was not different from that of the control group. The scores of fear and sadness recognition from faces were neither correlated to scores in tests for executive and cognitive functions, nor to scores in self-assessment scales. We attributed the observed dissociation to the modality (visual vs. auditory) of presentation and to the ecological value of the musical stimuli that we used. We discuss the relevance of our findings for the care of patients with PD. © 2012 The Author(s) European Journal of Neurology © 2012 EFNS.

A novel tool for evaluating children's musical abilities across age and culture

PubMed Central

Peretz, Isabelle; Gosselin, Nathalie; Nan, Yun; Caron-Caplette, Emilie; Trehub, Sandra E.; Béland, Renée

2013-01-01

The present study introduces a novel tool for assessing musical abilities in children: The Montreal Battery of Evaluation of Musical Abilities (MBEMA). The battery, which comprises tests of memory, scale, contour, interval, and rhythm, was administered to 245 children in Montreal and 91 in Beijing (Experiment 1), and an abbreviated version was administered to an additional 85 children in Montreal (in less than 20 min; Experiment 2). All children were 6–8 years of age. Their performance indicated that both versions of the MBEMA are sensitive to individual differences and to musical training. The sensitivity of the tests extends to Mandarin-speaking children despite the fact that they show enhanced performance relative to French-speaking children. Because this Chinese advantage is not limited to musical pitch but extends to rhythm and memory, it is unlikely that it results from early exposure to a tonal language. In both cultures and versions of the tests, amount of musical practice predicts performance. Thus, the MBEMA can serve as an objective, short and up-to-date test of musical abilities in a variety of situations, from the identification of children with musical difficulties to the assessment of the effects of musical training in typically developing children of different cultures. PMID:23847479

Auditory cortical volumes and musical ability in Williams syndrome.

PubMed

Martens, Marilee A; Reutens, David C; Wilson, Sarah J

2010-07-01

Individuals with Williams syndrome (WS) have been shown to have atypical morphology in the auditory cortex, an area associated with aspects of musicality. Some individuals with WS have demonstrated specific musical abilities, despite intellectual delays. Primary auditory cortex and planum temporale volumes were manually segmented in 25 individuals with WS and 25 control participants, and the participants also underwent testing of musical abilities. Left and right planum temporale volumes were significantly larger in the participants with WS than in controls, with no significant difference noted between groups in planum temporale asymmetry or primary auditory cortical volumes. Left planum temporale volume was significantly increased in a subgroup of the participants with WS who demonstrated specific musical strengths, as compared to the remaining WS participants, and was highly correlated with scores on a musical task. These findings suggest that differences in musical ability within WS may be in part associated with variability in the left auditory cortical region, providing further evidence of cognitive and neuroanatomical heterogeneity within this syndrome. Copyright (c) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Music and mirror neurons: from motion to 'e'motion.

PubMed

Molnar-Szakacs, Istvan; Overy, Katie

2006-12-01

The ability to create and enjoy music is a universal human trait and plays an important role in the daily life of most cultures. Music has a unique ability to trigger memories, awaken emotions and to intensify our social experiences. We do not need to be trained in music performance or appreciation to be able to reap its benefits-already as infants, we relate to it spontaneously and effortlessly. There has been a recent surge in neuroimaging investigations of the neural basis of musical experience, but the way in which the abstract shapes and patterns of musical sound can have such profound meaning to us remains elusive. Here we review recent neuroimaging evidence and suggest that music, like language, involves an intimate coupling between the perception and production of hierarchically organized sequential information, the structure of which has the ability to communicate meaning and emotion. We propose that these aspects of musical experience may be mediated by the human mirror neuron system.

Music and mirror neurons: from motion to ’e’motion

PubMed Central

Overy, Katie

2006-01-01

The ability to create and enjoy music is a universal human trait and plays an important role in the daily life of most cultures. Music has a unique ability to trigger memories, awaken emotions and to intensify our social experiences. We do not need to be trained in music performance or appreciation to be able to reap its benefits—already as infants, we relate to it spontaneously and effortlessly. There has been a recent surge in neuroimaging investigations of the neural basis of musical experience, but the way in which the abstract shapes and patterns of musical sound can have such profound meaning to us remains elusive. Here we review recent neuroimaging evidence and suggest that music, like language, involves an intimate coupling between the perception and production of hierarchically organized sequential information, the structure of which has the ability to communicate meaning and emotion. We propose that these aspects of musical experience may be mediated by the human mirror neuron system. PMID:18985111

"When Music Speaks": Auditory Cortex Morphology as a Neuroanatomical Marker of Language Aptitude and Musicality.

PubMed

Turker, Sabrina; Reiterer, Susanne M; Seither-Preisler, Annemarie; Schneider, Peter

2017-01-01

Recent research has shown that the morphology of certain brain regions may indeed correlate with a number of cognitive skills such as musicality or language ability. The main aim of the present study was to explore the extent to which foreign language aptitude, in particular phonetic coding ability, is influenced by the morphology of Heschl's gyrus (HG; auditory cortex), working memory capacity, and musical ability. In this study, the auditory cortices of German-speaking individuals ( N = 30; 13 males/17 females; aged 20-40 years) with high and low scores in a number of language aptitude tests were compared. The subjects' language aptitude was measured by three different tests, namely a Hindi speech imitation task (phonetic coding ability), an English pronunciation assessment, and the Modern Language Aptitude Test (MLAT). Furthermore, working memory capacity and musical ability were assessed to reveal their relationship with foreign language aptitude. On the behavioral level, significant correlations were found between phonetic coding ability, English pronunciation skills, musical experience, and language aptitude as measured by the MLAT. Parts of all three tests measuring language aptitude correlated positively and significantly with each other, supporting their validity for measuring components of language aptitude. Remarkably, the number of instruments played by subjects showed significant correlations with all language aptitude measures and musicality, whereas, the number of foreign languages did not show any correlations. With regard to the neuroanatomy of auditory cortex, adults with very high scores in the Hindi testing and the musicality test (AMMA) demonstrated a clear predominance of complete posterior HG duplications in the right hemisphere. This may reignite the discussion of the importance of the right hemisphere for language processing, especially when linked or common resources are involved, such as the inter-dependency between phonetic and musical aptitude.

A Performer's Creative Processes: Implications for Teaching and Learning Musical Interpretation

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Silverman, Marissa

2008-01-01

The purpose of this study is to investigate aspects of musical interpretation and suggest guidelines for developing performance students' interpretative processes. Since musical interpretation involves basic issues concerning the nature of music, and competing concepts of "interpretation" and its teaching, an overview of these issues is given.…

Taking the Write Way

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Giordano, Geoffrey

2011-01-01

Young students generally don't make up their lessons as they go along. But many music educators are encouraging just that by teaching composition alongside traditional musical concepts. Rather than simply relying on rote exercises that focus on basic musical principles and techniques, teachers are asking students to create their own music early on…

The Musical Taste of Young People

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mozgot, V. G.

2014-01-01

Data from a longitudinal survey of the musical tastes of young people distinguish five basic vectors of its development: an orientation toward the Western paradigm; young people's unlimited amount of time spent in the consumption of music; the indiscriminate nature of their music interests; the influence that a person's membership in a particular…

Music Activities Guide for the Preschool Trainable Child. Mental Retardation Training Program Technical Report Series 71-2.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hardesty, Kay W.

Intended for teachers of trainable mentally retarded (TMR) preschool children, the guide gives principles of teaching music to the TMR child and suggests appropriate materials. Listed are reasons for teaching music to the TMR child (such as language development), necessary music skills for the teacher (such as music reading), and basic teaching…

Memory for music in Alzheimer's disease: unforgettable?

PubMed

Baird, Amee; Samson, Séverine

2009-03-01

The notion that memory for music can be preserved in patients with Alzheimer's Disease (AD) has been raised by a number of case studies. In this paper, we review the current research examining musical memory in patients with AD. In keeping with models of memory described in the non-musical domain, we propose that various forms of musical memory exist, and may be differentially impaired in AD, reflecting the pattern of neuropathological changes associated with the condition. Our synthesis of this literature reveals a dissociation between explicit and implicit musical memory functions. Implicit, specifically procedural musical memory, or the ability to play a musical instrument, can be spared in musicians with AD. In contrast, explicit musical memory, or the recognition of familiar or unfamiliar melodies, is typically impaired. Thus, the notion that music is unforgettable in AD is not wholly supported. Rather, it appears that the ability to play a musical instrument may be unforgettable in some musicians with AD.

A multi-disciplinary approach to the origins of music: perspectives from anthropology, archaeology, cognition and behaviour.

PubMed

Morley, Iain

2014-01-01

Archaeological evidence for musical activities pre-dates even the earliest-known cave art and it remains the case that no human culture has yet been encountered that does not practise some recognisably musical activity. Yet the human abilities to make and appreciate music have been described as "amongst the most mysterious with which [we are] endowed" (Charles Darwin, 1872) and music itself as "the supreme mystery of the science of man" (Claude Levi-Strauss, 1970). Like language, music has been the subject of keen investigation across a great diversity of fields, from neuroscience and psychology, to ethnography, to studies of its structures in its own dedicated field, musicology; unlike the evolution of human language abilities, it is only recently that the origins of musical capacities have begun to receive dedicated attention. It is increasingly clear that human musical abilities are fundamentally related to other important human abilities, yet much remains mysterious about this ubiquitous human phenomenon, not least its prehistoric origins. It is evident that no single field of investigation can address the wide range of issues relevant to answering the question of music's origins. This review brings together evidence from a wide range of anthropological and human sciences, including palaeoanthropology, archaeology, neuroscience, primatology and developmental psychology, in an attempt to elucidate the nature of the foundations of music, how they have evolved, and how they are related to capabilities underlying other important human behaviours. It is proposed that at their most fundamental level musical behaviours (including both vocalisation and dance) are forms of deliberate metrically-organised gesture, and constitute a specialised use of systems dedicated to the expression and comprehension of social and emotional information between individuals. The abilities underlying these behaviours are selectively advantageous themselves; in addition, various mechanisms by which the practice of musical activities themselves could be advantageous are outlined.

Cochlear implant users move in time to the beat of drum music.

PubMed

Phillips-Silver, Jessica; Toiviainen, Petri; Gosselin, Nathalie; Turgeon, Christine; Lepore, Franco; Peretz, Isabelle

2015-03-01

Cochlear implant users show a profile of residual, yet poorly understood, musical abilities. An ability that has received little to no attention in this population is entrainment to a musical beat. We show for the first time that a heterogeneous group of cochlear implant users is able to find the beat and move their bodies in time to Latin Merengue music, especially when the music is presented in unpitched drum tones. These findings not only reveal a hidden capacity for feeling musical rhythm through the body in the deaf and hearing impaired population, but illuminate promising avenues for designing early childhood musical training that can engage implanted children in social musical activities with benefits potentially extending to non-musical domains. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Investigating the importance of self-theories of intelligence and musicality for students' academic and musical achievement

PubMed Central

Müllensiefen, Daniel; Harrison, Peter; Caprini, Francesco; Fancourt, Amy

2015-01-01

Musical abilities and active engagement with music have been shown to be positively associated with many cognitive abilities as well as social skills and academic performance in secondary school students. While there is evidence from intervention studies that musical training can be a cause of these positive relationships, recent findings in the literature have suggested that other factors, such as genetics, family background or personality traits, might also be contributing factors. In addition, there is mounting evidence that self-concepts and beliefs can affect academic performance independently of intellectual ability. Students who believe that intelligence is malleable are more likely to attribute poor academic performances to effort rather than ability, and are more likely to take remedial action to improve their performance. However, it is currently not known whether student's beliefs about the nature of musical talent also influence the development of musical abilities in a similar fashion. Therefore, this study introduces a short self-report measure termed “Musical Self-Theories and Goals,” closely modeled on validated measures for self-theories in academic scenarios. Using this measure the study investigates whether musical self-theories are related to students' musical development as indexed by their concurrent musical activities and their performance on a battery of listening tests. We use data from a cross-sectional sample of 313 secondary school students to construct a network model describing the relationships between self-theories and academic as well as musical outcome measures, while also assessing potential effects of intelligence and the Big Five personality dimensions. Results from the network model indicate that self-theories of intelligence and musicality are closely related. In addition, both kinds of self-theories are connected to the students' academic achievement through the personality dimension conscientiousness and academic effort. Finally, applying the do-calculus method to the network model we estimate that the size of the assumed causal effects between musical self-theories and academic achievement lie between 0.07 and 0.15 standard deviations. PMID:26594189

Music and Early Language Acquisition

PubMed Central

Brandt, Anthony; Gebrian, Molly; Slevc, L. Robert

2012-01-01

Language is typically viewed as fundamental to human intelligence. Music, while recognized as a human universal, is often treated as an ancillary ability – one dependent on or derivative of language. In contrast, we argue that it is more productive from a developmental perspective to describe spoken language as a special type of music. A review of existing studies presents a compelling case that musical hearing and ability is essential to language acquisition. In addition, we challenge the prevailing view that music cognition matures more slowly than language and is more difficult; instead, we argue that music learning matches the speed and effort of language acquisition. We conclude that music merits a central place in our understanding of human development. PMID:22973254

Music and early language acquisition.

PubMed

Brandt, Anthony; Gebrian, Molly; Slevc, L Robert

2012-01-01

Language is typically viewed as fundamental to human intelligence. Music, while recognized as a human universal, is often treated as an ancillary ability - one dependent on or derivative of language. In contrast, we argue that it is more productive from a developmental perspective to describe spoken language as a special type of music. A review of existing studies presents a compelling case that musical hearing and ability is essential to language acquisition. In addition, we challenge the prevailing view that music cognition matures more slowly than language and is more difficult; instead, we argue that music learning matches the speed and effort of language acquisition. We conclude that music merits a central place in our understanding of human development.

Explaining the Association between Music Training and Reading in Adults

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Swaminathan, Swathi; Schellenberg, E. Glenn; Venkatesan, Kirthika

2018-01-01

We sought to clarify whether the positive association between music lessons and reading ability is explained better by shared resources for processing pitch and temporal information, or by general cognitive abilities. Participants were native and nonnative speakers of English with varying levels of music training. We measured reading ability…

Where the Boys Are: Show Chorus.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mancuso, Sandra L.

1983-01-01

Boys are given a chance to experience choral music through the aid of a system that lessens peer pressure. Through auditions, the teacher can evaluate musical ability, coordination level, interaction with peers, and ability to learn rapidly. Show chorus has brought a unique interest to the music program. (AU/CS)

Musical Improvisation as Action: An Arendtian Perspective

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kanellopoulos, Panagiotis

2007-01-01

A basic premise of this essay is that music education practice is a form of--a broadly conceived notion of--political practice insofar as it creates situations where specific meanings are produced, attitudes built, identities shaped, and hierarchies of musical and social values constructed. Every music education practice expresses, and at the same…

Music: Highly Engaged Students Connect Music to Math

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jones, Shelly M.; Pearson, Dunn, Jr.

2013-01-01

A musician and a mathematics educator create and implement a set of elementary school lessons integrating music and math. Students learn the basics of music theory including identifying notes and learning their fractional values. They learn about time signatures and how to determine correct note values per measure. Students are motivated by…

Using Recorded Music with Young Children: A Guide for Nonmusicians.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jalongo, Mary Renck

1996-01-01

Encourages the appreciation of music through listening, responding with body movement, and sharing with children. Points out that early childhood educators and children who are nonmusicians can make and understand music. Identifies basic problems with preschool teachers' current practices in using music with young children and provides a list of…

Organization a Culture of Self-Education of Music Teachers

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dyganova, Elena Aleksandrovna; Yavgildina, Ziliya Mukhtarovna

2015-01-01

The article discusses the culture of self-education of music teacher as a professionally necessary quality of a modern specialist in the field of music education. The author proposes finalized definitions of basic concepts; consistently reveals the essence, structure, criteria and indicators of self-culture of music teacher; reveals the potential…

The Role of Psychological Needs in Ceasing Music and Music Learning Activities

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Evans, Paul; McPherson, Gary E.; Davidson, Jane W.

2013-01-01

This article addresses individuals' decisions to continue or cease playing a musical instrument from a basic psychological needs perspective. Participants began learning music 10 years prior to the study and were the subject of previous longitudinal research. They completed a survey investigating the three psychological needs of competence,…

The Basic Principles and Methods of the Music Curriculum for the General Education School.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kabalevskii, Dmitrii

1988-01-01

Delineates the foundations of Dmitri Kabalevskii's music curriculum for general education in the Soviet Union. Stresses teaching music as part of life itself. Bases teaching principles and methods on the song, dance, and march, termed "The Three Whales." Offers extensive lesson plans focusing on first grade music activities. (CH)

Do mental speed and musical abilities interact?

PubMed

Gruhn, Wilfried; Galley, Niels; Kluth, Christine

2003-11-01

The relation between mental speed and musical ability was investigated. Seventeen subjects aged 3-7 years were divided into two subgroups: one (G1; n = 9) consisted of children who participated in an early childhood music program and who received informal musical guidance, but no special training; the other (G2; n = 8) consisted of highly talented young violin players who received intensive parental support and special training by daily deliberate practice. Mental and musical abilities of both groups were controlled by standardized tests (Kaufman's ABC and Gordon's PMMA) and compared with data taken from recordings of saccadic eye movement using online identification from an electrooculogram (EOG). Results of EOG measurement are referred to as "mental speed," which correlates highly with general mental abilities (intelligence). These results were compared with EOG scores taken from a larger sample of children of the same age range (n = 82) who received no music instruction. The grand average of their scores served as a reference line for mental speed, which is normally expected to be performed by an equivalent age group. Data in the two experimental groups did not differ statistically; however, all musically experienced children had a highly significant advantage in mental age (P <0.01) compared to the reference line of the normal population who did not exhibit any effect of training and practice. This indicates strong interaction between mental speed and music ability, which can be interpreted in terms of the expertise model and cognitive transfer effects.

Musical Sound, Instruments, and Equipment

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Photinos, Panos

2017-12-01

'Musical Sound, Instruments, and Equipment' offers a basic understanding of sound, musical instruments and music equipment, geared towards a general audience and non-science majors. The book begins with an introduction of the fundamental properties of sound waves, and the perception of the characteristics of sound. The relation between intensity and loudness, and the relation between frequency and pitch are discussed. The basics of propagation of sound waves, and the interaction of sound waves with objects and structures of various sizes are introduced. Standing waves, harmonics and resonance are explained in simple terms, using graphics that provide a visual understanding. The development is focused on musical instruments and acoustics. The construction of musical scales and the frequency relations are reviewed and applied in the description of musical instruments. The frequency spectrum of selected instruments is explored using freely available sound analysis software. Sound amplification and sound recording, including analog and digital approaches, are discussed in two separate chapters. The book concludes with a chapter on acoustics, the physical factors that affect the quality of the music experience, and practical ways to improve the acoustics at home or small recording studios. A brief technical section is provided at the end of each chapter, where the interested reader can find the relevant physics and sample calculations. These quantitative sections can be skipped without affecting the comprehension of the basic material. Questions are provided to test the reader's understanding of the material. Answers are given in the appendix.

Achievement Identification and Evaluation of Musically Gifted Children in Lower Music School

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Arsic, Anica

2016-01-01

Music schools are specific educational institutions which teach children to understand musical language, the rules of musical writing and how to play an instrument. It is assumed that children who enroll in music school have a certain level of "musicality," i.e. possess musical ability. Starting from this premise, in this paper we wanted…

EyeMusic: Introducing a "visual" colorful experience for the blind using auditory sensory substitution.

PubMed

Abboud, Sami; Hanassy, Shlomi; Levy-Tzedek, Shelly; Maidenbaum, Shachar; Amedi, Amir

2014-01-01

Sensory-substitution devices (SSDs) provide auditory or tactile representations of visual information. These devices often generate unpleasant sensations and mostly lack color information. We present here a novel SSD aimed at addressing these issues. We developed the EyeMusic, a novel visual-to-auditory SSD for the blind, providing both shape and color information. Our design uses musical notes on a pentatonic scale generated by natural instruments to convey the visual information in a pleasant manner. A short behavioral protocol was utilized to train the blind to extract shape and color information, and test their acquired abilities. Finally, we conducted a survey and a comparison task to assess the pleasantness of the generated auditory stimuli. We show that basic shape and color information can be decoded from the generated auditory stimuli. High performance levels were achieved by all participants following as little as 2-3 hours of training. Furthermore, we show that users indeed found the stimuli pleasant and potentially tolerable for prolonged use. The novel EyeMusic algorithm provides an intuitive and relatively pleasant way for the blind to extract shape and color information. We suggest that this might help facilitating visual rehabilitation because of the added functionality and enhanced pleasantness.

Relationships among Musical Aptitude, Digit Ratio and Testosterone in Men and Women

PubMed Central

Borniger, Jeremy C.; Chaudhry, Adeel; Muehlenbein, Michael P.

2013-01-01

Circulating adult testosterone levels, digit ratio (length of the second finger relative to the fourth finger), and directional asymmetry in digit ratio are considered sexually dimorphic traits in humans. These have been related to spatial abilities in men and women, and because similar brain structures appear to be involved in both spatial and musical abilities, neuroendocrine function may be related to musical as well as spatial cognition. To evaluate relationships among testosterone and musical ability in men and women, saliva samples were collected, testosterone concentrations assessed, and digit ratios calculated using standardized protocols in a sample of university students (N = 61), including both music and non-music majors. Results of Spearman correlations suggest that digit ratio and testosterone levels are statistically related to musical aptitude and performance only within the female sample: A) those females with greater self-reported history of exposure to music (p = 0.016) and instrument proficiency (p = 0.040) scored higher on the Advanced Measures of Music Audiation test, B) those females with higher left hand digit ratio (and perhaps lower fetal testosterone levels) were more highly ranked (p = 0.007) in the orchestra, C) female music students exhibited a trend (p = 0.082) towards higher testosterone levels compared to female non-music students, and D) female music students with higher rank in the orchestra/band had higher testosterone levels (p = 0.003) than lower ranked students. None of these relationships were significant in the male sample, although a lack of statistical power may be one cause. The effects of testosterone are likely a small part of a poorly understood system of biological and environmental stimuli that contribute to musical aptitude. Hormones may play some role in modulating the phenotype of musical ability, and this may be the case for females more so than males. PMID:23520475

Music Program Alumni's Perceptions of Professional Skills, Abilities, and Job Satisfaction: A Secondary Analysis of the 2011, 2012, and 2013 Strategic National Arts Alumni Project (SNAAP) Survey

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Blackwell, Jennifer

2018-01-01

The purpose of this study is to compare music studio teachers' (n = 622) and K-12 music teachers' (n = 976) perceptions of the extent to which their postsecondary education helped them develop selected professional skills and abilities, perceptions of how important those same selected skills and abilities are for teaching, and job satisfaction.…

Music and nonmusical abilities.

PubMed

Schellenberg, E G

2001-06-01

Reports that exposure to music causes benefits in nonmusical domains have received widespread attention in the mainstream media. Such reports have also influenced public policy. The so-called "Mozart effect" actually refers to two relatively distinct phenomena. One concerns short-term increases in spatial abilities that are said to occur from listening to music composed by Mozart. The other refers to the possibility that formal training in music yields nonmusical benefits. A review of the relevant findings indicates that the short-term effect is small and unreliable. Moreover, when it is evident, it can be explained by between-condition differences in the listener's mood or levels of cognitive arousal. By contrast, the effect of music lessons on nonmusical aspects of cognitive development is still an open question. Several studies have reported positive associations between formal music lessons and abilities in nonmusical (e.g., linguistic, mathematical, and spatial) domains. Nonetheless, compelling evidence for a causal link remains elusive.

Music as Basic Schooling for the Brain.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wilson, Frank R.

1985-01-01

A strong case can be made for inclusion of music in any general curriculum because of some special features of the human brain and the muscular system to which it is bonded. Music can help us fulfill our biological heritage. (RM)

African Oral Tradition Literacy.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Green, Doris

1985-01-01

Presents the basic principles of two systems for notating African music and dance: Labanotation (created to record and analyze movements) and Greenotation (created to notate musical instruments of Africa and to parallel Labanotation whereby both music and dance are incorporated into one integrated score). (KH)

Pitch Perception, Working Memory, and Second-Language Phonological Production

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Posedel, James; Emery, Lisa; Souza, Benjamin; Fountain, Catherine

2012-01-01

Previous research has suggested that training on a musical instrument is associated with improvements in working memory and musical pitch perception ability. Good working memory and musical pitch perception ability, in turn, have been linked to certain aspects of language production. The current study examines whether working memory and/or pitch…

Elementary Teachers Integrate Music Activities into Regular Mathematics Lessons: Effects on Students' Mathematical Abilities

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

An, Song; Capraro, Mary Margaret; Tillman, Daniel A.

2013-01-01

This article presents exploratory research investigating the way teachers integrate music into their regular mathematics lessons as well as the effects of music-mathematics interdisciplinary lessons on elementary school students' mathematical abilities of modeling, strategy and application. Two teachers and two classes of first grade and third…

Singing Ability, Musical Self-Concept, and Future Music Participation

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Demorest, Steven M.; Kelley, Jamey; Pfordresher, Peter Q.

2017-01-01

Research on adults who identify as "tone deaf" suggest that their poor musical self-concept is shaped by a view of themselves as nonsingers even when their perceptual skills and singing ability are not significantly worse than the general population. Many of these adults self-selected out of further participation as children but…

Academic Music: Music Instruction to Engage Third-Grade Students in Learning Basic Fraction Concepts

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Courey, Susan Joan; Balogh, Endre; Siker, Jody Rebecca; Paik, Jae

2012-01-01

This study examined the effects of an academic music intervention on conceptual understanding of music notation, fraction symbols, fraction size, and equivalency of third graders from a multicultural, mixed socio-economic public school setting. Students (N = 67) were assigned by class to their general education mathematics program or to receive…

Why Is Music a Language of Spirituality?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Yob, Iris M.

2010-01-01

The basic thesis explored in this paper is that rather than seeing spirituality as a byproduct of music, the other arts, and religion, music, the other arts, and religion might be seen as a byproduct of spirituality--hence, the proposition that music is a language of spirituality. If that is the case, there are twin dangers: talk of "wholism" can…

Musical anhedonia: selective loss of emotional experience in listening to music.

PubMed

Satoh, Masayuki; Nakase, Taizen; Nagata, Ken; Tomimoto, Hidekazu

2011-10-01

Recent case studies have suggested that emotion perception and emotional experience of music have independent cognitive processing. We report a patient who showed selective impairment of emotional experience only in listening to music, that is musical anhednia. A 71-year-old right-handed man developed an infarction in the right parietal lobe. He found himself unable to experience emotion in listening to music, even to which he had listened pleasantly before the illness. In neuropsychological assessments, his intellectual, memory, and constructional abilities were normal. Speech audiometry and recognition of environmental sounds were within normal limits. Neuromusicological assessments revealed no abnormality in the perception of elementary components of music, expression and emotion perception of music. Brain MRI identified the infarct lesion in the right inferior parietal lobule. These findings suggest that emotional experience of music could be selectively impaired without any disturbance of other musical, neuropsychological abilities. The right parietal lobe might participate in emotional experience in listening to music.

The effects of live music groups versus an educational children's television program on the emergent literacy of young children.

PubMed

Register, Dena

2004-01-01

Research suggests that music is beneficial in teaching both social and academic skills to young children. The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of a music therapy program designed to teach reading skills versus the "Between the Lions" television program on the early literacy behaviors of Kindergarten children from a low socioeconomic background. Subjects (n = 86) were children, aged 5-7 years, enrolled in one of four different Kindergarten classes at a public elementary school in Northwest Florida. Each class was assigned one of four treatment conditions: Music/Video (sequential presentation of each condition), Music-Only, Video-Only, and no contact Control group. Growth in early literacy skills was measured using the Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills (DIBELS) and 3 subtests of the Test of Early reading Ability-3rd edition (TERA-3). Teachers' perceptions of classroom literacy behaviors were measured using a pre and poststudy survey. This study also compared on- and off-task behavior of students during video versus music conditions. Results of the 7 subtests measuring early literacy were varied. The Music/Video and Music-Only groups achieved the highest increases in mean scores from pre to posttest on 4 of the 7 subtests. Students in the Video-Only group scored significantly better on the phonemic segmentation portion of the DIBELS than peers in the Music/Video condition. Furthermore, strong correlations were found between the Letter Naming, Initial Sounds Fluency tests, and total raw score of the TERA-3 tests for both pre and posttesting. Additionally, graphic analysis of mean off-task behavior per session indicated that students were more off-task during both video conditions (video alone and video portion of Music/Video condition) than during the music conditions. Off-task behavior was consistently lower during music sessions for the duration of the study. This study confirmed that music increases the on-task behavior of students. Additionally, the combination of music and video enrichment showed gains in 4 of the 8 tests used to measure students' progress. This pattern supports the need for further investigation regarding benefits of enrichment programs specifically designed to enhance curricula for students from low socioeconomic backgrounds, particularly programs that incorporate music activities.

“When Music Speaks”: Auditory Cortex Morphology as a Neuroanatomical Marker of Language Aptitude and Musicality

PubMed Central

Turker, Sabrina; Reiterer, Susanne M.; Seither-Preisler, Annemarie; Schneider, Peter

2017-01-01

Recent research has shown that the morphology of certain brain regions may indeed correlate with a number of cognitive skills such as musicality or language ability. The main aim of the present study was to explore the extent to which foreign language aptitude, in particular phonetic coding ability, is influenced by the morphology of Heschl’s gyrus (HG; auditory cortex), working memory capacity, and musical ability. In this study, the auditory cortices of German-speaking individuals (N = 30; 13 males/17 females; aged 20–40 years) with high and low scores in a number of language aptitude tests were compared. The subjects’ language aptitude was measured by three different tests, namely a Hindi speech imitation task (phonetic coding ability), an English pronunciation assessment, and the Modern Language Aptitude Test (MLAT). Furthermore, working memory capacity and musical ability were assessed to reveal their relationship with foreign language aptitude. On the behavioral level, significant correlations were found between phonetic coding ability, English pronunciation skills, musical experience, and language aptitude as measured by the MLAT. Parts of all three tests measuring language aptitude correlated positively and significantly with each other, supporting their validity for measuring components of language aptitude. Remarkably, the number of instruments played by subjects showed significant correlations with all language aptitude measures and musicality, whereas, the number of foreign languages did not show any correlations. With regard to the neuroanatomy of auditory cortex, adults with very high scores in the Hindi testing and the musicality test (AMMA) demonstrated a clear predominance of complete posterior HG duplications in the right hemisphere. This may reignite the discussion of the importance of the right hemisphere for language processing, especially when linked or common resources are involved, such as the inter-dependency between phonetic and musical aptitude. PMID:29250017

Berimbau: A simple instrument for teaching basic concepts in the physics and psychoacoustics of music

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Vilão, Rui C.; Melo, Santino L. S.

2014-12-01

We address the production of musical tones by a simple musical instrument of the Brazilian tradition: the berimbau-de-barriga. The vibration physics of the string and of the air mass inside the gourd are reviewed. Straightforward measurements of an actual berimbau, which illustrate the basic physical phenomena, are performed using a PC-based "soundcard oscilloscope." The inharmonicity of the string and the role of the gourd are discussed in the context of known results in the psychoacoustics of pitch definition.

Musical cognition in Alzheimer's disease: application of the Montreal Battery of Evaluation of Amusia.

PubMed

Campanelli, Alessandra; Rendace, Lidia; Parisi, Francesco; D'Antonio, Fabrizia; Imbriano, Letizia; de Lena, Carlo; Trebbastoni, Alessandro

2016-07-01

The aim of this study was to assess certain musical abilities in 30 patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD) and 30 healthy controls by using the complete version of the Montreal Battery of Evaluation of Amusia (MBEA). This battery evaluates melodic (scale, contour, and interval) and temporal (rhythm and meter) perception of music and musical memory. We found that altered musical processing is a common feature in AD. Despite that, AD subjects show partially spared abilities for temporal organization of music, though not for melodic perception and musical memory. This peculiar dysfunctional pattern could depend on the neurodegenerative involvement of some specific areas for music perception and memory in the brains of AD patients. Further studies are needed to investigate the usefulness of additional musical tests like the MBEA on larger samples to confirm our preliminary data. © 2016 New York Academy of Sciences.

An examination of an enhancing effect of music on attentional abilities in older persons with mild cognitive impairment.

PubMed

Lake, Jessica I; Goldstein, Felicia C

2011-02-01

While the effect of listening to music on cognitive abilities is highly debated, studies reporting an enhancing effect of music in elderly populations appear to be more consistent. In this study, the effects of listening to music on attention in groups of cognitively normal older adults and those with mild cognitive impairment were considered. Participants were exposed to both a music and silence condition, and after each condition performed Digit Span and Coding tasks which require attention for maximal performance. The hypothesis that listening to music, compared to a silence condition, enhances performance was not supported for either group. Various explanations for these findings are considered.

The Mozart Effect[R] for Children: Awakening Your Child's Mind, Health, and Creativity with Music.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Campbell, Don

The Mozart Effect is defined as the ability of Mozart's music to temporarily heighten listeners' spatial awareness and intelligence, to improve listeners' concentration and speech abilities, and to advance reading and language skills. This book provides information about the ways in which the rhythm and tone components of music can enhance…

Gender Differences in Musical Aptitude, Rhythmic Ability and Motor Performance in Preschool Children

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pollatou, Elisana; Karadimou, Konstantina; Gerodimos, Vasilios

2005-01-01

Most of the preschool curricula involve integrated movement activities that combine music, rhythm and locomotor skills. The purpose of the current study was to examine whether there are any differences between boys and girls at the age of five concerning their musical aptitude, rhythmic ability and performance in gross motor skills. Ninety-five…

Phonological Memory, Attention Control, and Musical Ability: Effects of Individual Differences on Rater Judgments of Second Language Speech

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Isaacs, Talia; Trofimovich, Pavel

2011-01-01

This study examines how listener judgments of second language speech relate to individual differences in listeners' phonological memory, attention control, and musical ability. Sixty native English listeners (30 music majors, 30 nonmusic majors) rated 40 nonnative speech samples for accentedness, comprehensibility, and fluency. The listeners were…

Exploring the association between visual perception abilities and reading of musical notation.

PubMed

Lee, Horng-Yih

2012-06-01

In the reading of music, the acquisition of pitch information depends primarily upon the spatial position of notes as well as upon an individual's spatial processing ability. This study investigated the relationship between the ability to read single notes and visual-spatial ability. Participants with high and low single-note reading abilities were differentiated based upon differences in musical notation-reading abilities and their spatial processing; object recognition abilities were then assessed. It was found that the group with lower note-reading abilities made more errors than did the group with a higher note-reading abilities in the mental rotation task. In contrast, there was no apparent significant difference between the two groups in the object recognition task. These results suggest that note-reading may be related to visual spatial processing abilities, and not to an individual's ability with object recognition.

A Critical Ethnography of Democratic Music Listening

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Silverman, Marissa

2013-01-01

The purpose of this critical ethnography was to investigate how music educators can approach the development of students' music listening abilities democratically in order to deepen students' musical understandings and, by teaching through music, create pathways for student-teacher transactions that are inclusive, educative, ethical and…

Music training and speech perception: a gene-environment interaction.

PubMed

Schellenberg, E Glenn

2015-03-01

Claims of beneficial side effects of music training are made for many different abilities, including verbal and visuospatial abilities, executive functions, working memory, IQ, and speech perception in particular. Such claims assume that music training causes the associations even though children who take music lessons are likely to differ from other children in music aptitude, which is associated with many aspects of speech perception. Music training in childhood is also associated with cognitive, personality, and demographic variables, and it is well established that IQ and personality are determined largely by genetics. Recent evidence also indicates that the role of genetics in music aptitude and music achievement is much larger than previously thought. In short, music training is an ideal model for the study of gene-environment interactions but far less appropriate as a model for the study of plasticity. Children seek out environments, including those with music lessons, that are consistent with their predispositions; such environments exaggerate preexisting individual differences. © 2015 New York Academy of Sciences.

Understanding the Score: Film Music Communicating to and Influencing the Audience

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Green, Jessica

2010-01-01

As evidenced by the strong use of musical scores in modern film, film music has come a long way since the initial silent film's piano or organ accompaniment that simply marked general emotions or moods. Though film music has retained its basic functions of reflecting emotions and moods in the images, the film score has progressed into actually…

Music: a unique window into the world of autism.

PubMed

Molnar-Szakacs, Istvan; Heaton, Pamela

2012-04-01

Understanding emotions is fundamental to our ability to navigate the complex world of human social interaction. Individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) experience difficulties with the communication and understanding of emotions within the social domain. Their ability to interpret other people's nonverbal, facial, and bodily expressions of emotion is strongly curtailed. However, there is evidence to suggest that many individuals with ASD show a strong and early preference for music and are able to understand simple and complex musical emotions in childhood and adulthood. The dissociation between emotion recognition abilities in musical and social domains in individuals with ASD provides us with the opportunity to consider the nature of emotion processing difficulties characterizing this disorder. There has recently been a surge of interest in musical abilities in individuals with ASD, and this has motivated new behavioral and neuroimaging studies. Here, we review this new work. We conclude by providing some questions for future directions. © 2012 New York Academy of Sciences.

Musical learning in children and adults with Williams syndrome.

PubMed

Lense, M; Dykens, E

2013-09-01

There is recent interest in using music making as an empirically supported intervention for various neurodevelopmental disorders due to music's engagement of perceptual-motor mapping processes. However, little is known about music learning in populations with developmental disabilities. Williams syndrome (WS) is a neurodevelopmental genetic disorder whose characteristic auditory strengths and visual-spatial weaknesses map onto the processes used to learn to play a musical instrument. We identified correlates of novel musical instrument learning in WS by teaching 46 children and adults (7-49 years) with WS to play the Appalachian dulcimer. Obtained dulcimer skill was associated with prior musical abilities (r = 0.634, P < 0.001) and visual-motor integration abilities (r = 0.487, P = 0.001), but not age, gender, IQ, handedness, auditory sensitivities or musical interest/emotionality. Use of auditory learning strategies, but not visual or instructional strategies, predicted greater dulcimer skill beyond individual musical and visual-motor integration abilities (β = 0.285, sr(2) = 0.06, P = 0.019). These findings map onto behavioural and emerging neural evidence for greater auditory-motor mapping processes in WS. Results suggest that explicit awareness of task-specific learning approaches is important when learning a new skill. Implications for using music with populations with syndrome-specific strengths and weakness will be discussed. © 2012 The Authors. Journal of Intellectual Disability Research © 2012 John Wiley & Sons Ltd, MENCAP & IASSID.

Brain lateralization and neural plasticity for musical and cognitive abilities in an epileptic musician

PubMed Central

Trujillo-Pozo, Isabel; Martín-Monzón, Isabel; Rodríguez-Romero, Rafael

2013-01-01

The use of intracarotid propofol procedure (IPP) when assessing musical lateralization has not been reported in literature up to now. This procedure (similar to Wada Test) has provided the opportunity to investigate not only lateralization of language and memory functions on epileptic patients but also offers a functional mapping approach with superior spatial and temporal resolution to analyze the lateralization of musical abilities. Findings in literature suggest that musical training modifies functional and structural brain organization. We studied hemispheric lateralization in a professional musician, a 33 years old woman with refractory left medial temporal lobe (MTL) epilepsy (TLE). A longitudinal neuropsychological study was performed over a period of 21 months. Before epilepsy surgery, musical abilities, language and memory were tested during IPP by means of a novel and exhaustive neuropsychological battery focusing on the processing of music. We used a selection of stimuli to analyze listening, score reading, and tempo discrimination. Our results suggested that IPP is an excellent method to determine not only language, semantic, and episodic memory, but also musical dominance in a professional musician who may be candidate for epilepsy surgery. Neuropsychological testing revealed that right hemisphere's patient is involved in semantic and episodic musical memory processes, whereas her score reading and tempo processing require contribution from both hemispheres. At one-year follow-up, outcome was excellent with respect to seizures and professional skills, meanwhile cognitive abilities improved. These findings indicate that IPP helps to predict who might be at risk for postoperative musical, language, and memory deficits after epilepsy surgery. Our research suggests that musical expertise and epilepsy critically modifies long-term memory processes and induces brain structural and functional plasticity. PMID:24367312

On the "Truthiness" of "Remixing the Classroom": A Reply to Randall Allsup

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Elliott, David J.; Silverman, Marissa

2017-01-01

The praxial philosophy of music education in "Music Matters" (2015) argues that music educators should teach democratically, creatively, and ethically toward empowering students' abilities to achieve full human flourishing through critically reflective music making and listening of all kinds. Moreover, "Music Matters" contends…

Musical Ability and the Drake Music Memory Test

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Griffin, Lawrence R.; Eisenman, Russell

1972-01-01

Results show that the Drake Music Memory Test should be able to discriminate between the poorest and strongest prospects for success in profiting from musical instruction, although it may not be particularly useful in individual counseling. (Authors)

Content and user-based music visual analysis

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Guo, Xiaochun; Tang, Lei

2015-12-01

In recent years, people's ability to collect music got enhanced greatly. Many people who prefer listening music offline even stored thousands of music on their local storage or portable device. However, their ability to deal with music information has not been improved accordingly, which results in two problems. One is how to find out the favourite songs from large music dataset and satisfy different individuals. The other one is how to compose a play list quickly. To solve these problems, the authors proposed a content and user-based music visual analysis approach. We first developed a new recommendation algorithm based on the content of music and user's behaviour, which satisfy individual's preference. Then, we make use of visualization and interaction tools to illustrate the relationship between songs and help people compose a suitable play list. At the end of this paper, a survey is mentioned to show that our system is available and effective.

Statistical learning and auditory processing in children with music training: An ERP study.

PubMed

Mandikal Vasuki, Pragati Rao; Sharma, Mridula; Ibrahim, Ronny; Arciuli, Joanne

2017-07-01

The question whether musical training is associated with enhanced auditory and cognitive abilities in children is of considerable interest. In the present study, we compared children with music training versus those without music training across a range of auditory and cognitive measures, including the ability to detect implicitly statistical regularities in input (statistical learning). Statistical learning of regularities embedded in auditory and visual stimuli was measured in musically trained and age-matched untrained children between the ages of 9-11years. In addition to collecting behavioural measures, we recorded electrophysiological measures to obtain an online measure of segmentation during the statistical learning tasks. Musically trained children showed better performance on melody discrimination, rhythm discrimination, frequency discrimination, and auditory statistical learning. Furthermore, grand-averaged ERPs showed that triplet onset (initial stimulus) elicited larger responses in the musically trained children during both auditory and visual statistical learning tasks. In addition, children's music skills were associated with performance on auditory and visual behavioural statistical learning tasks. Our data suggests that individual differences in musical skills are associated with children's ability to detect regularities. The ERP data suggest that musical training is associated with better encoding of both auditory and visual stimuli. Although causality must be explored in further research, these results may have implications for developing music-based remediation strategies for children with learning impairments. Copyright © 2017 International Federation of Clinical Neurophysiology. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Musical memory in a patient with severe anterograde amnesia

PubMed Central

Cavaco, Sara; Feinstein, Justin S.; van Twillert, Henk; Tranel, Daniel

2014-01-01

The ability to play a musical instrument represents a unique procedural skill that can be remarkably resilient to disruptions in declarative memory. For example, musicians with severe anterograde amnesia have demonstrated preserved ability to play musical instruments. However, the question of whether amnesic musicians can learn how to play new musical material despite severe memory impairment has not been thoroughly investigated. We capitalized on a rare opportunity to address this question. Patient SZ, an amateur musician (tenor saxophone), has extensive bilateral damage to his medial temporal lobes following herpes simplex encephalitis, resulting in a severe anterograde amnesia. We tested SZ’s capacity to learn new unfamiliar songs by sight-reading following three months of biweekly practices. Performances were recorded and then evaluated by a professional saxophonist. SZ demonstrated significant improvement in his ability to read and play new music, despite his inability to recognize any of the songs at a declarative level. The results suggest that it is possible to learn certain aspects of new music without the assistance of declarative memory. PMID:23036073

The First National Assessment of Musical Performance, Report 03-MU-01.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Education Commission of the States, Denver, CO. National Assessment of Educational Progress.

The report summarizes results of a survey of musical performance abilities of Americans of various ages. During 1971 and 1972 a national assessment program was conducted to measure the musical abilities of nine-year-olds, 13-year-olds, 17-year-olds, and young adults from 26-35 years of age. Exercises were divided into five groups: singing familiar…

Rhythm and Melody Tasks for School-Aged Children With and Without Musical Training: Age-Equivalent Scores and Reliability.

PubMed

Ireland, Kierla; Parker, Averil; Foster, Nicholas; Penhune, Virginia

2018-01-01

Measuring musical abilities in childhood can be challenging. When music training and maturation occur simultaneously, it is difficult to separate the effects of specific experience from age-based changes in cognitive and motor abilities. The goal of this study was to develop age-equivalent scores for two measures of musical ability that could be reliably used with school-aged children (7-13) with and without musical training. The children's Rhythm Synchronization Task (c-RST) and the children's Melody Discrimination Task (c-MDT) were adapted from adult tasks developed and used in our laboratories. The c-RST is a motor task in which children listen and then try to synchronize their taps with the notes of a woodblock rhythm while it plays twice in a row. The c-MDT is a perceptual task in which the child listens to two melodies and decides if the second was the same or different. We administered these tasks to 213 children in music camps (musicians, n = 130) and science camps (non-musicians, n = 83). We also measured children's paced tapping, non-paced tapping, and phonemic discrimination as baseline motor and auditory abilities We estimated internal-consistency reliability for both tasks, and compared children's performance to results from studies with adults. As expected, musically trained children outperformed those without music lessons, scores decreased as difficulty increased, and older children performed the best. Using non-musicians as a reference group, we generated a set of age-based z-scores, and used them to predict task performance with additional years of training. Years of lessons significantly predicted performance on both tasks, over and above the effect of age. We also assessed the relation between musician's scores on music tasks, baseline tasks, auditory working memory, and non-verbal reasoning. Unexpectedly, musician children outperformed non-musicians in two of three baseline tasks. The c-RST and c-MDT fill an important need for researchers interested in evaluating the impact of musical training in longitudinal studies, those interested in comparing the efficacy of different training methods, and for those assessing the impact of training on non-musical cognitive abilities such as language processing.

Rhythm and Melody Tasks for School-Aged Children With and Without Musical Training: Age-Equivalent Scores and Reliability

PubMed Central

Ireland, Kierla; Parker, Averil; Foster, Nicholas; Penhune, Virginia

2018-01-01

Measuring musical abilities in childhood can be challenging. When music training and maturation occur simultaneously, it is difficult to separate the effects of specific experience from age-based changes in cognitive and motor abilities. The goal of this study was to develop age-equivalent scores for two measures of musical ability that could be reliably used with school-aged children (7–13) with and without musical training. The children's Rhythm Synchronization Task (c-RST) and the children's Melody Discrimination Task (c-MDT) were adapted from adult tasks developed and used in our laboratories. The c-RST is a motor task in which children listen and then try to synchronize their taps with the notes of a woodblock rhythm while it plays twice in a row. The c-MDT is a perceptual task in which the child listens to two melodies and decides if the second was the same or different. We administered these tasks to 213 children in music camps (musicians, n = 130) and science camps (non-musicians, n = 83). We also measured children's paced tapping, non-paced tapping, and phonemic discrimination as baseline motor and auditory abilities We estimated internal-consistency reliability for both tasks, and compared children's performance to results from studies with adults. As expected, musically trained children outperformed those without music lessons, scores decreased as difficulty increased, and older children performed the best. Using non-musicians as a reference group, we generated a set of age-based z-scores, and used them to predict task performance with additional years of training. Years of lessons significantly predicted performance on both tasks, over and above the effect of age. We also assessed the relation between musician's scores on music tasks, baseline tasks, auditory working memory, and non-verbal reasoning. Unexpectedly, musician children outperformed non-musicians in two of three baseline tasks. The c-RST and c-MDT fill an important need for researchers interested in evaluating the impact of musical training in longitudinal studies, those interested in comparing the efficacy of different training methods, and for those assessing the impact of training on non-musical cognitive abilities such as language processing. PMID:29674984

Listeners' Identification of Musical Expression through Figurative Language and Musical Terminology

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sheldon, Deborah A.

2004-01-01

This study focused on listeners' (N = 66 undergraduate and graduate music education majors) ability to identify nuances of musical expression using figurative language and specific music terminology. Data reviewed for accuracy in classifying general expressive categories showed that listeners were successful at identifying broad intended realms of…

Music Techniques in Therapy, Counseling, and Special Education, Third Edition

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Standley, Jayne M.; Jones, Jennifer

2007-01-01

"Music Techniques in Therapy, Counseling, and Special Education" is the culmination of the first author's research in the skill development of prospective music therapists and music educators during graduate and undergraduate preparation. Standley studied the abilities and progress of students across multiple clinical music therapy and music…

Relationship between Intelligence Quotient and Musical Ability in Children with Cochlear Implantation.

PubMed

Soleimanifar, Simin; Jafari, Zahra; Motasaddi Zarandy, Masoud; Asadi, Houman; Haghani, Hamid

2016-09-01

Children with cochlear implants (CIs) may experience few opportunities for positive musical experiences, and musical perception is therefore often not sufficiently developed. This paper investigates and discusses the relationship between intelligence quotient (IQ) and musical ability in children with CIs compared with children with normal hearing. This was a comparative analytical study conducted in 48 children with unilateral CI and 48 normal-hearing children, 6-8 years of age, with 'normal' IQ and no formal music training. The average IQ score in the experimental and control groups were 105.41 and 106.31, respectively. No statistically significant differences were detected between Raven's IQ scores in both groups. Data were collected by administering Raven's Colored Progressive Matrices IQ Tests and the Montreal Battery of Evaluation of Musical Abilities (MBEMA) Test, consisting of scale, contour, interval, rhythm, and memory sections. Mean total MBEMA score in the experimental and control groups was 58.93 and 72.16 (out of 100), respectively. Significant differences were evident between scores of children with CIs in comparison with their normal-hearing peers (P≤0.001). A remarkable direct correlation between IQ and musical scores in both the control (r≥0.38) and experimental (r≥0.37) groups was observed. IQ has a noticeable effect on music processing and facilitates the perception of various musical elements. With regard to the mutual relationship between IQ and musical skills, this study illustrates the advantage of determining music perception scores and highlights the importance of appropriate musical intervention in order to enhance auditory neural plasticity, especially in children with cochlear implantation.

The multisensory brain and its ability to learn music.

PubMed

Zimmerman, Emily; Lahav, Amir

2012-04-01

Playing a musical instrument requires a complex skill set that depends on the brain's ability to quickly integrate information from multiple senses. It has been well documented that intensive musical training alters brain structure and function within and across multisensory brain regions, supporting the experience-dependent plasticity model. Here, we argue that this experience-dependent plasticity occurs because of the multisensory nature of the brain and may be an important contributing factor to musical learning. This review highlights key multisensory regions within the brain and discusses their role in the context of music learning and rehabilitation. © 2012 New York Academy of Sciences.

Reconceiving the Standards and the School Music Program

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Reimer, Bennett

2004-01-01

Music offerings in United States schools have remained largely the same for well over half a century. Basic program consists of general music classes up to and sometimes through middle school and elective performance opportunities in upper elementary grades through high school, primarily focused on band (including jazz groups), orchestra, and…

Music Handbook for Primary Grades.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bowman, Doris; And Others

GRADES OR AGES: Primary grades (1, 2, and 3). SUBJECT MATTER: Music. ORGANIZATION AND PHYSICAL APPEARANCE: This guide contains a detailed outline of the basic music concepts for elementary grades with suggestions for activities which may develop understanding of the concepts. The pages of activities are color coded by grade level. There are three…

Effects of musical training on sound pattern processing in high-school students.

PubMed

Wang, Wenjung; Staffaroni, Laura; Reid, Errold; Steinschneider, Mitchell; Sussman, Elyse

2009-05-01

Recognizing melody in music involves detection of both the pitch intervals and the silence between sequentially presented sounds. This study tested the hypothesis that active musical training in adolescents facilitates the ability to passively detect sequential sound patterns compared to musically non-trained age-matched peers. Twenty adolescents, aged 15-18 years, were divided into groups according to their musical training and current experience. A fixed order tone pattern was presented at various stimulus rates while electroencephalogram was recorded. The influence of musical training on passive auditory processing of the sound patterns was assessed using components of event-related brain potentials (ERPs). The mismatch negativity (MMN) ERP component was elicited in different stimulus onset asynchrony (SOA) conditions in non-musicians than musicians, indicating that musically active adolescents were able to detect sound patterns across longer time intervals than age-matched peers. Musical training facilitates detection of auditory patterns, allowing the ability to automatically recognize sequential sound patterns over longer time periods than non-musical counterparts.

The Relationship between a Linear Combination of Intelligence, Musical Background, Rhythm Ability and Tapping Ability to Typewriting Speed and Accuracy.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fante, Cheryl H.

This study was conducted in an attempt to identify any predictor or combination of predictors of a beginning typewriting student's success. Variables of intelligence, rhythmic ability, musical background, and tapping ability were combined to study their relationship to typewriting speed and accuracy. A sample of 109 high school students was…

The Effect of Concurrent Music Reading and Performance on the Ability to Detect Tempo Change.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ellis, Mark Carlton

1989-01-01

Measures the ability of three groups of musicians to detect tempo change while reading and performing music. Compares this ability with that of the same musicians to detect tempo change while listening only. Found that for all groups the ability to detect tempo changes was inhibited by the playing task, although to different degrees for each…

The Aural Music Project: An Exploration of the Usefulness of An Experimental Listening Test.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Humphry, Betty J.; Pitcher, Barbara

The GRE Advanced Music Test and an experimental Aural Supplement (a listening test designed to measure music students'"hearing ability") were taken by 334 senior music students as part of a project conducted in 1964. The Advanced Music Test consists of 200 5-choice questions on the fundamentals of music, history and literature, theory,…

Absorption in Music: Development of a Scale to Identify Individuals with Strong Emotional Responses to Music

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sandstrom, Gillian M.; Russo, Frank A.

2013-01-01

Despite the rise in research investigating music and emotion over the last decade, there are no validated measures of individual differences in emotional responses to music. We created the Absorption in Music Scale (AIMS), a 34-item measure of individuals' ability and willingness to allow music to draw them into an emotional experience. It was…

Understanding music with cochlear implants

PubMed Central

Bruns, Lisa; Mürbe, Dirk; Hahne, Anja

2016-01-01

Direct stimulation of the auditory nerve via a Cochlear Implant (CI) enables profoundly hearing-impaired people to perceive sounds. Many CI users find language comprehension satisfactory, but music perception is generally considered difficult. However, music contains different dimensions which might be accessible in different ways. We aimed to highlight three main dimensions of music processing in CI users which rely on different processing mechanisms: (1) musical discrimination abilities, (2) access to meaning in music, and (3) subjective music appreciation. All three dimensions were investigated in two CI user groups (post- and prelingually deafened CI users, all implanted as adults) and a matched normal hearing control group. The meaning of music was studied by using event-related potentials (with the N400 component as marker) during a music-word priming task while music appreciation was gathered by a questionnaire. The results reveal a double dissociation between the three dimensions of music processing. Despite impaired discrimination abilities of both CI user groups compared to the control group, appreciation was reduced only in postlingual CI users. While musical meaning processing was restorable in postlingual CI users, as shown by a N400 effect, data of prelingual CI users lack the N400 effect and indicate previous dysfunctional concept building. PMID:27558546

Improved Digit Span in Children after a 6-Week Intervention of Playing a Musical Instrument: An Exploratory Randomized Controlled Trial

PubMed Central

Guo, Xia; Ohsawa, Chie; Suzuki, Akiko; Sekiyama, Kaoru

2018-01-01

Previous studies have reported that music training not only improves children's musical skills, but also enhances their cognitive functions. However, there is a disagreement about what domain(s) might be affected. Moreover, effects of short-term (

Improved Digit Span in Children after a 6-Week Intervention of Playing a Musical Instrument: An Exploratory Randomized Controlled Trial.

PubMed

Guo, Xia; Ohsawa, Chie; Suzuki, Akiko; Sekiyama, Kaoru

2017-01-01

Previous studies have reported that music training not only improves children's musical skills, but also enhances their cognitive functions. However, there is a disagreement about what domain(s) might be affected. Moreover, effects of short-term (

Factors that Predict Participation in Choral Music for High-School Students

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Siebenaler, Dennis James

2006-01-01

Why do so few students continue to participate in choral music through high school? How do home influences, peers, prior music experiences and teachers, self-perceptions of ability, and musical experiences outside of school contribute to decisions concerning participation in school music? This study attempted to identify some of the factors and…

The Inclusive World of Music: Students with Disabilities and Multiculturalism

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Knapp, David H.

2011-01-01

The Tanglewood and Housewright Symposia concluded that music programs should include music from other cultures, as well as teach students of all abilities. Yet teachers sometimes feel uncomfortable attending to both of these values. Some music teachers have found creative solutions to incorporating world music into their curriculum for students…

The Musical Self-Concept of Chinese Music Students.

PubMed

Petersen, Suse; Camp, Marc-Antoine

2016-01-01

The relationship between self-concept and societal settings has been widely investigated in several Western and Asian countries, with respect to the academic self-concept in an educational environment. Although the musical self-concept is highly relevant to musical development and performance, there is a lack of research exploring how the musical self-concept evolves in different cultural settings and societies. In particular, there have been no enquiries yet in the Chinese music education environment. This study's goal was the characterization of musical self-concept types among music students at a University in Beijing, China. The Musical Self-Concept Inquiry-including ability, emotional, physical, cognitive, and social facets-was used to assess the students' musical self-concepts (N = 97). The data analysis led to three significantly distinct clusters and corresponding musical self-concept types. The types were especially distinct, in the students' perception of their musical ambitions and abilities; their movement, rhythm and dancing affinity; and the spiritual and social aspects of music. The professional aims and perspectives, and the aspects of the students' sociodemographic background also differed between the clusters. This study is one of the first research endeavors addressing musical self-concepts in China. The empirical identification of the self-concept types offers a basis for future research on the connections between education, the development of musical achievement, and the musical self-concept in societal settings with differing understandings of the self.

The Musical Self-Concept of Chinese Music Students

PubMed Central

Petersen, Suse; Camp, Marc-Antoine

2016-01-01

The relationship between self-concept and societal settings has been widely investigated in several Western and Asian countries, with respect to the academic self-concept in an educational environment. Although the musical self-concept is highly relevant to musical development and performance, there is a lack of research exploring how the musical self-concept evolves in different cultural settings and societies. In particular, there have been no enquiries yet in the Chinese music education environment. This study’s goal was the characterization of musical self-concept types among music students at a University in Beijing, China. The Musical Self-Concept Inquiry—including ability, emotional, physical, cognitive, and social facets—was used to assess the students’ musical self-concepts (N = 97). The data analysis led to three significantly distinct clusters and corresponding musical self-concept types. The types were especially distinct, in the students’ perception of their musical ambitions and abilities; their movement, rhythm and dancing affinity; and the spiritual and social aspects of music. The professional aims and perspectives, and the aspects of the students’ sociodemographic background also differed between the clusters. This study is one of the first research endeavors addressing musical self-concepts in China. The empirical identification of the self-concept types offers a basis for future research on the connections between education, the development of musical achievement, and the musical self-concept in societal settings with differing understandings of the self. PMID:27303337

Music and dementia.

PubMed

Baird, Amee; Samson, Séverine

2015-01-01

There is an increasing incidence of dementia in our aging population, and consequently an urgent need to develop treatments and activities that may alleviate the symptoms of dementia. Accumulating evidence shows that persons with dementia enjoy music, and their ability to respond to music is potentially preserved even in the late or severe stages of dementia when verbal communication may have ceased. Media interest in this topic has contributed to the public perception that music abilities are an "island of preservation" in an otherwise cognitively impaired person with dementia. In this chapter, we review the current literature on music cognition in dementia and show that there has been very scarce rigorous scientific investigation of this issue, and that various types of music memory exist and are differentially impaired in the different types of dementia. Furthermore, we discuss the recent development of music activities as a nonpharmacological treatment for dementia and highlight the methodological limitations of the current literature on this topic. While it has been reported that music activities can improve behavior, (particularly agitation), mood, and cognition in persons with dementia, recent large-scale randomized control studies have questioned the specificity of the effect of music and found that it is no more beneficial than other pleasant activities. Nevertheless, music is unique in its powerful ability to elicit both memories and emotions. This can provide an important link to individual's past and a means of nonverbal communication with carers, which make it an ideal stimulus for persons with dementia. © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Functional and dysfunctional brain circuits underlying emotional processing of music in autism spectrum disorders.

PubMed

Caria, Andrea; Venuti, Paola; de Falco, Simona

2011-12-01

Despite intersubject variability, dramatic impairments of socio-communicative skills are core features of autistic spectrum disorder (ASD). A deficit in the ability to express and understand emotions has often been hypothesized to be an important correlate of such impairments. Little is known about individuals with ASD's ability to sense emotions conveyed by nonsocial stimuli such as music. Music has been found to be capable of evoking and conveying strong and consistent positive and negative emotions in healthy subjects. The ability to process perceptual and emotional aspects of music seems to be maintained in ASD. Individuals with ASD and neurotypical (NT) controls underwent a single functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) session while processing happy and sad music excerpts. Overall, fMRI results indicated that while listening to both happy and sad music, individuals with ASD activated cortical and subcortical brain regions known to be involved in emotion processing and reward. A comparison of ASD participants with NT individuals demonstrated decreased brain activity in the premotor area and in the left anterior insula, especially in response to happy music excerpts. Our findings shed new light on the neurobiological correlates of preserved and altered emotional processing in ASD.

Harmonizing the Writing Process with Music Training Techniques

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Riecken, Nancy

2009-01-01

Can music help students become better thinkers and writers? Over the past three years, the author has incorporated some basic music training techniques in her classrooms to help her teach the writing process to students who would otherwise click her off. The students have developed clearer thinking and organizational skills, and have increased…

Idea Bank: Duct Tape Note Twister

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

McHenry, Molly

2008-01-01

In this article, the author relates how she observed a middle school math teacher deliver a miserable class. She realized that she did the same thing to her music students. To engage her students, she developed "Note Twister," a music reading game using duct tape to form musical notes and the basic premise behind the game,…

A Survey of Rural Primary School Music Education in Northeastern China

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sun, Zuodong; Leung, Bo Wah

2014-01-01

China has been instituting national basic education curriculum reforms since 2001. This study provides an updated understanding of present-day, rural primary school music education in Northeastern China's Tonghua region. A total of 126 rural primary music teachers and 674 students from 28 primary schools in the region were surveyed using a…

Educational Quality in Music Teacher Education: Components of a Foundation for Research

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Johansen, Geir

2007-01-01

Increasing demands for educational quality in higher education affect both higher music education and music teacher education. A theoretical framework is needed if we are to question what is meant by "educational quality" in the latter. To establish programs for quality development and assessment requires basic subject-specific research on the…

Guitar Scales in Music Notation and Tablature Diagrams.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hammer, Petra

This study guide was designed to help high school students learn the basic skills in classical guitar playing, technique, fingerboard knowledge, and musicianship. The introduction describes how to read the music notation that is presented in traditional music form and also in tablature diagrams showing finger positioning in the guitar neck.…

Preserving Calung Banyumasan through Vocational Education and its Community

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Suharto; Indriyanto

2018-02-01

Traditional music in Banyumas especially Calung Banyumasan is very famous for its very distinctive style. But now there is a tendency of quantity and the quality of the music began to decline. Vocational high school of Banyumas is one potential that can be used in this art conservation effort. The purpose of this research is to find the form of preservation of Calung art through education. The result of the research shows that the effort of defence of the art of Calung tradition is part of the effort to preserve the art of tradition and culture of Banyumas in general. The Calung material spread in several subjects, both theoretical and practical manifested in the form of Basic Competence and Basic Material of each subject in the syllabus. All Calung learning materials are classic (Banyumas original style) without influence from other musical styles. Meanwhile, to popularize this type of music, this school performs an off-campus musical performance with a mixed-style, classic and contemporary type. To develop the competence of students and to contribute to the community of artists of this music, the school performs activities Prakerin (Practice industrial activities).

Relationship between Intelligence Quotient and Musical Ability in Children with Cochlear Implantation

PubMed Central

Soleimanifar, Simin; Jafari, Zahra; Motasaddi Zarandy, Masoud; Asadi, Houman; Haghani, Hamid

2016-01-01

Introduction: Children with cochlear implants (CIs) may experience few opportunities for positive musical experiences, and musical perception is therefore often not sufficiently developed. This paper investigates and discusses the relationship between intelligence quotient (IQ) and musical ability in children with CIs compared with children with normal hearing. Materials and Methods: This was a comparative analytical study conducted in 48 children with unilateral CI and 48 normal-hearing children, 6–8 years of age, with ‘normal’ IQ and no formal music training. The average IQ score in the experimental and control groups were 105.41 and 106.31, respectively. No statistically significant differences were detected between Raven’s IQ scores in both groups. Data were collected by administering Raven's Colored Progressive Matrices IQ Tests and the Montreal Battery of Evaluation of Musical Abilities (MBEMA) Test, consisting of scale, contour, interval, rhythm, and memory sections. Results: Mean total MBEMA score in the experimental and control groups was 58.93 and 72.16 (out of 100), respectively. Significant differences were evident between scores of children with CIs in comparison with their normal-hearing peers (P≤0.001). A remarkable direct correlation between IQ and musical scores in both the control (r≥0.38) and experimental (r≥0.37) groups was observed. Conclusion: IQ has a noticeable effect on music processing and facilitates the perception of various musical elements. With regard to the mutual relationship between IQ and musical skills, this study illustrates the advantage of determining music perception scores and highlights the importance of appropriate musical intervention in order to enhance auditory neural plasticity, especially in children with cochlear implantation. PMID:27738611

Trained Musical Performers' and Musically Untrained College Students' Ability to Discriminate Music Instrument Timbre as a Function of Duration.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Johnston, Dennis Alan

The purpose of this study was to investigate the ability of trained musicians and musically untrained college students to discriminate music instrument timbre as a function of duration. Specific factors investigated were the thresholds for timbre discrimination as a function of duration, musical ensemble participation as training, and the relative discrimination abilities of vocalists and instrumentalists. The subjects (N = 126) were volunteer college students from intact classes from various disciplines separated into musically untrained college students (N = 43) who had not participated in musical ensembles and trained musicians (N = 83) who had. The musicians were further divided into instrumentalists (N = 51) and vocalists (N = 32). The Method of Constant Stimuli, using a same-different response procedure with 120 randomized, counterbalanced timbre pairs comprised of trumpet, clarinet, or violin, presented in durations of 20 to 100 milliseconds in a sequence of pitches, in two blocks was used for data collection. Complete, complex musical timbres were recorded digitally and presented in a sequence of changing pitches to more closely approximate an actual music listening experience. Under the conditions of this study, it can be concluded that the threshold for timbre discrimination as a function of duration is at or below 20 ms. Even though trained musicians tended to discriminate timbre better than musically untrained college students, musicians cannot discriminate timbre significantly better then those subjects who have not participated in musical ensembles. Additionally, instrumentalists tended to discriminate timbre better than vocalists, but the discrimination is not significantly different. Recommendations for further research include suggestions for a timbre discrimination measurement tool that takes into consideration the multidimensionality of timbre and the relationship of timbre discrimination to timbre source, duration, pitch, and loudness.

Melody and pitch processing in five musical savants with congenital blindness.

PubMed

Pring, Linda; Woolf, Katherine; Tadic, Valerie

2008-01-01

We examined absolute-pitch (AP) and short-term musical memory abilities of five musical savants with congenital blindness, seven musicians, and seven non-musicians with good vision and normal intelligence in two experiments. In the first, short-term memory for musical phrases was tested and the savants and musicians performed statistically indistinguishably, both significantly outperforming the non-musicians and remembering more material from the C major scale sequences than random trials. In the second experiment, participants learnt associations between four pitches and four objects using a non-verbal paradigm. This experiment approximates to testing AP ability. Low statistical power meant the savants were not statistically better than the musicians, although only the savants scored statistically higher than the non-musicians. The results are evidence for a musical module, separate from general intelligence; they also support the anecdotal reporting of AP in musical savants, which is thought to be necessary for the development of musical-savant skill.

Active music making: a route to enhanced subjective well-being among older people.

PubMed

Creech, Andrea; Hallam, Susan; Varvarigou, Maria; McQueen, Hilary; Gaunt, Helena

2013-01-01

This research explored the relationship between active music making and subjective well-being, in older people's lives. The research focused on how participation in making music might enhance older people's social, emotional and cognitive well-being, through meeting the basic psychological needs identified in earlier research. The research comprised three case studies, each offering a variety of musical activities to older people. In each case study a sample of older people were asked to complete questionnaires and psychological needs scales related to autonomy, competence, relatedness and self-realisation before and after a substantial period of active engagement with music. Principal components analysis (PCA) of responses to the CASP-12(1) and the Basic Needs Satisfaction scale(2) revealed three factors: purpose (having a positive outlook on life; autonomy and control; and social affirmation (positive social relationships, competence and a sense of recognised accomplishment). Comparisons of those engaged in music making with those participating in other activities revealed statistically significant differences on all three factors with the music groups giving more positive responses. The enhanced subjective well-being found among participants in music may have been due to the potential for music to provide a sense of purpose through progression in music and creative expression. Control and autonomy may be supported by the holistic nature of musical engagement, whereby meeting new musical challenges involves physical and cognitive engagement. Finally, social affirmation may be supported through social interaction; giving and receiving peer support; and performance, which confers status, a sense of giving something back to the community, pride and opportunities for positive reinforcement. Further research needs to identify the mechanisms through which music is able to achieve these effects.

Perception of emotionally loaded vocal expressions and its connection to responses to music. A cross-cultural investigation: Estonia, Finland, Sweden, Russia, and the USA

PubMed Central

Waaramaa, Teija; Leisiö, Timo

2013-01-01

The present study focused on voice quality and the perception of the basic emotions from speech samples in cross-cultural conditions. It was examined whether voice quality, cultural, or language background, age, or gender were related to the identification of the emotions. Professional actors (n2) and actresses (n2) produced non-sense sentences (n32) and protracted vowels (n8) expressing the six basic emotions, interest, and a neutral emotional state. The impact of musical interests on the ability to distinguish between emotions or valence (on an axis positivity – neutrality – negativity) from voice samples was studied. Listening tests were conducted on location in five countries: Estonia, Finland, Russia, Sweden, and the USA with 50 randomly chosen participants (25 males and 25 females) in each country. The participants (total N = 250) completed a questionnaire eliciting their background information and musical interests. The responses in the listening test and the questionnaires were statistically analyzed. Voice quality parameters and the share of the emotions and valence identified correlated significantly with each other for both genders. The percentage of emotions and valence identified was clearly above the chance level in each of the five countries studied, however, the countries differed significantly from each other for the identified emotions and the gender of the speaker. The samples produced by females were identified significantly better than those produced by males. Listener's age was a significant variable. Only minor gender differences were found for the identification. Perceptual confusion in the listening test between emotions seemed to be dependent on their similar voice production types. Musical interests tended to have a positive effect on the identification of the emotions. The results also suggest that identifying emotions from speech samples may be easier for those listeners who share a similar language or cultural background with the speaker. PMID:23801972

Musical training influences linguistic abilities in 8-year-old children: more evidence for brain plasticity.

PubMed

Moreno, Sylvain; Marques, Carlos; Santos, Andreia; Santos, Manuela; Castro, São Luís; Besson, Mireille

2009-03-01

We conducted a longitudinal study with 32 nonmusician children over 9 months to determine 1) whether functional differences between musician and nonmusician children reflect specific predispositions for music or result from musical training and 2) whether musical training improves nonmusical brain functions such as reading and linguistic pitch processing. Event-related brain potentials were recorded while 8-year-old children performed tasks designed to test the hypothesis that musical training improves pitch processing not only in music but also in speech. Following the first testing sessions nonmusician children were pseudorandomly assigned to music or to painting training for 6 months and were tested again after training using the same tests. After musical (but not painting) training, children showed enhanced reading and pitch discrimination abilities in speech. Remarkably, 6 months of musical training thus suffices to significantly improve behavior and to influence the development of neural processes as reflected in specific pattern of brain waves. These results reveal positive transfer from music to speech and highlight the influence of musical training. Finally, they demonstrate brain plasticity in showing that relatively short periods of training have strong consequences on the functional organization of the children's brain.

High school music classes enhance the neural processing of speech.

PubMed

Tierney, Adam; Krizman, Jennifer; Skoe, Erika; Johnston, Kathleen; Kraus, Nina

2013-01-01

Should music be a priority in public education? One argument for teaching music in school is that private music instruction relates to enhanced language abilities and neural function. However, the directionality of this relationship is unclear and it is unknown whether school-based music training can produce these enhancements. Here we show that 2 years of group music classes in high school enhance the neural encoding of speech. To tease apart the relationships between music and neural function, we tested high school students participating in either music or fitness-based training. These groups were matched at the onset of training on neural timing, reading ability, and IQ. Auditory brainstem responses were collected to a synthesized speech sound presented in background noise. After 2 years of training, the neural responses of the music training group were earlier than at pre-training, while the neural timing of students in the fitness training group was unchanged. These results represent the strongest evidence to date that in-school music education can cause enhanced speech encoding. The neural benefits of musical training are, therefore, not limited to expensive private instruction early in childhood but can be elicited by cost-effective group instruction during adolescence.

Exploring the Musical Interests and Abilities of Blind and Partially Sighted Children and Young People with Retinopathy of Prematurity

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Matawa, Christina

2009-01-01

This study explores the musical interests and talents of children and young people who are blind or partially sighted as a result of retinopathy of prematurity (RoP). The results from questionnaires completed by 37 parents were analysed using methods drawn from Ockelford et al.'s (2006) study of the musical interests and abilities of children with…

Teachers' Concepts of Musical Talent and Nurturing Musical Ability: Music Learning as Exclusive or as Opportunity for All?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jaap, Angela; Patrick, Fiona

2015-01-01

In recent years, there has been a shift in terminology used to describe gift and talent. This has resulted in widespread adoption of the term high ability to describe more able pupils. This shift has promoted a more inclusive ethos in terms of the concept of encouraging talent development, but it has also highlighted tensions between teachers'…

Jazz, guitar, and neurosurgery: the Pat Martino case report.

PubMed

Galarza, Marcelo; Isaac, Claire; Pellicer, Olga; Mayes, Andrew; Broks, Paul; Montaldi, Daniela; Denby, Christine; Simeone, Frederick

2014-01-01

We present the case of a professional jazz guitarist with temporal lobe epilepsy secondary to an arteriovenous cerebral malformation. The patient underwent a left temporal lobectomy in 1980. After surgery, he presented with severe retrograde amnesia and complete loss of musical interest and capabilities. The patient's musical abilities recovered over time, and he regained his previous virtuoso status. In 2007, his medical history, neuropsychologic functions, and structural magnetic resonance imaging study were examined and revealed a remarkable degree of recovery of memory and musical abilities in the context of extensive temporal lobe resection. The neuropsychologic findings and neuroanatomic features of the magnetic resonance imaging study were analyzed to try to understand the high degree of recovery of both long-term memory and musical processing abilities in this musician. This case reveals the possibility of an unusual degree of cerebral plasticity and reorganization. Additionally, it emphasizes the question of musical virtuosity. This report shows that the musical capabilities of professional musicians, in specific cases, can completely recover even when much of the left temporal lobe has been removed. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Positive Use of Rap Music in the Classroom.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Anderson, Edward

As an extension of African-Americans' rich language and musical heritage and abilities, rap music has some value in the educational setting. Rap music started as a dance fad beginning in the mid-1970s among Blacks and Hispanics in New York's outer boroughs. It is another generational brand of Black language and musical usage and an extension of…

(dis)Ability and Music Education: Paralympian Patrick Anderson and the Experience of Disability in Music

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bell, Adam Patrick

2017-01-01

What does it mean to experience disability in music? Based on interviews with Patrick Anderson--arguably the greatest wheelchair basketball player of all time--this article presents insights into the complexities of the experience of disability in sports and music. Contrasted with music education's tendency to adhere to a medicalized model of…

[Receptive music therapy with persons suffering from a physical handicap].

PubMed

Scholer, M

2010-01-01

Music therapy, as a part of arts therapies, is used as a therapeutical tool for restoring, maintaining and improving the mental, physical and emotional health of human beings. The main mission of receptive music therapy is not found on the performance level, but on the level of attentive and intimate music listening that is not passive at all, contributing to musical pleasure and to wellbeing. At first we introduce the basic vocabulary used in receptive music therapy, flow experience and the main dimensions (bio-psycho-social) influenced by stimulating music listening. We also present the aims of this psycho-pedagogical project: The focus lies on determining the sensitivity of physically handicapped persons to different music stimuli (music styles). In this case, we can talk of the degree of music reception. We worked in an institution for persons suffering from a physical handicap. The applied methodology is based on the psycho-musical survey by Verdeau-Paillès (1). This psychological record consists in a basic interview and a test of music listening performances leading to the construction of a summary graph and the final receptivity psychogram. An observational frame conceived by Schiltz (2) and adapted to the actual situation offers the possibility of making exact observations as to non-verbal and verbal variables during the therapeutical sessions. Thus, we can present the results of descriptive and non-parametric statistical procedures, but also the results of case studies. The statistical tests used were Wilcoxon's sign-rank test for a pre-post comparison of variables related to non-verbal and verbal behaviour (two different sessions of music therapy with similar contents) and Spearman's Rho which permitted us to compute the correlations between non-verbal expression and verbal communication (N=14). Finally we conclude that our patients considered their musical experience as very positive. The results of the personal interview and the psycho-musical survey brought about several interesting statistical findings on how receptive music therapy physically and psychologically influenced the patients.

Developing a music programme for preschool children with cochlear implants.

PubMed

Koşaner, Julie; Kilinc, Aynur; Deniz, Murat

2012-11-01

Although music perception is especially challenging for cochlear implant (CI) users, young CI users' musical perception abilities are improved by participation in structured musical activities. To design, implement, evaluate, and publish a music training programme with a monitoring tool for preschool CI users, for use in family-centred habilitation programmes. We devised a programme of musical activities, Musical EARS®, and a curriculum-related hierarchical Evaluation Form to represent performance. The programme included sections on singing; recognizing songs, tunes, and timbre; and responding appropriately to music and rhythm. It was implemented over 18 months at Ilkses Rehabilitation Centre, with 25 paediatric MED-EL CI users split into three groups of varying age, duration of CI use, and ability. Mean total scores increased significantly for all groups. Scores increased unevenly across subscales. Participation in and enjoyment of musical activities increased for both children and parents. Significant correlations were found between scores and length of CI use. The training programme effectively enriches child CI users' musical experience. To varying degrees, children learned to perform the Musical EARS® activities. The study allowed us to validate the lesson content and the hierarchical nature of the Evaluation Form. We conclude that prelingually deafened CI users should be systematically involved in musical activities to help them acquire skills acquired more easily by hearing peers.

Classification of High and Low Achievers in a Music Sight-Reading Task

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kopiez, Reinhard; Weihs, Claus; Ligges, Uwe; Lee, Ji In

2006-01-01

The unrehearsed performance of music, called "sight-reading" (SR), is a basic skill for all musicians. It is of particular interest for musical occupations such as the piano accompanist, the conductor, or the correpetiteur. However, up until now, there is no theory of SR which considers all relevant factors such as practice-related…

Creative Drama in the General Music Classroom: An Integrated Approach for Intermediate Students

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Stephens, April

2013-01-01

The following article provides strategies and suggestions for integrating creative drama into the general music classroom. Various learning theories and basic theatre concepts will be discussed. Integrating music and drama can be an engaging tool for various types of learners. The author provides a sample process drama lesson on Civil Rights…

Clinical Guide to Music Therapy in Physical Rehabilitation Settings

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wong, Elizabeth

2004-01-01

Elizabeth Wong, MT-BC presents tools and information designed to arm the entry-level music therapist (or an experienced MT-BC new to rehabilitation settings) with basic knowledge and materials to develop or work in a music therapy program treating people with stroke, brain injury, and those who are ventilator dependent. Ms. Wong offers goals and…

Non-Gaussian distributions of melodic intervals in music: The Lévy-stable approximation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Niklasson, Gunnar A.; Niklasson, Maria H.

2015-11-01

The analysis of structural patterns in music is of interest in order to increase our fundamental understanding of music, as well as for devising algorithms for computer-generated music, so called algorithmic composition. Musical melodies can be analyzed in terms of a “music walk” between the pitches of successive tones in a notescript, in analogy with the “random walk” model commonly used in physics. We find that the distribution of melodic intervals between tones can be approximated with a Lévy-stable distribution. Since music also exibits self-affine scaling, we propose that the “music walk” should be modelled as a Lévy motion. We find that the Lévy motion model captures basic structural patterns in classical as well as in folk music.

Searching for Music's Potential: A Critical Examination of Research on Music Therapy with Individuals with Autism

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Accordino, Robert; Comer, Ronald; Heller, Wendy B.

2007-01-01

The authors conducted a literature review on music therapy for individuals with autism because of the frequent use of music therapy for those with autism and recent research on the musical abilities of this population. To accomplish this narrative review, articles were searched from relevant databases, reference lists from articles, and book…

The Sources of Self-Efficacy: Educational Research and Implications for Music

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hendricks, Karin S.

2016-01-01

Music teachers can empower students with control over their own music ability development by helping them foster positive self-efficacy beliefs. This article reviews general education and music research concerning Bandura's theoretical four sources of self-efficacy (enactive mastery experience, vicarious experience, verbal/social persuasion, and…

Music Education Intervention Improves Vocal Emotion Recognition

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mualem, Orit; Lavidor, Michal

2015-01-01

The current study is an interdisciplinary examination of the interplay among music, language, and emotions. It consisted of two experiments designed to investigate the relationship between musical abilities and vocal emotional recognition. In experiment 1 (N = 24), we compared the influence of two short-term intervention programs--music and…

The Mental Representation of Music Notation: Notational Audiation

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Brodsky, Warren; Kessler, Yoav; Rubinstein, Bat-Sheva; Ginsborg, Jane; Henik, Avishai

2008-01-01

This study investigated the mental representation of music notation. Notational audiation is the ability to internally "hear" the music one is reading before physically hearing it performed on an instrument. In earlier studies, the authors claimed that this process engages music imagery contingent on subvocal silent singing. This study refines the…

A Rationale for Early Training in Music.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Simons, Gene M.

1979-01-01

The ability of young children to learn music is commonly underestimated. There is a large amount of research and empirical evidence which indicates that (1) early childhood is the most critical period for learning fundamental concepts and skills in music and (2) children's potential for musical growth declines with age. (Author/NQ)

Promoting "Minds-on" Chamber Music Rehearsals

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Berg, Margaret H.

2008-01-01

Chamber music provides myriad opportunities to develop students' ability to think like professional musicians while engaged in the authentic task of working closely with and learning from peers. However, the potential for musical growth inherent in chamber music participation is often unrealized due to either a lack of teacher guidance and support…

Objective Measurements in Assessing a Black Music Course of Study.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Taylor, Frederick J.

1990-01-01

A study of 80 eighth grade students investigated whether incorporation of a African-American music program would have special benefits for African-American students, music-experienced students, or high-musical-ability students. African-American students, taught material consistent with their heritage, performed better than whites. It is concluded…

Verticality and containment in song and improvisation: an application of schema theory to Nordoff-Robbins music therapy.

PubMed

Aigen, Kenneth

2009-01-01

This study illustrates the use of a new musicological method for analyzing music in music therapy. It examines two pieces of clinical music through the constructs of schema theory. It begins with an argument for enhanced musical analysis in music therapy as a means of elevating the status of explanation in music therapy. Schema theory is introduced as a means of integrating musical with clinical concerns. Some basic ideas in schema theory are explained and the schemas of VERTICALITY and CONTAINER are presented as central ones in the analysis of music. Two transcriptions-one of a composed song and one of an improvisation-are examined in detail to illustrate how decisions in the temporal, melodic, and harmonic dimensions of the music are linked to specific clinical goals. The article concludes with a discussion of the implications of this type of musicological analysis for explanatory theory in music therapy.

Inculcating Quality Concepts in the US Air Force: Right Music, Wrong Step

DTIC Science & Technology

1994-04-01

CONCEPTS IN THE US AIR FORCE: RIGHT MUSIC , WRONG STEP Acceslon For NTIS CRA&J DTIC TAB Unannounced fJ by Justification Barbara A. Kucharczyk By. Lieutenant...TITLE: Inculcating Quality Concepts in the US Air Force: Right Music , Wrong Step AUTHOR: Barbara A. Kucharczyk, Lieutenant Colonel, USAF In its...perceived attitudinal backlash.4 While basic quality concepts are certainly the right music , many Air Force members are dancing the wrong step. Why? This

A Comparison Study of the California Test of Basic Skills between Fourth and Fifth Grade Instrumental Music Pullout Students and Students Not Involved in the Instrumental Music Program.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Corral, S. Joseph

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of an instrumental music pullout program on student achievement. Two hundred and twenty-three students were divided into 2 groups. The first group consisted of 46 instrumental music students in grades 4 and 5. The second group consisted of 177 students who did not participate in the instrumental…

Dance-the-Music: an educational platform for the modeling, recognition and audiovisual monitoring of dance steps using spatiotemporal motion templates

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Maes, Pieter-Jan; Amelynck, Denis; Leman, Marc

2012-12-01

In this article, a computational platform is presented, entitled "Dance-the-Music", that can be used in a dance educational context to explore and learn the basics of dance steps. By introducing a method based on spatiotemporal motion templates, the platform facilitates to train basic step models from sequentially repeated dance figures performed by a dance teacher. Movements are captured with an optical motion capture system. The teachers' models can be visualized from a first-person perspective to instruct students how to perform the specific dance steps in the correct manner. Moreover, recognition algorithms-based on a template matching method-can determine the quality of a student's performance in real time by means of multimodal monitoring techniques. The results of an evaluation study suggest that the Dance-the-Music is effective in helping dance students to master the basics of dance figures.

Music, affect, method, data: reflections on the Carroll versus Kivy debate.

PubMed

Konecni, Vladimir J

2013-01-01

The comprehensive exchange between Noel Carroll and Peter Kivy, which took place in 2007, addressed key issues in the relationship between music and affect. More than in any prior philosophical debate on this topic, experimental psychologists' methods and data played a significant role. However, to a nontrivial extent, the findings-perhaps especially the dubious-were misconstrued or misused, usually without acknowledging the existence of contrary data-based opinion within the psychology of music itself. Therefore, one objective of the present article is to identify the specific problematic features and shed light on the broader context shared by the two disciplines. A complementary goal is to examine contributions to philosophers' transgressions by music psychologists' insufficiently conscientious reporting, frequent overgeneralizations, and unawareness of philosophers' critical arguments. Another objective is to examine the current status of key concepts-the relevant music, basic emotions, mood, expression, induction, movement and dance, and methods (including introspection and experimental procedures)-thus perhaps enabling the discussion of music and affect to proceed with fewer misunderstandings. Finally, the article moves beyond the initial debate and builds on a remarkable agreement of philosophical and psychological opinion on a key issue (the induction of non-basic emotions by absolute music) to reach a new conceptual ground.

Investigating country-specific music preferences and music recommendation algorithms with the LFM-1b dataset.

PubMed

Schedl, Markus

2017-01-01

Recently, the LFM-1b dataset has been proposed to foster research and evaluation in music retrieval and music recommender systems, Schedl (Proceedings of the ACM International Conference on Multimedia Retrieval (ICMR). New York, 2016). It contains more than one billion music listening events created by more than 120,000 users of Last.fm. Each listening event is characterized by artist, album, and track name, and further includes a timestamp. Basic demographic information and a selection of more elaborate listener-specific descriptors are included as well, for anonymized users. In this article, we reveal information about LFM-1b's acquisition and content and we compare it to existing datasets. We furthermore provide an extensive statistical analysis of the dataset, including basic properties of the item sets, demographic coverage, distribution of listening events (e.g., over artists and users), and aspects related to music preference and consumption behavior (e.g., temporal features and mainstreaminess of listeners). Exploiting country information of users and genre tags of artists, we also create taste profiles for populations and determine similar and dissimilar countries in terms of their populations' music preferences. Finally, we illustrate the dataset's usage in a simple artist recommendation task, whose results are intended to serve as baseline against which more elaborate techniques can be assessed.

What does music express? Basic emotions and beyond.

PubMed

Juslin, Patrik N

2013-01-01

Numerous studies have investigated whether music can reliably convey emotions to listeners, and-if so-what musical parameters might carry this information. Far less attention has been devoted to the actual contents of the communicative process. The goal of this article is thus to consider what types of emotional content are possible to convey in music. I will argue that the content is mainly constrained by the type of coding involved, and that distinct types of content are related to different types of coding. Based on these premises, I suggest a conceptualization in terms of "multiple layers" of musical expression of emotions. The "core" layer is constituted by iconically-coded basic emotions. I attempt to clarify the meaning of this concept, dispel the myths that surround it, and provide examples of how it can be heuristic in explaining findings in this domain. However, I also propose that this "core" layer may be extended, qualified, and even modified by additional layers of expression that involve intrinsic and associative coding. These layers enable listeners to perceive more complex emotions-though the expressions are less cross-culturally invariant and more dependent on the social context and/or the individual listener. This multiple-layer conceptualization of expression in music can help to explain both similarities and differences between vocal and musical expression of emotions.

Implicit memory in music and language.

PubMed

Ettlinger, Marc; Margulis, Elizabeth H; Wong, Patrick C M

2011-01-01

Research on music and language in recent decades has focused on their overlapping neurophysiological, perceptual, and cognitive underpinnings, ranging from the mechanism for encoding basic auditory cues to the mechanism for detecting violations in phrase structure. These overlaps have most often been identified in musicians with musical knowledge that was acquired explicitly, through formal training. In this paper, we review independent bodies of work in music and language that suggest an important role for implicitly acquired knowledge, implicit memory, and their associated neural structures in the acquisition of linguistic or musical grammar. These findings motivate potential new work that examines music and language comparatively in the context of the implicit memory system.

Emotions evoked by the sound of music: characterization, classification, and measurement.

PubMed

Zentner, Marcel; Grandjean, Didier; Scherer, Klaus R

2008-08-01

One reason for the universal appeal of music lies in the emotional rewards that music offers to its listeners. But what makes these rewards so special? The authors addressed this question by progressively characterizing music-induced emotions in 4 interrelated studies. Studies 1 and 2 (n=354) were conducted to compile a list of music-relevant emotion terms and to study the frequency of both felt and perceived emotions across 5 groups of listeners with distinct music preferences. Emotional responses varied greatly according to musical genre and type of response (felt vs. perceived). Study 3 (n=801)--a field study carried out during a music festival--examined the structure of music-induced emotions via confirmatory factor analysis of emotion ratings, resulting in a 9-factorial model of music-induced emotions. Study 4 (n=238) replicated this model and found that it accounted for music-elicited emotions better than the basic emotion and dimensional emotion models. A domain-specific device to measure musically induced emotions is introduced--the Geneva Emotional Music Scale.

The Role of the Baldwin Effect in the Evolution of Human Musicality.

PubMed

Podlipniak, Piotr

2017-01-01

From the biological perspective human musicality is the term referred to as a set of abilities which enable the recognition and production of music. Since music is a complex phenomenon which consists of features that represent different stages of the evolution of human auditory abilities, the question concerning the evolutionary origin of music must focus mainly on music specific properties and their possible biological function or functions. What usually differentiates music from other forms of human sound expressions is a syntactically organized structure based on pitch classes and rhythmic units measured in reference to musical pulse. This structure is an auditory (not acoustical) phenomenon, meaning that it is a human-specific interpretation of sounds achieved thanks to certain characteristics of the nervous system. There is historical and cross-cultural diversity of this structure which indicates that learning is an important part of the development of human musicality. However, the fact that there is no culture without music, the syntax of which is implicitly learned and easily recognizable, suggests that human musicality may be an adaptive phenomenon. If the use of syntactically organized structure as a communicative phenomenon were adaptive it would be only in circumstances in which this structure is recognizable by more than one individual. Therefore, there is a problem to explain the adaptive value of an ability to recognize a syntactically organized structure that appeared accidentally as the result of mutation or recombination in an environment without a syntactically organized structure. The possible solution could be explained by the Baldwin effect in which a culturally invented trait is transformed into an instinctive trait by the means of natural selection. It is proposed that in the beginning musical structure was invented and learned thanks to neural plasticity. Because structurally organized music appeared adaptive (phenotypic adaptation) e.g., as a tool of social consolidation, our predecessors started to spend a lot of time and energy on music. In such circumstances, accidentally one individual was born with the genetically controlled development of new neural circuitry which allowed him or her to learn music faster and with less energy use.

The Role of the Baldwin Effect in the Evolution of Human Musicality

PubMed Central

Podlipniak, Piotr

2017-01-01

From the biological perspective human musicality is the term referred to as a set of abilities which enable the recognition and production of music. Since music is a complex phenomenon which consists of features that represent different stages of the evolution of human auditory abilities, the question concerning the evolutionary origin of music must focus mainly on music specific properties and their possible biological function or functions. What usually differentiates music from other forms of human sound expressions is a syntactically organized structure based on pitch classes and rhythmic units measured in reference to musical pulse. This structure is an auditory (not acoustical) phenomenon, meaning that it is a human-specific interpretation of sounds achieved thanks to certain characteristics of the nervous system. There is historical and cross-cultural diversity of this structure which indicates that learning is an important part of the development of human musicality. However, the fact that there is no culture without music, the syntax of which is implicitly learned and easily recognizable, suggests that human musicality may be an adaptive phenomenon. If the use of syntactically organized structure as a communicative phenomenon were adaptive it would be only in circumstances in which this structure is recognizable by more than one individual. Therefore, there is a problem to explain the adaptive value of an ability to recognize a syntactically organized structure that appeared accidentally as the result of mutation or recombination in an environment without a syntactically organized structure. The possible solution could be explained by the Baldwin effect in which a culturally invented trait is transformed into an instinctive trait by the means of natural selection. It is proposed that in the beginning musical structure was invented and learned thanks to neural plasticity. Because structurally organized music appeared adaptive (phenotypic adaptation) e.g., as a tool of social consolidation, our predecessors started to spend a lot of time and energy on music. In such circumstances, accidentally one individual was born with the genetically controlled development of new neural circuitry which allowed him or her to learn music faster and with less energy use. PMID:29056895

Musical Abilities and Sex Differences in the Analysis of Aural-Musical Capacities

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Whellams, Frederick S.

1973-01-01

By means of a multiple discrimination function analysis it is possible to reject the hypothesis that musicality, as measured by the tests in Wing's battery, is entirely influenced by hereditary factors. (Author)

New Legislation in Brazilian Music Education: Studying the Law and Its Implementation

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Manning, Dwight; Kamil, Marilia

2017-01-01

In 2008, Brazilian legislators approved a law that added music on a mandatory basis to the basic national school curriculum. Despite the possibilities afforded by this legislation, music educators affirm that many questions remain due to its ambiguity. Given the 2012 deadline for the implementation of this law, there is a need to understand how it…

What Works Clearinghouse Quick Review: "Academic Music: Music Instruction to Engage Third-Grade Students in Learning Basic Fraction Concepts"

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

What Works Clearinghouse, 2012

2012-01-01

The study examined the effectiveness of an intervention designed to teach mathematical concepts through music. Specifically, it investigated the effect of the intervention on third-grade students' understanding of fractions. Sixty-seven students from one northern California elementary school participated in the study over a period of six weeks; of…

A Music Program for Training Head Start Teachers Using a Sequential, Cognitive, Developmental Process with Pre-school Children.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Brodhecker, Shirley G.

This practicum report addresses the need to supply Head Start teachers with: (1) specific preschool music objectives; (2) a sequential preschool developmental program in music to match the child's cognitive level; (3) how to choose instructional material to encourage specific basic school readiness skills; and (4) workshops to accomplish these…

Movement and Drama in Therapy: The Therapeutic Use of Movement, Drama and Music.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wethered, Audrey

Basic principles in body movement, drama, and music therapy for the emotionally disturbed are explored in this text. Various approaches to therapy are illustrated by accounts of individuals and groups with whom the author has worked. A list of musical pieces, with notes on possible application in therapy, is also included. The book is designed to…

The Dalcroze Approach to Music Education: Theory and Applications

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Anderson, William Todd

2012-01-01

The methods of the Dalcroze approach to music education--eurhythmics, solfege, and improvisation--have had a profound influence on modern music education. In particular, the overt training in kinesthetic abilities, and the assertion that the relationship between music and movement is an intimate one, is at the heart of Dalcroze's approach to…

Capturing Student Progress via Portfolios in the Music Classroom

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mills, Melissa M.

2009-01-01

A common desire among music educators is to help students develop the ability to reflect on and evaluate their own music making. To achieve this goal, music educators often provide their students with a variety of instructional activities, such as watching their ensemble's latest concert performance and writing a critical review of it, allowing…

The Influence of Informal Music Education in Teacher Formation: An Autoethnography

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Nethsinghe, Rohan

2012-01-01

In this paper I explore how my musical background, teaching skills, understanding and knowledge as well as music-making abilities and skills, have formed my current self as musician, teacher and researcher. An autoethnographical method is used to investigate my background, including the different modes of music education I received. From this…

Evaluating Musical Dis/abilities: Operationalizing the Capability Approach

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Watts, Michael; Ridley, Barbara

2007-01-01

We use this paper to suggest the use of Sen's capability approach in interpreting disability. The substantive focus is our evaluation of the Drake Music Project, which uses electronic and computer technologies to enable severely disabled people to explore, compose and perform music. We consider how the process of making music enables the musicians…

Examining neural plasticity and cognitive benefit through the unique lens of musical training.

PubMed

Moreno, Sylvain; Bidelman, Gavin M

2014-02-01

Training programs aimed to alleviate or improve auditory-cognitive abilities have either experienced mixed success or remain to be fully validated. The limited benefits of such regimens are largely attributable to our weak understanding of (i) how (and which) interventions provide the most robust and long lasting improvements to cognitive and perceptual abilities and (ii) how the neural mechanisms which underlie such abilities are positively modified by certain activities and experience. Recent studies indicate that music training provides robust, long-lasting biological benefits to auditory function. Importantly, the behavioral advantages conferred by musical experience extend beyond simple enhancements to perceptual abilities and even impact non-auditory functions necessary for higher-order aspects of cognition (e.g., working memory, intelligence). Collectively, preliminary findings indicate that alternative forms of arts engagement (e.g., visual arts training) may not yield such widespread enhancements, suggesting that music expertise uniquely taps and refines a hierarchy of brain networks subserving a variety of auditory as well as domain-general cognitive mechanisms. We infer that transfer from specific music experience to broad cognitive benefit might be mediated by the degree to which a listener's musical training tunes lower- (e.g., perceptual) and higher-order executive functions, and the coordination between these processes. Ultimately, understanding the broad impact of music on the brain will not only provide a more holistic picture of auditory processing and plasticity, but may help inform and tailor remediation and training programs designed to improve perceptual and cognitive benefits in human listeners. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Song and speech: examining the link between singing talent and speech imitation ability.

PubMed

Christiner, Markus; Reiterer, Susanne M

2013-01-01

In previous research on speech imitation, musicality, and an ability to sing were isolated as the strongest indicators of good pronunciation skills in foreign languages. We, therefore, wanted to take a closer look at the nature of the ability to sing, which shares a common ground with the ability to imitate speech. This study focuses on whether good singing performance predicts good speech imitation. Forty-one singers of different levels of proficiency were selected for the study and their ability to sing, to imitate speech, their musical talent and working memory were tested. Results indicated that singing performance is a better indicator of the ability to imitate speech than the playing of a musical instrument. A multiple regression revealed that 64% of the speech imitation score variance could be explained by working memory together with educational background and singing performance. A second multiple regression showed that 66% of the speech imitation variance of completely unintelligible and unfamiliar language stimuli (Hindi) could be explained by working memory together with a singer's sense of rhythm and quality of voice. This supports the idea that both vocal behaviors have a common grounding in terms of vocal and motor flexibility, ontogenetic and phylogenetic development, neural orchestration and auditory memory with singing fitting better into the category of "speech" on the productive level and "music" on the acoustic level. As a result, good singers benefit from vocal and motor flexibility, productively and cognitively, in three ways. (1) Motor flexibility and the ability to sing improve language and musical function. (2) Good singers retain a certain plasticity and are open to new and unusual sound combinations during adulthood both perceptually and productively. (3) The ability to sing improves the memory span of the auditory working memory.

The effects of ethnicity, musicianship, and tone language experience on pitch perception.

PubMed

Zheng, Yi; Samuel, Arthur G

2018-02-01

Language and music are intertwined: music training can facilitate language abilities, and language experiences can also help with some music tasks. Possible language-music transfer effects are explored in two experiments in this study. In Experiment 1, we tested native Mandarin, Korean, and English speakers on a pitch discrimination task with two types of sounds: speech sounds and fundamental frequency (F0) patterns derived from speech sounds. To control for factors that might influence participants' performance, we included cognitive ability tasks testing memory and intelligence. In addition, two music skill tasks were used to examine general transfer effects from language to music. Prior studies showing that tone language speakers have an advantage on pitch tasks have been taken as support for three alternative hypotheses: specific transfer effects, general transfer effects, and an ethnicity effect. In Experiment 1, musicians outperformed non-musicians on both speech and F0 sounds, suggesting a music-to-language transfer effect. Korean and Mandarin speakers performed similarly, and they both outperformed English speakers, providing some evidence for an ethnicity effect. Alternatively, this could be due to population selection bias. In Experiment 2, we recruited Chinese Americans approximating the native English speakers' language background to further test the ethnicity effect. Chinese Americans, regardless of their tone language experiences, performed similarly to their non-Asian American counterparts in all tasks. Therefore, although this study provides additional evidence of transfer effects across music and language, it casts doubt on the contribution of ethnicity to differences observed in pitch perception and general music abilities.

[At-home music therapy intervention using video phone (Skype) for elderly people with dementia].

PubMed

Hori, Miyako; Iizuka, Mieko; Nakamura, Michikazu; Aiba, Ikuko; Saito, Yufuko; Kubota, Masakazu; Urabe, Mie; Kinoshita, Ayae

2014-12-01

There are various nonpharmacological therapies available for elderly people with dementia, and these can improve quality of life and the behavioral and psychological symptoms of dementia (BPSD) that appear throughout the progression of the disease. Since a substantial number of effects have been reported for music therapy, we focused on this nonpharmacological intervention. Generally, musical therapy is provided collectively in facilities. However, the music used in this context may not consider the preferences and music abilities of each person. Therefore, in this study we created made-to-order music CDs that accounted for each participant's musical preferences and abilities. Utilizing the CDs, we conducted an intervention study of music therapy using a video phone (Skype) that elderly people with dementia can use at home. An advantage of conducting music therapy for individuals with dementia using a video phone is that those who have difficulty going to the hospital or participating in dementia-related therapy groups can participate in therapy in a familiar place. The results of this intervention showed that participants demonstrated signs of improvement as measured by the smile degree(Smile scan)and Behavior Pathology in Alzheimer's Disease (BEHAVE-AD) scale.

Selective preservation of the beat in apperceptive music agnosia: a case study.

PubMed

Baird, Amee D; Walker, David G; Biggs, Vivien; Robinson, Gail A

2014-04-01

Music perception involves processing of melodic, temporal and emotional dimensions that have been found to dissociate in healthy individuals and after brain injury. Two components of the temporal dimension have been distinguished, namely rhythm and metre. We describe an 18 year old male musician 'JM' who showed apperceptive music agnosia with selectively preserved metre perception, and impaired recognition of sad and peaceful music relative to age and music experience matched controls after resection of a right temporoparietal tumour. Two months post-surgery JM underwent a comprehensive neuropsychological evaluation including assessment of his music perception abilities using the Montreal Battery for Evaluation of Amusia (MBEA, Peretz, Champod, & Hyde, 2003). He also completed several experimental tasks to explore his ability to recognise famous songs and melodies, emotions portrayed by music and a broader range of environmental sounds. Five age-, gender-, education- and musical experienced-matched controls were administered the same experimental tasks. JM showed selective preservation of metre perception, with impaired performances compared to controls and scoring below the 5% cut-off on all MBEA subtests, except for the metric condition. He could identify his favourite songs and environmental sounds. He showed impaired recognition of sad and peaceful emotions portrayed in music relative to controls but intact ability to identify happy and scary music. This case study contributes to the scarce literature documenting a dissociation between rhythmic and metric processing, and the rare observation of selectively preserved metric interpretation in the context of apperceptive music agnosia. It supports the notion that the anterior portion of the superior temporal gyrus (STG) plays a role in metric processing and provides the novel observation that selectively preserved metre is sufficient to identify happy and scary, but not sad or peaceful emotions portrayed in music. Crown Copyright © 2014. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Detecting signatures of positive selection associated with musical aptitude in the human genome

PubMed Central

Liu, Xuanyao; Kanduri, Chakravarthi; Oikkonen, Jaana; Karma, Kai; Raijas, Pirre; Ukkola-Vuoti, Liisa; Teo, Yik-Ying; Järvelä, Irma

2016-01-01

Abilities related to musical aptitude appear to have a long history in human evolution. To elucidate the molecular and evolutionary background of musical aptitude, we compared genome-wide genotyping data (641 K SNPs) of 148 Finnish individuals characterized for musical aptitude. We assigned signatures of positive selection in a case-control setting using three selection methods: haploPS, XP-EHH and FST. Gene ontology classification revealed that the positive selection regions contained genes affecting inner-ear development. Additionally, literature survey has shown that several of the identified genes were known to be involved in auditory perception (e.g. GPR98, USH2A), cognition and memory (e.g. GRIN2B, IL1A, IL1B, RAPGEF5), reward mechanisms (RGS9), and song perception and production of songbirds (e.g. FOXP1, RGS9, GPR98, GRIN2B). Interestingly, genes related to inner-ear development and cognition were also detected in a previous genome-wide association study of musical aptitude. However, the candidate genes detected in this study were not reported earlier in studies of musical abilities. Identification of genes related to language development (FOXP1 and VLDLR) support the popular hypothesis that music and language share a common genetic and evolutionary background. The findings are consistent with the evolutionary conservation of genes related to auditory processes in other species and provide first empirical evidence for signatures of positive selection for abilities that contribute to musical aptitude. PMID:26879527

Enhanced timing abilities in percussionists generalize to rhythms without a musical beat.

PubMed

Cameron, Daniel J; Grahn, Jessica A

2014-01-01

The ability to entrain movements to music is arguably universal, but it is unclear how specialized training may influence this. Previous research suggests that percussionists have superior temporal precision in perception and production tasks. Such superiority may be limited to temporal sequences that resemble real music or, alternatively, may generalize to musically implausible sequences. To test this, percussionists and nonpercussionists completed two tasks that used rhythmic sequences varying in musical plausibility. In the beat tapping task, participants tapped with the beat of a rhythmic sequence over 3 stages: finding the beat (as an initial sequence played), continuation of the beat (as a second sequence was introduced and played simultaneously), and switching to a second beat (the initial sequence finished, leaving only the second). The meters of the two sequences were either congruent or incongruent, as were their tempi (minimum inter-onset intervals). In the rhythm reproduction task, participants reproduced rhythms of four types, ranging from high to low musical plausibility: Metric simple rhythms induced a strong sense of the beat, metric complex rhythms induced a weaker sense of the beat, nonmetric rhythms had no beat, and jittered nonmetric rhythms also had no beat as well as low temporal predictability. For both tasks, percussionists performed more accurately than nonpercussionists. In addition, both groups were better with musically plausible than implausible conditions. Overall, the percussionists' superior abilities to entrain to, and reproduce, rhythms generalized to musically implausible sequences.

Detecting signatures of positive selection associated with musical aptitude in the human genome.

PubMed

Liu, Xuanyao; Kanduri, Chakravarthi; Oikkonen, Jaana; Karma, Kai; Raijas, Pirre; Ukkola-Vuoti, Liisa; Teo, Yik-Ying; Järvelä, Irma

2016-02-16

Abilities related to musical aptitude appear to have a long history in human evolution. To elucidate the molecular and evolutionary background of musical aptitude, we compared genome-wide genotyping data (641 K SNPs) of 148 Finnish individuals characterized for musical aptitude. We assigned signatures of positive selection in a case-control setting using three selection methods: haploPS, XP-EHH and FST. Gene ontology classification revealed that the positive selection regions contained genes affecting inner-ear development. Additionally, literature survey has shown that several of the identified genes were known to be involved in auditory perception (e.g. GPR98, USH2A), cognition and memory (e.g. GRIN2B, IL1A, IL1B, RAPGEF5), reward mechanisms (RGS9), and song perception and production of songbirds (e.g. FOXP1, RGS9, GPR98, GRIN2B). Interestingly, genes related to inner-ear development and cognition were also detected in a previous genome-wide association study of musical aptitude. However, the candidate genes detected in this study were not reported earlier in studies of musical abilities. Identification of genes related to language development (FOXP1 and VLDLR) support the popular hypothesis that music and language share a common genetic and evolutionary background. The findings are consistent with the evolutionary conservation of genes related to auditory processes in other species and provide first empirical evidence for signatures of positive selection for abilities that contribute to musical aptitude.

Transforming the Landscape through Music Creation and Performance

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tedeschi, Simon

2013-01-01

This author is quite often described by respected critics and musical peers as one of the finest artists in the world--making the young pianist's mark on music both undeniable and admirable. In this speech he shares his thoughts on improvisation. The ability to improvise is integral to the future of classical music. Classical pianists are still…

Relationships between Grades in the Components of Freshman Music Theory and Selected Background Variables.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Harrison, Carole S.

1990-01-01

Determines how academic ability, music experience, and musical aptitude contribute to grade prediction in the written-work, ear-training, sight-singing, and keyboard-harmonics portions of two college freshman music theory courses. Finds Scholastic Aptitude Test mathematics scores the best predictor of grades in written work and ear training.…

The Second Assessment of Music, 1978-79. Released Exercise Set.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Education Commission of the States, Denver, CO. National Assessment of Educational Progress.

The document presents exercises, documentation, and summaries from the second assessment of music by the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP). Objectives were to test 9-, 13-, and 17-year-old students' ability to value music as an important realm of human experience, to identify the elements and expressive controls of music, and to…

The Mozart Effect: Musical Phenomenon or Musical Preference? A More Ecologically Valid Reconsideration

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cassity, Hope Daniels; Henley, Tracy B.; Markley, Robert P.

2007-01-01

The "Mozart effect" is the reported phenomenon of increased spatial abilities after listening to that composer's music. However, subsequent research suggests that the Mozart effect may be an artifactual consequence of heightened arousal and mood rather than the music of Mozart per se (e.g., Thompson, Schellenberg, & Husain, 2001). The present…

Implicit Memory in Music and Language

PubMed Central

Ettlinger, Marc; Margulis, Elizabeth H.; Wong, Patrick C. M.

2011-01-01

Research on music and language in recent decades has focused on their overlapping neurophysiological, perceptual, and cognitive underpinnings, ranging from the mechanism for encoding basic auditory cues to the mechanism for detecting violations in phrase structure. These overlaps have most often been identified in musicians with musical knowledge that was acquired explicitly, through formal training. In this paper, we review independent bodies of work in music and language that suggest an important role for implicitly acquired knowledge, implicit memory, and their associated neural structures in the acquisition of linguistic or musical grammar. These findings motivate potential new work that examines music and language comparatively in the context of the implicit memory system. PMID:21927608

Autism, emotion recognition and the mirror neuron system: the case of music.

PubMed

Molnar-Szakacs, Istvan; Wang, Martha J; Laugeson, Elizabeth A; Overy, Katie; Wu, Wai-Ling; Piggot, Judith

2009-11-16

Understanding emotions is fundamental to our ability to navigate and thrive in a complex world of human social interaction. Individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) are known to experience difficulties with the communication and understanding of emotion, such as the nonverbal expression of emotion and the interpretation of emotions of others from facial expressions and body language. These deficits often lead to loneliness and isolation from peers, and social withdrawal from the environment in general. In the case of music however, there is evidence to suggest that individuals with ASD do not have difficulties recognizing simple emotions. In addition, individuals with ASD have been found to show normal and even superior abilities with specific aspects of music processing, and often show strong preferences towards music. It is possible these varying abilities with different types of expressive communication may be related to a neural system referred to as the mirror neuron system (MNS), which has been proposed as deficient in individuals with autism. Music's power to stimulate emotions and intensify our social experiences might activate the MNS in individuals with ASD, and thus provide a neural foundation for music as an effective therapeutic tool. In this review, we present literature on the ontogeny of emotion processing in typical development and in individuals with ASD, with a focus on the case of music.

Emotion regulation through listening to music in everyday situations.

PubMed

Thoma, Myriam V; Ryf, Stefan; Mohiyeddini, Changiz; Ehlert, Ulrike; Nater, Urs M

2012-01-01

Music is a stimulus capable of triggering an array of basic and complex emotions. We investigated whether and how individuals employ music to induce specific emotional states in everyday situations for the purpose of emotion regulation. Furthermore, we wanted to examine whether specific emotion-regulation styles influence music selection in specific situations. Participants indicated how likely it would be that they would want to listen to various pieces of music (which are known to elicit specific emotions) in various emotional situations. Data analyses by means of non-metric multidimensional scaling revealed a clear preference for pieces of music that were emotionally congruent with an emotional situation. In addition, we found that specific emotion-regulation styles might influence the selection of pieces of music characterised by specific emotions. Our findings demonstrate emotion-congruent music selection and highlight the important role of specific emotion-regulation styles in the selection of music in everyday situations.

Improvisation and the self-organization of multiple musical bodies.

PubMed

Walton, Ashley E; Richardson, Michael J; Langland-Hassan, Peter; Chemero, Anthony

2015-01-01

Understanding everyday behavior relies heavily upon understanding our ability to improvise, how we are able to continuously anticipate and adapt in order to coordinate with our environment and others. Here we consider the ability of musicians to improvise, where they must spontaneously coordinate their actions with co-performers in order to produce novel musical expressions. Investigations of this behavior have traditionally focused on describing the organization of cognitive structures. The focus, here, however, is on the ability of the time-evolving patterns of inter-musician movement coordination as revealed by the mathematical tools of complex dynamical systems to provide a new understanding of what potentiates the novelty of spontaneous musical action. We demonstrate this approach through the application of cross wavelet spectral analysis, which isolates the strength and patterning of the behavioral coordination that occurs between improvising musicians across a range of nested time-scales. Revealing the sophistication of the previously unexplored dynamics of movement coordination between improvising musicians is an important step toward understanding how creative musical expressions emerge from the spontaneous coordination of multiple musical bodies.

Long-term musical training may improve different forms of visual attention ability.

PubMed

Rodrigues, Ana Carolina; Loureiro, Maurício Alves; Caramelli, Paulo

2013-08-01

Many studies have suggested that structural and functional cerebral neuroplastic processes result from long-term musical training, which in turn may produce cognitive differences between musicians and non-musicians. We aimed to investigate whether intensive, long-term musical practice is associated with improvements in three different forms of visual attention ability: selective, divided and sustained attention. Musicians from symphony orchestras (n=38) and non-musicians (n=38), who were comparable in age, gender and education, were submitted to three neuropsychological tests, measuring reaction time and accuracy. Musicians showed better performance relative to non-musicians on four variables of the three visual attention tests, and such an advantage could not solely be explained by better sensorimotor integration. Moreover, in the group of musicians, significant correlations were observed between the age at the commencement of musical studies and reaction time in all visual attention tests. The results suggest that musicians present augmented ability in different forms of visual attention, thus illustrating the possible cognitive benefits of long-term musical training. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Improvisation and the self-organization of multiple musical bodies

PubMed Central

Walton, Ashley E.; Richardson, Michael J.; Langland-Hassan, Peter; Chemero, Anthony

2015-01-01

Understanding everyday behavior relies heavily upon understanding our ability to improvise, how we are able to continuously anticipate and adapt in order to coordinate with our environment and others. Here we consider the ability of musicians to improvise, where they must spontaneously coordinate their actions with co-performers in order to produce novel musical expressions. Investigations of this behavior have traditionally focused on describing the organization of cognitive structures. The focus, here, however, is on the ability of the time-evolving patterns of inter-musician movement coordination as revealed by the mathematical tools of complex dynamical systems to provide a new understanding of what potentiates the novelty of spontaneous musical action. We demonstrate this approach through the application of cross wavelet spectral analysis, which isolates the strength and patterning of the behavioral coordination that occurs between improvising musicians across a range of nested time-scales. Revealing the sophistication of the previously unexplored dynamics of movement coordination between improvising musicians is an important step toward understanding how creative musical expressions emerge from the spontaneous coordination of multiple musical bodies. PMID:25941499

Introducing Music to the Hearing-Impaired.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jahns, Elke

2001-01-01

Describes an independent music therapy project where the author worked with an 11-year-old boy, Johnny, who had recently become profoundly deaf. States that the goals were to master basic playing of an instrument and proficiency in reading notes and rhythms. (CMK)

Turning down the noise: the benefit of musical training on the aging auditory brain.

PubMed

Alain, Claude; Zendel, Benjamin Rich; Hutka, Stefanie; Bidelman, Gavin M

2014-02-01

Age-related decline in hearing abilities is a ubiquitous part of aging, and commonly impacts speech understanding, especially when there are competing sound sources. While such age effects are partially due to changes within the cochlea, difficulties typically exist beyond measurable hearing loss, suggesting that central brain processes, as opposed to simple peripheral mechanisms (e.g., hearing sensitivity), play a critical role in governing hearing abilities late into life. Current training regimens aimed to improve central auditory processing abilities have experienced limited success in promoting listening benefits. Interestingly, recent studies suggest that in young adults, musical training positively modifies neural mechanisms, providing robust, long-lasting improvements to hearing abilities as well as to non-auditory tasks that engage cognitive control. These results offer the encouraging possibility that musical training might be used to counteract age-related changes in auditory cognition commonly observed in older adults. Here, we reviewed studies that have examined the effects of age and musical experience on auditory cognition with an emphasis on auditory scene analysis. We infer that musical training may offer potential benefits to complex listening and might be utilized as a means to delay or even attenuate declines in auditory perception and cognition that often emerge later in life. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Spatial representation of pitch height: the SMARC effect.

PubMed

Rusconi, Elena; Kwan, Bonnie; Giordano, Bruno L; Umiltà, Carlo; Butterworth, Brian

2006-03-01

Through the preferential pairing of response positions to pitch, here we show that the internal representation of pitch height is spatial in nature and affects performance, especially in musically trained participants, when response alternatives are either vertically or horizontally aligned. The finding that our cognitive system maps pitch height onto an internal representation of space, which in turn affects motor performance even when this perceptual attribute is irrelevant to the task, extends previous studies on auditory perception and suggests an interesting analogy between music perception and mathematical cognition. Both the basic elements of mathematical cognition (i.e. numbers) and the basic elements of musical cognition (i.e. pitches), appear to be mapped onto a mental spatial representation in a way that affects motor performance.

What does music express? Basic emotions and beyond

PubMed Central

Juslin, Patrik N.

2013-01-01

Numerous studies have investigated whether music can reliably convey emotions to listeners, and—if so—what musical parameters might carry this information. Far less attention has been devoted to the actual contents of the communicative process. The goal of this article is thus to consider what types of emotional content are possible to convey in music. I will argue that the content is mainly constrained by the type of coding involved, and that distinct types of content are related to different types of coding. Based on these premises, I suggest a conceptualization in terms of “multiple layers” of musical expression of emotions. The “core” layer is constituted by iconically-coded basic emotions. I attempt to clarify the meaning of this concept, dispel the myths that surround it, and provide examples of how it can be heuristic in explaining findings in this domain. However, I also propose that this “core” layer may be extended, qualified, and even modified by additional layers of expression that involve intrinsic and associative coding. These layers enable listeners to perceive more complex emotions—though the expressions are less cross-culturally invariant and more dependent on the social context and/or the individual listener. This multiple-layer conceptualization of expression in music can help to explain both similarities and differences between vocal and musical expression of emotions. PMID:24046758

Identifying emotions in music through electrical hearing in deaf children using cochlear implants.

PubMed

Hopyan, T; Gordon, K A; Papsin, B C

2011-02-01

Cochlear implant (CI) devices are the choice of treatment for individuals with severe to profound hearing loss. The CI devices provide the opportunity for children who are deaf to perceive sound by electrical stimulation of the auditory nerve, with the goal of optimizing oral communication. A natural benefit of acquiring hearing using CIs is the ability to hear, and perhaps enjoy, music. Music is a non-verbal auditory stimulus and a powerful tool for transmitting emotion. Identifying emotional cues is an important part of normal social development and communication and thus music may play an important role in establishing these skills during development. To date, it is not known whether children who use cochlear implants to hear can identify the emotional content carried in music. Our objective in the present study was to determine whether children who have been deaf from infancy and are experienced CI users have acquired the ability to identify emotion in musical phrases. Study participants were 18 CI users (ages 7-13 years) who received right unilateral CIs (mean age at CI activation of 2.9 years) and 18 age-and gender-matched controls. Participants were asked to judge 32 brief musical excerpts as happy or sad by pointing to simple graphics of a smiling or frowning face. Children using CIs were able to correctly distinguish happy versus sad music well above chance levels, but performed more poorly on this task than their peers with typical hearing. Age at CI activation and time since CI activation were both uncorrelated with outcome measures. Children with CIs show the ability to perceive emotion in music but do so less accurately than typically hearing peers.

Applying Research in Motivation and Learning to Music Education: What the Experts Say

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cogdill, Susan H.

2015-01-01

Current research on motivation and learning may assist teachers in identifying strategies to help students be successful and persevere in the music classroom. Students' beliefs about their ability to learn, and the impact these beliefs have on their motivation to learn music, is a large focus of the research presented here. Aspects of music make…

Professional Notes: President Shuler's Guiding Principles--Big Steps in the Right Direction

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Reimer, Bennett

2011-01-01

This article presents Scott Shuler's "Five Guiding Principles for Music Education": (1) An education in "all" the arts is important for "all" students; (2) Independence--music literacy in the broadest sense--is necessary to lead a life enriched by music; (3) Independent music literacy can be defined as the ability to carry out the three artistic…

Learning about What Constitutes Effective Training from a Pilot Programme to Improve Music Education in Primary Schools

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rogers, Lynne; Hallam, Susan; Creech, Andrea; Preti, Costanza

2008-01-01

The new primary strategy in England has raised the profile of foundation subjects, including music, yet many primary school teachers lack skills and confidence in their ability to teach music. This research explores a year-long programme of training across 16 primary schools in England that sought to improve music education. The programme involved…

Music Training for Severely and Profoundly Retarded Individuals.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kesler, Buford; Richmond, Bert O.

Investigated were the effects of sex, ability and training method on the musical instrument playing ability of 16 institutionalized severely and profoundly retarded persons ages 7 to 20 years. Ss were randomly assigned to one of four treatment groups, and the time required to reach criterion playing a familiar tune was recorded. Data indicated…

Music: Chorus, Junior.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Owen, Joan; And Others

A music course of instruction in junior chorus, to develop students' performance skills individually and in ensemble, is described. A prerequisite for pupils is the ability to read music. Outlined are: the course description; enrollment guidelines; study objectives; course content; procedures; resources for pupils and teachers; and the assessment.…

From fragments to the whole: a comparison between cochlear implant users and normal-hearing listeners in music perception and enjoyment.

PubMed

Alexander, Ashlin J; Bartel, Lee; Friesen, Lendra; Shipp, David; Chen, Joseph

2011-02-01

Cochlear implants (CIs) allow many profoundly deaf individuals to regain speech understanding. However, the ability to understand speech does not necessarily guarantee music enjoyment. Enabling a CI user to recover the ability to perceive and enjoy the complexity of music remains a challenge determined by many factors. (1) To construct a novel, attention-based, diagnostic software tool (Music EAR) for the assessment of music enjoyment and perception and (2) to compare the results among three listener groups. Thirty-six subjects completed the Music EAR assessment tool: 12 normal-hearing musicians (NHMs), 12 normal-hearing nonmusicians (NHnMs), and 12 CI listeners. Subjects were required to (1) rate enjoyment of musical excerpts at three complexity levels; (2) differentiate five instrumental timbres; (3) recognize pitch pattern variation; and (4) identify target musical patterns embedded holistically in a melody. Enjoyment scores for CI users were comparable to those for NHMs and superior to those for NHnMs and revealed that implantees enjoyed classical music most. CI users performed significantly poorer in all categories of music perception compared to normal-hearing listeners. Overall CI user scores were lowest in those tasks requiring increased attention. Two high-performing subjects matched or outperformed NHnMs in pitch and timbre perception tasks. The Music EAR assessment tool provides a unique approach to the measurement of music perception and enjoyment in CI users. Together with auditory training evidence, the results provide considerable hope for further recovery of music appreciation through methodical rehabilitation.

Writing System Modulates the Association between Sensitivity to Acoustic Cues in Music and Reading Ability: Evidence from Chinese-English Bilingual Children.

PubMed

Zhang, Juan; Meng, Yaxuan; Wu, Chenggang; Zhou, Danny Q

2017-01-01

Music and language share many attributes and a large body of evidence shows that sensitivity to acoustic cues in music is positively related to language development and even subsequent reading acquisition. However, such association was mainly found in alphabetic languages. What remains unclear is whether sensitivity to acoustic cues in music is associated with reading in Chinese, a morphosyllabic language. The present study aimed to answer this question by measuring music (i.e., musical metric perception and pitch discrimination), language (i.e., phonological awareness, lexical tone sensitivity), and reading abilities (i.e., word recognition) among 54 third-grade Chinese-English bilingual children. After controlling for age and non-verbal intelligence, we found that both musical metric perception and pitch discrimination accounted for unique variance of Chinese phonological awareness while pitch discrimination rather than musical metric perception predicted Chinese lexical tone sensitivity. More importantly, neither musical metric perception nor pitch discrimination was associated with Chinese reading. As for English, musical metric perception and pitch discrimination were correlated with both English phonological awareness and English reading. Furthermore, sensitivity to acoustic cues in music was associated with English reading through the mediation of English phonological awareness. The current findings indicate that the association between sensitivity to acoustic cues in music and reading may be modulated by writing systems. In Chinese, the mapping between orthography and phonology is not as transparent as in alphabetic languages such as English. Thus, this opaque mapping may alter the auditory perceptual sensitivity in music to Chinese reading.

Writing System Modulates the Association between Sensitivity to Acoustic Cues in Music and Reading Ability: Evidence from Chinese–English Bilingual Children

PubMed Central

Zhang, Juan; Meng, Yaxuan; Wu, Chenggang; Zhou, Danny Q.

2017-01-01

Music and language share many attributes and a large body of evidence shows that sensitivity to acoustic cues in music is positively related to language development and even subsequent reading acquisition. However, such association was mainly found in alphabetic languages. What remains unclear is whether sensitivity to acoustic cues in music is associated with reading in Chinese, a morphosyllabic language. The present study aimed to answer this question by measuring music (i.e., musical metric perception and pitch discrimination), language (i.e., phonological awareness, lexical tone sensitivity), and reading abilities (i.e., word recognition) among 54 third-grade Chinese–English bilingual children. After controlling for age and non-verbal intelligence, we found that both musical metric perception and pitch discrimination accounted for unique variance of Chinese phonological awareness while pitch discrimination rather than musical metric perception predicted Chinese lexical tone sensitivity. More importantly, neither musical metric perception nor pitch discrimination was associated with Chinese reading. As for English, musical metric perception and pitch discrimination were correlated with both English phonological awareness and English reading. Furthermore, sensitivity to acoustic cues in music was associated with English reading through the mediation of English phonological awareness. The current findings indicate that the association between sensitivity to acoustic cues in music and reading may be modulated by writing systems. In Chinese, the mapping between orthography and phonology is not as transparent as in alphabetic languages such as English. Thus, this opaque mapping may alter the auditory perceptual sensitivity in music to Chinese reading. PMID:29170647

Increased engagement of the cognitive control network associated with music training in children during an fMRI Stroop task.

PubMed

Sachs, Matthew; Kaplan, Jonas; Der Sarkissian, Alissa; Habibi, Assal

2017-01-01

Playing a musical instrument engages various sensorimotor processes and draws on cognitive capacities collectively termed executive functions. However, while music training is believed to associated with enhancements in certain cognitive and language abilities, studies that have explored the specific relationship between music and executive function have yielded conflicting results. As part of an ongoing longitudinal study, we investigated the effects of music training on executive function using fMRI and several behavioral tasks, including the Color-Word Stroop task. Children involved in ongoing music training (N = 14, mean age = 8.67) were compared with two groups of comparable general cognitive abilities and socioeconomic status, one involved in sports ("sports" group, N = 13, mean age = 8.85) and another not involved in music or sports ("control" group, N = 17, mean age = 9.05). During the Color-Word Stroop task, children with music training showed significantly greater bilateral activation in the pre-SMA/SMA, ACC, IFG, and insula in trials that required cognitive control compared to the control group, despite no differences in performance on behavioral measures of executive function. No significant differences in brain activation or in task performance were found between the music and sports groups. The results suggest that systematic extracurricular training, particularly music-based training, is associated with changes in the cognitive control network in the brain even in the absence of changes in behavioral performance.

Music acquisition: effects of enculturation and formal training on development.

PubMed

Hannon, Erin E; Trainor, Laurel J

2007-11-01

Musical structure is complex, consisting of a small set of elements that combine to form hierarchical levels of pitch and temporal structure according to grammatical rules. As with language, different systems use different elements and rules for combination. Drawing on recent findings, we propose that music acquisition begins with basic features, such as peripheral frequency-coding mechanisms and multisensory timing connections, and proceeds through enculturation, whereby everyday exposure to a particular music system creates, in a systematic order of acquisition, culture-specific brain structures and representations. Finally, we propose that formal musical training invokes domain-specific processes that affect salience of musical input and the amount of cortical tissue devoted to its processing, as well as domain-general processes of attention and executive functioning.

Music and You: Teacher Guide.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Semanchik, Karen

This teacher's guide presents a course for training hearing-impaired students to listen to, create, and perform music. It emphasizes development of individual skills and group participation, encouraging students to contribute a wide variety of auditory and musical abilities and experiences while developing auditory acuity and attention. A variety…

Practical Pluralism: Toward Anti-Racist Competencies in Music Educators

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rampal, Michelle

2015-01-01

The specialized curricula of music education degree programs afford relatively few opportunities to cultivate educators' abilities to recognize, acknowledge, and incorporate students' multiple lived realities within the music classroom. This is especially problematic in an age where public schools serve an increasingly diverse population of…

Pairing Linguistic and Music Intelligences

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

DiEdwardo, MaryAnn Pasda

2005-01-01

This article describes how music in the language classroom setting can be a catalyst for developing reading, writing, and understanding skills. Studies suggest that pairing music and linguistic intelligences in the college classroom improves students' grades and abilities to compose theses statements for research papers in courses that emphasize…

Empirical evidence for musical syntax processing? Computer simulations reveal the contribution of auditory short-term memory

PubMed Central

Bigand, Emmanuel; Delbé, Charles; Poulin-Charronnat, Bénédicte; Leman, Marc; Tillmann, Barbara

2014-01-01

During the last decade, it has been argued that (1) music processing involves syntactic representations similar to those observed in language, and (2) that music and language share similar syntactic-like processes and neural resources. This claim is important for understanding the origin of music and language abilities and, furthermore, it has clinical implications. The Western musical system, however, is rooted in psychoacoustic properties of sound, and this is not the case for linguistic syntax. Accordingly, musical syntax processing could be parsimoniously understood as an emergent property of auditory memory rather than a property of abstract processing similar to linguistic processing. To support this view, we simulated numerous empirical studies that investigated the processing of harmonic structures, using a model based on the accumulation of sensory information in auditory memory. The simulations revealed that most of the musical syntax manipulations used with behavioral and neurophysiological methods as well as with developmental and cross-cultural approaches can be accounted for by the auditory memory model. This led us to question whether current research on musical syntax can really be compared with linguistic processing. Our simulation also raises methodological and theoretical challenges to study musical syntax while disentangling the confounded low-level sensory influences. In order to investigate syntactic abilities in music comparable to language, research should preferentially use musical material with structures that circumvent the tonal effect exerted by psychoacoustic properties of sounds. PMID:24936174

Amusia and protolanguage impairments in schizophrenia

PubMed Central

Kantrowitz, J. T.; Scaramello, N.; Jakubovitz, A.; Lehrfeld, J. M.; Laukka, P.; Elfenbein, H. A.; Silipo, G.; Javitt, D. C.

2017-01-01

Background Both language and music are thought to have evolved from a musical protolanguage that communicated social information, including emotion. Individuals with perceptual music disorders (amusia) show deficits in auditory emotion recognition (AER). Although auditory perceptual deficits have been studied in schizophrenia, their relationship with musical/protolinguistic competence has not previously been assessed. Method Musical ability was assessed in 31 schizophrenia/schizo-affective patients and 44 healthy controls using the Montreal Battery for Evaluation of Amusia (MBEA). AER was assessed using a novel battery in which actors provided portrayals of five separate emotions. The Disorganization factor of the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS) was used as a proxy for language/thought disorder and the MATRICS Consensus Cognitive Battery (MCCB) was used to assess cognition. Results Highly significant deficits were seen between patients and controls across auditory tasks (p<0.001). Moreover, significant differences were seen in AER between the amusia and intact music-perceiving groups, which remained significant after controlling for group status and education. Correlations with AER were specific to the melody domain, and correlations between protolanguage (melody domain) and language were independent of overall cognition. Discussion This is the first study to document a specific relationship between amusia, AER and thought disorder, suggesting a shared linguistic/protolinguistic impairment. Once amusia was considered, other cognitive factors were no longer significant predictors of AER, suggesting that musical ability in general and melodic discrimination ability in particular may be crucial targets for treatment development and cognitive remediation in schizophrenia. PMID:25066878

Amusia and protolanguage impairments in schizophrenia.

PubMed

Kantrowitz, J T; Scaramello, N; Jakubovitz, A; Lehrfeld, J M; Laukka, P; Elfenbein, H A; Silipo, G; Javitt, D C

2014-10-01

Both language and music are thought to have evolved from a musical protolanguage that communicated social information, including emotion. Individuals with perceptual music disorders (amusia) show deficits in auditory emotion recognition (AER). Although auditory perceptual deficits have been studied in schizophrenia, their relationship with musical/protolinguistic competence has not previously been assessed. Musical ability was assessed in 31 schizophrenia/schizo-affective patients and 44 healthy controls using the Montreal Battery for Evaluation of Amusia (MBEA). AER was assessed using a novel battery in which actors provided portrayals of five separate emotions. The Disorganization factor of the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS) was used as a proxy for language/thought disorder and the MATRICS Consensus Cognitive Battery (MCCB) was used to assess cognition. Highly significant deficits were seen between patients and controls across auditory tasks (p < 0.001). Moreover, significant differences were seen in AER between the amusia and intact music-perceiving groups, which remained significant after controlling for group status and education. Correlations with AER were specific to the melody domain, and correlations between protolanguage (melody domain) and language were independent of overall cognition. This is the first study to document a specific relationship between amusia, AER and thought disorder, suggesting a shared linguistic/protolinguistic impairment. Once amusia was considered, other cognitive factors were no longer significant predictors of AER, suggesting that musical ability in general and melodic discrimination ability in particular may be crucial targets for treatment development and cognitive remediation in schizophrenia.

Preserved processing of musical structure in a person with agrammatic aphasia.

PubMed

Slevc, L Robert; Faroqi-Shah, Yasmeen; Saxena, Sadhvi; Okada, Brooke M

2016-12-01

Evidence for shared processing of structure (or syntax) in language and in music conflicts with neuropsychological dissociations between the two. However, while harmonic structural processing can be impaired in patients with spared linguistic syntactic abilities (Peretz, I. (1993). Auditory atonalia for melodies. Cognitive Neuropsychology, 10, 21-56. doi:10.1080/02643299308253455), evidence for the opposite dissociation-preserved harmonic processing despite agrammatism-is largely lacking. Here, we report one such case: HV, a former musician with Broca's aphasia and agrammatic speech, was impaired in making linguistic, but not musical, acceptability judgments. Similarly, she showed no sensitivity to linguistic structure, but normal sensitivity to musical structure, in implicit priming tasks. To our knowledge, this is the first non-anecdotal report of a patient with agrammatic aphasia demonstrating preserved harmonic processing abilities, supporting claims that aspects of musical and linguistic structure rely on distinct neural mechanisms.

Musical Experience Influences Statistical Learning of a Novel Language

PubMed Central

Shook, Anthony; Marian, Viorica; Bartolotti, James; Schroeder, Scott R.

2014-01-01

Musical experience may benefit learning a new language by enhancing the fidelity with which the auditory system encodes sound. In the current study, participants with varying degrees of musical experience were exposed to two statistically-defined languages consisting of auditory Morse-code sequences which varied in difficulty. We found an advantage for highly-skilled musicians, relative to less-skilled musicians, in learning novel Morse-code based words. Furthermore, in the more difficult learning condition, performance of lower-skilled musicians was mediated by their general cognitive abilities. We suggest that musical experience may lead to enhanced processing of statistical information and that musicians’ enhanced ability to learn statistical probabilities in a novel Morse-code language may extend to natural language learning. PMID:23505962

Perceptual Training of Second-Language Vowels: Does Musical Ability Play a Role?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ghaffarvand Mokari, Payam; Werner, Stefan

2018-01-01

The present study attempts to extend the research on the effects of phonetic training on the production and perception of second-language (L2) vowels. We also examined whether success in learning L2 vowels through high-variability intensive phonetic training is related to the learners' general musical abilities. Forty Azerbaijani learners of…

The Effect of Performing Ensemble Participation on the Ability to Perform and Perceive Expression in Music

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kinney, Daryl W.

2004-01-01

This study compared collegiate subjects who had participated in high school performing ensembles (participants) with subjects who had not (non-participants) on their ability to perform expressively and to perceive expression in music. In Phase I, subjects (N = 56) were asked to perform three song selections, expressively and unexpressively, using…

An Interactive Software Program to Develop Pianists' Sight-Reading Ability

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tsangari, Victoria

2010-01-01

Musical sight-reading, or sight-playing, is defined as "the ability to play music from a printed score or part for the first time without benefit of practice." While this is the most strict definition of the term, also known as "prima vista" (at first sight), some use the term "sight-reading" even if some rehearsal…

The Influence of Music on Facial Emotion Recognition in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder and Neurotypical Children.

PubMed

Brown, Laura S

2017-03-01

Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) often struggle with social skills, including the ability to perceive emotions based on facial expressions. Research evidence suggests that many individuals with ASD can perceive emotion in music. Examining whether music can be used to enhance recognition of facial emotion by children with ASD would inform development of music therapy interventions. The purpose of this study was to investigate the influence of music with a strong emotional valance (happy; sad) on children with ASD's ability to label emotions depicted in facial photographs, and their response time. Thirty neurotypical children and 20 children with high-functioning ASD rated expressions of happy, neutral, and sad in 30 photographs under two music listening conditions (sad music; happy music). During each music listening condition, participants rated the 30 images using a 7-point scale that ranged from very sad to very happy. Response time data were also collected across both conditions. A significant two-way interaction revealed that participants' ratings of happy and neutral faces were unaffected by music conditions, but sad faces were perceived to be sadder with sad music than with happy music. Across both conditions, neurotypical children rated the happy faces as happier and the sad faces as sadder than did participants with ASD. Response times of the neurotypical children were consistently shorter than response times of the children with ASD; both groups took longer to rate sad faces than happy faces. Response times of neurotypical children were generally unaffected by the valence of the music condition; however, children with ASD took longer to respond when listening to sad music. Music appears to affect perceptions of emotion in children with ASD, and perceptions of sad facial expressions seem to be more affected by emotionally congruent background music than are perceptions of happy or neutral faces. © the American Music Therapy Association 2016. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com

Neurologic music therapy in upper-limb rehabilitation in children with severe bilateral cerebral palsy: a randomized controlled trial.

PubMed

Marrades-Caballero, Eugenio; Santonja-Medina, Clara S; Sanz-Mengibar, Jose M; Santonja-Medina, Fernando

2018-02-26

After receiving neurologic music therapy, functional improvements in children with severe bilateral cerebral palsy have not been found in the literature. Musical training with instruments allows interrelationships between movement, emotions and cognition for task-based learning, in order to improve motor control. To understand whether neurologic music therapy has an impact on the functionality of children with severe cerebral palsy. A randomized controlled assessor-blind trial was carried out. Children were recruited and treated in their own community center. Eighteen children with severe bilateral cerebral palsy between 4 and 16 years old were studied. The intervention group (n=18) received music therapy for 16 weeks, in addition to its usual physiotherapy input. Two music therapists implemented a neurologic music therapy program of therapeutic instrumental music performance. The control group (n=9) received its usual therapeutic input, similar to the intervention group, but not neurologic music therapy. Overall and specific "Chailey levels of Ability" were quantified, as well as the Locomotor Stages. Significant improvements in the overall and specific "arm and hand position" as well as "activities" from the Chailey Levels of Ability and the Locomotor Stages were observed (p<.05) in the group which received the music therapy (corregir si se acepta en la editing proofs). All these improvements persisted after 4 months. The control group showed no improvements after a four-month follow-up. Optimized intervention of neurologic music therapy can improve the functionality of children with severe bilateral cerebral palsy. Music therapy is a useful tool in rehabilitation and its positive effects remain four months after completing the treatment.

The musical brain: brain waves reveal the neurophysiological basis of musicality in human subjects.

PubMed

Tervaniemi, M; Ilvonen, T; Karma, K; Alho, K; Näätänen, R

1997-04-18

To reveal neurophysiological prerequisites of musicality, auditory event-related potentials (ERPs) were recorded from musical and non-musical subjects, musicality being here defined as the ability to temporally structure auditory information. Instructed to read a book and to ignore sounds, subjects were presented with a repetitive sound pattern with occasional changes in its temporal structure. The mismatch negativity (MMN) component of ERPs, indexing the cortical preattentive detection of change in these stimulus patterns, was larger in amplitude in musical than non-musical subjects. This amplitude enhancement, indicating more accurate sensory memory function in musical subjects, suggests that even the cognitive component of musicality, traditionally regarded as depending on attention-related brain processes, in fact, is based on neural mechanisms present already at the preattentive level.

The do re mi's of everyday life: the structure and personality correlates of music preferences.

PubMed

Rentfrow, Peter J; Gosling, Samuel D

2003-06-01

The present research examined individual differences in music preferences. A series of 6 studies investigated lay beliefs about music, the structure underlying music preferences, and the links between music preferences and personality. The data indicated that people consider music an important aspect of their lives and listening to music an activity they engaged in frequently. Using multiple samples, methods, and geographic regions, analyses of the music preferences of over 3,500 individuals converged to reveal 4 music-preference dimensions: Reflective and Complex, Intense and Rebellious, Upbeat and Conventional, and Energetic and Rhythmic. Preferences for these music dimensions were related to a wide array of personality dimensions (e.g., Openness), self-views (e.g., political orientation), and cognitive abilities (e.g., verbal IQ).

Universal and culture-specific factors in the recognition and performance of musical affect expressions.

PubMed

Laukka, Petri; Eerola, Tuomas; Thingujam, Nutankumar S; Yamasaki, Teruo; Beller, Grégory

2013-06-01

We present a cross-cultural study on the performance and perception of affective expression in music. Professional bowed-string musicians from different musical traditions (Swedish folk music, Hindustani classical music, Japanese traditional music, and Western classical music) were instructed to perform short pieces of music to convey 11 emotions and related states to listeners. All musical stimuli were judged by Swedish, Indian, and Japanese participants in a balanced design, and a variety of acoustic and musical cues were extracted. Results first showed that the musicians' expressive intentions could be recognized with accuracy above chance both within and across musical cultures, but communication was, in general, more accurate for culturally familiar versus unfamiliar music, and for basic emotions versus nonbasic affective states. We further used a lens-model approach to describe the relations between the strategies that musicians use to convey various expressions and listeners' perceptions of the affective content of the music. Many acoustic and musical cues were similarly correlated with both the musicians' expressive intentions and the listeners' affective judgments across musical cultures, but the match between musicians' and listeners' uses of cues was better in within-cultural versus cross-cultural conditions. We conclude that affective expression in music may depend on a combination of universal and culture-specific factors.

[Music in the Out of Doors].

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Duggan, Edward; And Others

Designed for instruction of emotionally handicapped children and youth, these seven articles offer activities and concepts relative to music and outdoor education. The first article presents 12 specific objectives and 40 specific activities (e.g., action singing using motions to describe words). The second article presents three basic concepts…

The Harvard Beat Assessment Test (H-BAT): a battery for assessing beat perception and production and their dissociation.

PubMed

Fujii, Shinya; Schlaug, Gottfried

2013-01-01

Humans have the abilities to perceive, produce, and synchronize with a musical beat, yet there are widespread individual differences. To investigate these abilities and to determine if a dissociation between beat perception and production exists, we developed the Harvard Beat Assessment Test (H-BAT), a new battery that assesses beat perception and production abilities. H-BAT consists of four subtests: (1) music tapping test (MTT), (2) beat saliency test (BST), (3) beat interval test (BIT), and (4) beat finding and interval test (BFIT). MTT measures the degree of tapping synchronization with the beat of music, whereas BST, BIT, and BFIT measure perception and production thresholds via psychophysical adaptive stair-case methods. We administered the H-BAT on thirty individuals and investigated the performance distribution across these individuals in each subtest. There was a wide distribution in individual abilities to tap in synchrony with the beat of music during the MTT. The degree of synchronization consistency was negatively correlated with thresholds in the BST, BIT, and BFIT: a lower degree of synchronization was associated with higher perception and production thresholds. H-BAT can be a useful tool in determining an individual's ability to perceive and produce a beat within a single session.

The Harvard Beat Assessment Test (H-BAT): a battery for assessing beat perception and production and their dissociation

PubMed Central

Fujii, Shinya; Schlaug, Gottfried

2013-01-01

Humans have the abilities to perceive, produce, and synchronize with a musical beat, yet there are widespread individual differences. To investigate these abilities and to determine if a dissociation between beat perception and production exists, we developed the Harvard Beat Assessment Test (H-BAT), a new battery that assesses beat perception and production abilities. H-BAT consists of four subtests: (1) music tapping test (MTT), (2) beat saliency test (BST), (3) beat interval test (BIT), and (4) beat finding and interval test (BFIT). MTT measures the degree of tapping synchronization with the beat of music, whereas BST, BIT, and BFIT measure perception and production thresholds via psychophysical adaptive stair-case methods. We administered the H-BAT on thirty individuals and investigated the performance distribution across these individuals in each subtest. There was a wide distribution in individual abilities to tap in synchrony with the beat of music during the MTT. The degree of synchronization consistency was negatively correlated with thresholds in the BST, BIT, and BFIT: a lower degree of synchronization was associated with higher perception and production thresholds. H-BAT can be a useful tool in determining an individual's ability to perceive and produce a beat within a single session. PMID:24324421

Music experience influences laparoscopic skills performance.

PubMed

Boyd, Tanner; Jung, Inkyung; Van Sickle, Kent; Schwesinger, Wayne; Michalek, Joel; Bingener, Juliane

2008-01-01

Music education affects the mathematical and visuo-spatial skills of school-age children. Visuo-spatial abilities have a significant effect on laparoscopic suturing performance. We hypothesize that prior music experience influences the performance of laparoscopic suturing tasks. Thirty novices observed a laparoscopic suturing task video. Each performed 3 timed suturing task trials. Demographics were recorded. A repeated measures linear mixed model was used to examine the effects of prior music experience on suturing task time. Twelve women and 18 men completed the tasks. When adjusted for video game experience, participants who currently played an instrument performed significantly faster than those who did not (P<0.001). The model showed a significant sex by instrument interaction. Men who had never played an instrument or were currently playing an instrument performed better than women in the same group (P=0.002 and P<0.001). There was no sex difference in the performance of participants who had played an instrument in the past (P=0.29). This study attempted to investigate the effect of music experience on the laparoscopic suturing abilities of surgical novices. The visuo-spatial abilities used in laparoscopic suturing may be enhanced in those involved in playing an instrument.

Neural responses to sounds presented on and off the beat of ecologically valid music

PubMed Central

Tierney, Adam; Kraus, Nina

2013-01-01

The tracking of rhythmic structure is a vital component of speech and music perception. It is known that sequences of identical sounds can give rise to the percept of alternating strong and weak sounds, and that this percept is linked to enhanced cortical and oscillatory responses. The neural correlates of the perception of rhythm elicited by ecologically valid, complex stimuli, however, remain unexplored. Here we report the effects of a stimulus' alignment with the beat on the brain's processing of sound. Human subjects listened to short popular music pieces while simultaneously hearing a target sound. Cortical and brainstem electrophysiological onset responses to the sound were enhanced when it was presented on the beat of the music, as opposed to shifted away from it. Moreover, the size of the effect of alignment with the beat on the cortical response correlated strongly with the ability to tap to a beat, suggesting that the ability to synchronize to the beat of simple isochronous stimuli and the ability to track the beat of complex, ecologically valid stimuli may rely on overlapping neural resources. These results suggest that the perception of musical rhythm may have robust effects on processing throughout the auditory system. PMID:23717268

Music Memory Following Short-term Practice and Its Relationship with the Sight-reading Abilities of Professional Pianists.

PubMed

Aiba, Eriko; Matsui, Toshie

2016-01-01

This study investigated the relationship between the ability to sight-read and the ability to memorize a score using a behavioral experiment. By measuring the amount of memorization following short-term practice, we examined whether better sight-readers not only estimate forthcoming notes but also memorize musical structures and phrases with more practice. Eleven pianists performed the music first by sight-reading. After a 20-minute practice, the participants were asked to perform from memory without any advance notice. The number of mistakes was used as an index of performance. There were no correlations in the numbers of mistakes between sight-reading and memory trial performance. Some pianists memorized almost the entire score, while others hardly remembered it despite demonstrating almost completely accurate performance just before memory trial performance. However, judging from the participants' responses to a questionnaire regarding their practice strategies, we found auditory memory was helpful for memorizing music following short-term practice.

Music Memory Following Short-term Practice and Its Relationship with the Sight-reading Abilities of Professional Pianists

PubMed Central

Aiba, Eriko; Matsui, Toshie

2016-01-01

This study investigated the relationship between the ability to sight-read and the ability to memorize a score using a behavioral experiment. By measuring the amount of memorization following short-term practice, we examined whether better sight-readers not only estimate forthcoming notes but also memorize musical structures and phrases with more practice. Eleven pianists performed the music first by sight-reading. After a 20-minute practice, the participants were asked to perform from memory without any advance notice. The number of mistakes was used as an index of performance. There were no correlations in the numbers of mistakes between sight-reading and memory trial performance. Some pianists memorized almost the entire score, while others hardly remembered it despite demonstrating almost completely accurate performance just before memory trial performance. However, judging from the participants’ responses to a questionnaire regarding their practice strategies, we found auditory memory was helpful for memorizing music following short-term practice. PMID:27242576

Residual neural processing of musical sound features in adult cochlear implant users.

PubMed

Timm, Lydia; Vuust, Peter; Brattico, Elvira; Agrawal, Deepashri; Debener, Stefan; Büchner, Andreas; Dengler, Reinhard; Wittfoth, Matthias

2014-01-01

Auditory processing in general and music perception in particular are hampered in adult cochlear implant (CI) users. To examine the residual music perception skills and their underlying neural correlates in CI users implanted in adolescence or adulthood, we conducted an electrophysiological and behavioral study comparing adult CI users with normal-hearing age-matched controls (NH controls). We used a newly developed musical multi-feature paradigm, which makes it possible to test automatic auditory discrimination of six different types of sound feature changes inserted within a musical enriched setting lasting only 20 min. The presentation of stimuli did not require the participants' attention, allowing the study of the early automatic stage of feature processing in the auditory cortex. For the CI users, we obtained mismatch negativity (MMN) brain responses to five feature changes but not to changes of rhythm, whereas we obtained MMNs for all the feature changes in the NH controls. Furthermore, the MMNs to deviants of pitch of CI users were reduced in amplitude and later than those of NH controls for changes of pitch and guitar timber. No other group differences in MMN parameters were found to changes in intensity and saxophone timber. Furthermore, the MMNs in CI users reflected the behavioral scores from a respective discrimination task and were correlated with patients' age and speech intelligibility. Our results suggest that even though CI users are not performing at the same level as NH controls in neural discrimination of pitch-based features, they do possess potential neural abilities for music processing. However, CI users showed a disrupted ability to automatically discriminate rhythmic changes compared with controls. The current behavioral and MMN findings highlight the residual neural skills for music processing even in CI users who have been implanted in adolescence or adulthood. -Automatic brain responses to musical feature changes reflect the limitations of central auditory processing in adult Cochlear Implant users.-The brains of adult CI users automatically process sound features changes even when inserted in a musical context.-CI users show disrupted automatic discriminatory abilities for rhythm in the brain.-Our fast paradigm demonstrate residual musical abilities in the brains of adult CI users giving hope for their future rehabilitation.

Residual Neural Processing of Musical Sound Features in Adult Cochlear Implant Users

PubMed Central

Timm, Lydia; Vuust, Peter; Brattico, Elvira; Agrawal, Deepashri; Debener, Stefan; Büchner, Andreas; Dengler, Reinhard; Wittfoth, Matthias

2014-01-01

Auditory processing in general and music perception in particular are hampered in adult cochlear implant (CI) users. To examine the residual music perception skills and their underlying neural correlates in CI users implanted in adolescence or adulthood, we conducted an electrophysiological and behavioral study comparing adult CI users with normal-hearing age-matched controls (NH controls). We used a newly developed musical multi-feature paradigm, which makes it possible to test automatic auditory discrimination of six different types of sound feature changes inserted within a musical enriched setting lasting only 20 min. The presentation of stimuli did not require the participants’ attention, allowing the study of the early automatic stage of feature processing in the auditory cortex. For the CI users, we obtained mismatch negativity (MMN) brain responses to five feature changes but not to changes of rhythm, whereas we obtained MMNs for all the feature changes in the NH controls. Furthermore, the MMNs to deviants of pitch of CI users were reduced in amplitude and later than those of NH controls for changes of pitch and guitar timber. No other group differences in MMN parameters were found to changes in intensity and saxophone timber. Furthermore, the MMNs in CI users reflected the behavioral scores from a respective discrimination task and were correlated with patients’ age and speech intelligibility. Our results suggest that even though CI users are not performing at the same level as NH controls in neural discrimination of pitch-based features, they do possess potential neural abilities for music processing. However, CI users showed a disrupted ability to automatically discriminate rhythmic changes compared with controls. The current behavioral and MMN findings highlight the residual neural skills for music processing even in CI users who have been implanted in adolescence or adulthood. Highlights: -Automatic brain responses to musical feature changes reflect the limitations of central auditory processing in adult Cochlear Implant users.-The brains of adult CI users automatically process sound features changes even when inserted in a musical context.-CI users show disrupted automatic discriminatory abilities for rhythm in the brain.-Our fast paradigm demonstrate residual musical abilities in the brains of adult CI users giving hope for their future rehabilitation. PMID:24772074

Defining the biological bases of individual differences in musicality

PubMed Central

Gingras, Bruno; Honing, Henkjan; Peretz, Isabelle; Trainor, Laurel J.; Fisher, Simon E.

2015-01-01

Advances in molecular technologies make it possible to pinpoint genomic factors associated with complex human traits. For cognition and behaviour, identification of underlying genes provides new entry points for deciphering the key neurobiological pathways. In the past decade, the search for genetic correlates of musicality has gained traction. Reports have documented familial clustering for different extremes of ability, including amusia and absolute pitch (AP), with twin studies demonstrating high heritability for some music-related skills, such as pitch perception. Certain chromosomal regions have been linked to AP and musical aptitude, while individual candidate genes have been investigated in relation to aptitude and creativity. Most recently, researchers in this field started performing genome-wide association scans. Thus far, studies have been hampered by relatively small sample sizes and limitations in defining components of musicality, including an emphasis on skills that can only be assessed in trained musicians. With opportunities to administer standardized aptitude tests online, systematic large-scale assessment of musical abilities is now feasible, an important step towards high-powered genome-wide screens. Here, we offer a synthesis of existing literatures and outline concrete suggestions for the development of comprehensive operational tools for the analysis of musical phenotypes. PMID:25646515

Increased engagement of the cognitive control network associated with music training in children during an fMRI Stroop task

PubMed Central

2017-01-01

Playing a musical instrument engages various sensorimotor processes and draws on cognitive capacities collectively termed executive functions. However, while music training is believed to associated with enhancements in certain cognitive and language abilities, studies that have explored the specific relationship between music and executive function have yielded conflicting results. As part of an ongoing longitudinal study, we investigated the effects of music training on executive function using fMRI and several behavioral tasks, including the Color-Word Stroop task. Children involved in ongoing music training (N = 14, mean age = 8.67) were compared with two groups of comparable general cognitive abilities and socioeconomic status, one involved in sports (“sports” group, N = 13, mean age = 8.85) and another not involved in music or sports (“control” group, N = 17, mean age = 9.05). During the Color-Word Stroop task, children with music training showed significantly greater bilateral activation in the pre-SMA/SMA, ACC, IFG, and insula in trials that required cognitive control compared to the control group, despite no differences in performance on behavioral measures of executive function. No significant differences in brain activation or in task performance were found between the music and sports groups. The results suggest that systematic extracurricular training, particularly music-based training, is associated with changes in the cognitive control network in the brain even in the absence of changes in behavioral performance. PMID:29084283

Music Training and Mathematics Achievement.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cheek, Joyce M.; Smith, Lyle R.

1999-01-01

Iowa Tests of Basic Skills (ITBS) mathematics scores of eighth graders who had received music instruction were compared according to whether the students were given private lessons. Analyses indicate that students who had private lessons for two or more years performed significantly better on the composite mathematics portion of the ITBS than did…

Funding and Philosophy: A Conversation About Band Trips and Fund Raising.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hoffer, Charles R.

1992-01-01

A hypothetical conversation between Thoughtful Principal and Music Teacher raises some basic issues about fund raising, booster activities, and band trips. Considerations about contest criteria, door-to-door selling, student costs, support for nonband musical programs, and the educational and motivational value of band trips are discussed. (MLH)

Impacts of Music on Sectional View Drawing Ability for Engineering Technology Students as Measured through Technical Drawings

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Katsioloudis, Petros; Jones, Mildred; Jovanovic, Vukica

2016-01-01

Results from a number of studies indicate that the use of different types of music can influence cognition and behavior; however, research provides inconsistent results. Considering this, a quasi-experimental study was conducted to identify the existence of statistically significant effects on sectional view drawing ability due to the impacts of…

Background Music in the Dissection Laboratory: Impact on Stress Associated with the Dissection Experience

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Anyanwu, Emeka G.

2015-01-01

Notable challenges, such as mental distress, boredom, negative moods, and attitudes, have been associated with learning in the cadaver dissection laboratory (CDL). The ability of background music (BM) to enhance the cognitive abilities of students is well documented. The present study was designed to investigate the impact of BM in the CDL and on…

Using Generalizability Theory to Assess the Score Reliability of the Special Ability Selection Examinations for Music Education Programmes in Higher Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Atilgan, Hakan

2008-01-01

The "Special Ability Selection Examination" (SASE), which is used to select appropriate students for the music education departments of educational faculties in Turkey, has many subsections and must evaluate highly competitive cohorts of students according to a broad range of criteria. The test consists of three subsections, with a large…

Neural mechanisms of rhythm perception: current findings and future perspectives.

PubMed

Grahn, Jessica A

2012-10-01

Perception of temporal patterns is fundamental to normal hearing, speech, motor control, and music. Certain types of pattern understanding are unique to humans, such as musical rhythm. Although human responses to musical rhythm are universal, there is much we do not understand about how rhythm is processed in the brain. Here, I consider findings from research into basic timing mechanisms and models through to the neuroscience of rhythm and meter. A network of neural areas, including motor regions, is regularly implicated in basic timing as well as processing of musical rhythm. However, fractionating the specific roles of individual areas in this network has remained a challenge. Distinctions in activity patterns appear between "automatic" and "cognitively controlled" timing processes, but the perception of musical rhythm requires features of both automatic and controlled processes. In addition, many experimental manipulations rely on participants directing their attention toward or away from certain stimulus features, and measuring corresponding differences in neural activity. Many temporal features, however, are implicitly processed whether attended to or not, making it difficult to create controlled baseline conditions for experimental comparisons. The variety of stimuli, paradigms, and definitions can further complicate comparisons across domains or methodologies. Despite these challenges, the high level of interest and multitude of methodological approaches from different cognitive domains (including music, language, and motor learning) have yielded new insights and hold promise for future progress. Copyright © 2012 Cognitive Science Society, Inc.

The role of musical aptitude and language skills in preattentive duration processing in school-aged children.

PubMed

Milovanov, Riia; Huotilainen, Minna; Esquef, Paulo A A; Alku, Paavo; Välimäki, Vesa; Tervaniemi, Mari

2009-08-28

We examined 10-12-year old elementary school children's ability to preattentively process sound durations in music and speech stimuli. In total, 40 children had either advanced foreign language production skills and higher musical aptitude or less advanced results in both musicality and linguistic tests. Event-related potential (ERP) recordings of the mismatch negativity (MMN) show that the duration changes in musical sounds are more prominently and accurately processed than changes in speech sounds. Moreover, children with advanced pronunciation and musicality skills displayed enhanced MMNs to duration changes in both speech and musical sounds. Thus, our study provides further evidence for the claim that musical aptitude and linguistic skills are interconnected and the musical features of the stimuli could have a preponderant role in preattentive duration processing.

The effects of emotion on memory for music and vocalisations.

PubMed

Aubé, William; Peretz, Isabelle; Armony, Jorge L

2013-01-01

Music is a powerful tool for communicating emotions which can elicit memories through associative mechanisms. However, it is currently unknown whether emotion can modulate memory for music without reference to a context or personal event. We conducted three experiments to investigate the effect of basic emotions (fear, happiness, and sadness) on recognition memory for music, using short, novel stimuli explicitly created for research purposes, and compared them with nonlinguistic vocalisations. Results showed better memory accuracy for musical clips expressing fear and, to some extent, happiness. In the case of nonlinguistic vocalisations we confirmed a memory advantage for all emotions tested. A correlation between memory accuracy for music and vocalisations was also found, particularly in the case of fearful expressions. These results confirm that emotional expressions, particularly fearful ones, conveyed by music can influence memory as has been previously shown for other forms of expressions, such as faces and vocalisations.

High School Students' Perceptions of the Relationship between Music and Math

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cranmore, Jeff; Tunks, Jeanne

2015-01-01

While there is little doubt that engaging in musical or mathematical activities stimulates brain activity at high levels and that increased student involvement fosters a greater learning environment, questions remain about whether musical ability and mathematics performance are related. This study took a qualitative approach that allowed 24 high…

Cultural Diversity: Resources for Music Educators in Selected Works of Three Contemporary African-American Classical Composers

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Choi, Eunjung; Keith, Laura J.

2016-01-01

Contemporary African-American classical composers Cedric Adderley, John Lane, and Trevor Weston intertwine strands of culture and individual experience to produce musical works whose distinct designs offer cultural resources that music educators can use to integrate diversity into instructional settings. Of special interest is their ability to…

Exploring the Research Mindset and Information-Seeking Behaviors of Undergraduate Music Students

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Clark, Joe C.; Johnstone, Jennifer

2018-01-01

This article examines the mindset and process of undergraduate music majors conducting research in their discipline. While working with students in a writing-intensive music history class, the authors conducted several surveys, focus groups, and task-based assessments. Results indicated that most were overconfident in their research abilities,…

Musicality Correlates with Sociability and Emotionality in Williams Syndrome

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ng, Rowena; Lai, Philip; Levitin, Daniel J.; Bellugi, Ursula

2013-01-01

Williams syndrome (WS) is a neurogenetic developmental disorder characterized by peaks and valleys of cognitive abilities. One peak that has been understudied is the affinity that many individuals with WS have with music. It remains unknown whether their high levels of musical interest, skill, and expressivity are related to their sociable…

Professional Notes: Reaching All Students via Technology

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Nelson, Deborah

2013-01-01

Music teachers are often the Pied Pipers of their schools, attracting the interest of students by the nature of the subject they teach. Their students who excel are often the best and brightest, since music reading and music production demand higher-level thinking skills, motor ability, and in the case of ensemble performance, social skills. As…

Music for All

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

DeHoff, Beth

2010-01-01

In this article, two marching band students from 2009 Bands of America Grand National Championship finalist bands show how students of all abilities benefit from involvement in band and music. (Bands of America is a program of Music for All.) Emily Ingram of James Bowie High School, Texas, and Cameron McCanless of Avon High School, Indiana, have…

Sing a Song Please: Musical Contexts and Language Learning.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Howarth, Lisa M.; Conti-Ramsden, Gina

1987-01-01

Six language-impaired children, aged 4-7, were studied in two routinized contexts (a lesson without music and a singing session) and child-teacher talk was analyzed. Results showed that the addition of music to a routinized context has the potential to increase the language-impaired child's ability to interact non-verbally. (Author/JDD)

"Pedagogical Creativity" as a Framework for Music Teacher Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Abramo, Joseph Michael; Reynolds, Amy

2015-01-01

Creativity research has a long history in music education, including the development of theories and strategies to foster the music creativity of students of all ages and levels. Underexplored is how teacher education programs can cultivate pre- and in-service teachers' abilities to develop their educational creativity when designing curricula and…

A Multimodal Neural Network Recruited by Expertise with Musical Notation

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wong, Yetta Kwailing; Gauthier, Isabel

2010-01-01

Prior neuroimaging work on visual perceptual expertise has focused on changes in the visual system, ignoring possible effects of acquiring expert visual skills in nonvisual areas. We investigated expertise for reading musical notation, a skill likely to be associated with multimodal abilities. We compared brain activity in music-reading experts…

Perception of pitch height in lexical and musical tones by English-speaking musicians and nonmusicians.

PubMed

Lee, Chao-Yang; Lekich, Allison; Zhang, Yu

2014-03-01

The purpose of this study was to explore the music-speech relationship by examining pitch height perception in lexical and musical tones. English-speaking musicians and nonmusicians identified multispeaker Taiwanese level tones without typical cues for speaker normalization. The musicians also identified note names of piano, viola, and pure tones without a reference pitch. In the Taiwanese task, both the musicians and nonmusicians were able to identify tone height above chance, but only for tones at the extremes of the speakers' overall vocal range. The musicians only had a slight advantage over the nonmusicians. In the music task, none of the musicians met the criterion for absolute pitch. Timbre did not affect how accurately the musical tones were identified. No correlations were found between performance in the Taiwanese task and that in the music task. It was concluded that musicians' advantage in lexical tone perception arose from the ability to track F0 contours. The ability to identify pitch height in lexical tones appears to involve calibrating acoustic input according to gender-specific, internally stored pitch templates.

Unraveling the mystery of music: music as an evolved group process.

PubMed

Loersch, Chris; Arbuckle, Nathan L

2013-11-01

As prominently highlighted by Charles Darwin, music is one of the most mysterious aspects of human nature. Despite its ubiquitous presence across cultures and throughout recorded history, the reason humans respond emotionally to music remains unknown. Although many scientists and philosophers have offered hypotheses, there is little direct empirical evidence for any perspective. Here we address this issue, providing data which support the idea that music evolved in service of group living. Using 7 studies, we demonstrate that people's emotional responses to music are intricately tied to the other core social phenomena that bind us together into groups. In sum, this work establishes human musicality as a special form of social cognition and provides the first direct support for the hypothesis that music evolved as a tool of social living. In addition, the findings provide a reason for the intense psychological pull of music in modern life, suggesting that the pleasure we derive from listening to music results from its innate connection to the basic social drives that create our interconnected world. PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2013 APA, all rights reserved.

Two randomized trials provide no consistent evidence for nonmusical cognitive benefits of brief preschool music enrichment.

PubMed

Mehr, Samuel A; Schachner, Adena; Katz, Rachel C; Spelke, Elizabeth S

2013-01-01

Young children regularly engage in musical activities, but the effects of early music education on children's cognitive development are unknown. While some studies have found associations between musical training in childhood and later nonmusical cognitive outcomes, few randomized controlled trials (RCTs) have been employed to assess causal effects of music lessons on child cognition and no clear pattern of results has emerged. We conducted two RCTs with preschool children investigating the cognitive effects of a brief series of music classes, as compared to a similar but non-musical form of arts instruction (visual arts classes, Experiment 1) or to a no-treatment control (Experiment 2). Consistent with typical preschool arts enrichment programs, parents attended classes with their children, participating in a variety of developmentally appropriate arts activities. After six weeks of class, we assessed children's skills in four distinct cognitive areas in which older arts-trained students have been reported to excel: spatial-navigational reasoning, visual form analysis, numerical discrimination, and receptive vocabulary. We initially found that children from the music class showed greater spatial-navigational ability than did children from the visual arts class, while children from the visual arts class showed greater visual form analysis ability than children from the music class (Experiment 1). However, a partial replication attempt comparing music training to a no-treatment control failed to confirm these findings (Experiment 2), and the combined results of the two experiments were negative: overall, children provided with music classes performed no better than those with visual arts or no classes on any assessment. Our findings underscore the need for replication in RCTs, and suggest caution in interpreting the positive findings from past studies of cognitive effects of music instruction.

Two Randomized Trials Provide No Consistent Evidence for Nonmusical Cognitive Benefits of Brief Preschool Music Enrichment

PubMed Central

Mehr, Samuel A.; Schachner, Adena; Katz, Rachel C.; Spelke, Elizabeth S.

2013-01-01

Young children regularly engage in musical activities, but the effects of early music education on children's cognitive development are unknown. While some studies have found associations between musical training in childhood and later nonmusical cognitive outcomes, few randomized controlled trials (RCTs) have been employed to assess causal effects of music lessons on child cognition and no clear pattern of results has emerged. We conducted two RCTs with preschool children investigating the cognitive effects of a brief series of music classes, as compared to a similar but non-musical form of arts instruction (visual arts classes, Experiment 1) or to a no-treatment control (Experiment 2). Consistent with typical preschool arts enrichment programs, parents attended classes with their children, participating in a variety of developmentally appropriate arts activities. After six weeks of class, we assessed children's skills in four distinct cognitive areas in which older arts-trained students have been reported to excel: spatial-navigational reasoning, visual form analysis, numerical discrimination, and receptive vocabulary. We initially found that children from the music class showed greater spatial-navigational ability than did children from the visual arts class, while children from the visual arts class showed greater visual form analysis ability than children from the music class (Experiment 1). However, a partial replication attempt comparing music training to a no-treatment control failed to confirm these findings (Experiment 2), and the combined results of the two experiments were negative: overall, children provided with music classes performed no better than those with visual arts or no classes on any assessment. Our findings underscore the need for replication in RCTs, and suggest caution in interpreting the positive findings from past studies of cognitive effects of music instruction. PMID:24349171

Music Perception of Cochlear Implant Recipients with Implications for Music Instruction: A Review of Literature

PubMed Central

Hsiao, Feilin; Gfeller, Kate

2013-01-01

This review of literature presents a systematic analysis of the capabilities and limitations of cochlear implant recipients regarding music perception. Specifically, it a) analyzes individual components of music (e.g., rhythm, timbre, and pitch) as they interface with the technical characteristics of cochlear implants and the perceptual abilities of cochlear implant recipients; and b) describes accommodations for music instruction that support successful participation of children with cochlear implants. This article consolidates research studies from various disciplines (audiology, hearing science, speech-language pathology, cochlear implants, and music therapy) to provide practical recommendations for educators in fostering the musical growth of children with cochlear implants. PMID:23469365

Musical training, neuroplasticity and cognition.

PubMed

Rodrigues, Ana Carolina; Loureiro, Maurício Alves; Caramelli, Paulo

2010-01-01

The influence of music on the human brain has been recently investigated in numerous studies. Several investigations have shown that structural and functional cerebral neuroplastic processes emerge as a result of long-term musical training, which in turn may produce cognitive differences between musicians and non-musicians. Musicians can be considered ideal cases for studies on brain adaptation, due to their unique and intensive training experiences. This article presents a review of recent findings showing positive effects of musical training on non-musical cognitive abilities, which probably reflect plastic changes in brains of musicians.

The use of music in group educational activities in Family Health.

PubMed

Silva, Líliam Barbosa; Soares, Sônia Maria; da Silva, Maria Júlia Paes; Santos, Graziela da Costa; Fernandes, Maria Teresinha de Oliveira

2013-01-01

describe how music is used in the development of group educational activity in Family Health. a qualitative, descriptive and exploratory study, developed with 10 group coordinators, distributed in five basic care units in Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brazil. Data were collected from March to July, 2009, with non participant observation in the group itself, and semi-structured interviews with the coordinators. Information was organized and categorized according to thematic analysis. To interpret the data, the Snyderian concepts in addition to theoretical references about music, communication and health education were used. three thematic nuclei were found: the affective dimension of music; recreative dimension of music and the reflexive dimension of music. an attempt by the coordinators was observed, to overcome the pathological barriers with the use of music, considering the group as a whole. As advancement for the production of knowledge, this study shows the need for qualification of these coordinators, by means of workshops and constant follow-up of their musical practices.

An evaluation of musician earplugs with college music students.

PubMed

Chesky, Kris; Pair, Marla; Yoshimura, Eri; Landford, Scott

2009-01-01

Musician earplugs are marketed and recommended for use in music settings but no studies have evaluated these products with musicians. This study evaluated the influences of earplugs on college students' perception and abilities to communicate in a musical environment, attitudes of earplugs, comfort over time, and the influence of earplugs on ability to play music. College students (N = 323) were provided with earplugs for use during and following an experimental condition designed to mimic a night club. Results underline the challenges of earplugs in environments that are both loud and require verbal interaction. Responses to comfort questions were variable and suggest a multi-factorial set of influences that may include intrinsic variables. Despite these limitations, subjects in this study generally liked the earplugs and believed that they are valuable. However, the earplugs were not viewed favorably by musicians willing to use the earplugs while playing music. This study supports the view that earplugs are subject to many problems and should be considered as a last resort.

Software-Based Scoring and Sound Design: An Introductory Guide for Music Technology Instruction

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Walzer, Daniel A.

2016-01-01

This article explores the creative function of virtual instruments, sequencers, loops, and software-based synthesizers to introduce basic scoring and sound design concepts for visual media in an introductory music technology course. Using digital audio workstations with user-focused and configurable options, novice composers can hone a broad range…

The Value of Collaborative Research before Independent Research in Undergraduate Music Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Harney, Kristin

2017-01-01

Increasing evidence points to the importance of undergraduate research in teacher education programs. Before undertaking independent research, it is essential that music education students gain exposure to a range of research skills and develop basic research competencies. In this study, I explored the influence of a semester-long collaborative…

Playing with Plug-ins

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Thompson, Douglas E.

2013-01-01

In today's complex music software packages, many features can remain unexplored and unused. Software plug-ins--available in most every music software package, yet easily overlooked in the software's basic operations--are one such feature. In this article, I introduce readers to plug-ins and offer tips for purchasing plug-ins I have…

Entrepreneurial Learning Environments: Supporting or Hindering Diverse Learners?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hietanen, Lenita

2015-01-01

Purpose: This study focuses on the implementation of entrepreneurship education in non-business education at the basic education level and in class-teacher education in Finland. The subject to learn was music, which did not include any entrepreneurial content. Accordingly, this study looks closely at the way learners behave when studying music.…

Electronically Recorded Music as a Communication Medium: A Structural Analysis with Selected Bibliography.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jorgensen, Earl; Mabry, Edward A.

During the past decade, the influence of electronically recorded music and the message it transmits have caused media scholars to reexamine and modify the theories upon which the basic process of communication is dependent. While the five primary functions (source, transmitter, channel, receiver, and destination) remain unchanged, an additional…

Integrating Reading, Writing, and Thinking Skills into the Music Class.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Duke, Charles R.

Music education is uniquely suited to reinforce several basic skills that are part of the overall reading and writing processes of students. These skills include freedom of expression and the fluency of ideas, identifying a composer's purpose and message, and reasoning and comprehension. Musicians should develop the habit of using journals for…

Student Musicians' Self- and Task-Theories of Musical Performance: The Influence of Primary Genre Affiliation

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hewitt, Allan

2009-01-01

One hundred and sixty-five undergraduate music students studying in Scotland completed a 30-statement Q-sort to describe their self- and task-theories of musical performance. Statements reflected the importance of effort, confidence, technical ability, significant others and luck/chance in determining a successful performance. The Q-sorts were…

Emotion Perception in Music in High-Functioning Adolescents with Autism Spectrum Disorders

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Quintin, Eve-Marie; Bhatara, Anjali; Poissant, Helene; Fombonne, Eric; Levitin, Daniel J.

2011-01-01

Individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) succeed at a range of musical tasks. The ability to recognize musical emotion as belonging to one of four categories (happy, sad, scared or peaceful) was assessed in high-functioning adolescents with ASD (N = 26) and adolescents with typical development (TD, N = 26) with comparable performance IQ,…

Soaking in the Music

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lenhoff, Howard M.

2009-01-01

Scientists admit that they do not understand yet how infants acquire their abilities and love of music. What they do know, however, is that much of the brain development in the first six years of a child's life is devoted to the learning and retaining of music and language. It appears that children have an open window, which allows them to…

Getting "Capital" in the Music World: Musicians' Learning Experiences and Working Lives

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Coulson, Susan

2010-01-01

This paper discusses an exploration of the working lives of musicians working in a range of musical genres in the North East of England, revealing the factors that contribute to their ability to obtain a musical livelihood. These factors can be understood in terms of various forms of social, cultural and symbolic "capital" (Bourdieu,…

Investigating Cognitive Transfer within the Framework of Music Practice: Genetic Pleiotropy Rather than Causality

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mosing, Miriam A.; Madison, Guy; Pedersen, Nancy L.; Ullén, Fredrik

2016-01-01

The idea of far transfer effects in the cognitive sciences has received much attention in recent years. One domain where far transfer effects have frequently been reported is music education, with the prevailing idea that music practice entails an increase in cognitive ability (IQ). While cross-sectional studies consistently find significant…

Jean-Martin Charcot's Role in the 19th Century Study of Music Aphasia

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Johnson, Julene K.; Lorch, Marjorie; Nicolas, Serge; Graziano, Amy

2013-01-01

Jean-Martin Charcot (1825-93) was a well-known French neurologist. Although he is widely recognized for his discovery of several neurological disorders and his research into aphasia, Charcot's ideas about how the brain processes music are less well known. Charcot discussed the music abilities of several patients in the context of his "Friday…

Relationships among Music Sight-Reading and Technical Proficiency, Spatial Visualization, and Aural Discrimination

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hayward, Carol M.; Gromko, Joyce Eastlund

2009-01-01

The purpose of this study was to examine predictors of music sight-reading ability. The authors hypothesized that speed and accuracy of music sight-reading would be predicted by a combination of aural pattern discrimination, spatial-temporal reasoning, and technical proficiency. Participants (N = 70) were wind players in concert bands at a…

Motivational Constructs Influencing Undergraduate Students' Choices to become Classroom Music Teachers or Music Performers

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Parkes, Kelly A.; Jones, Brett D.

2012-01-01

The primary purpose of this study was to examine whether any of the six motivational constructs in the expectancy-value model of motivation (i.e., expectancy, ability perceptions, intrinsic interest value, attainment value, social utility value, and cost) would predict whether students intended to have a career teaching classroom music or…

The Effects of Musical Training on the Decoding Skills of German-Speaking Primary School Children

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rautenberg, Iris

2015-01-01

This paper outlines the results of a long-term study of 159 German-speaking primary school children. The correlations between musical skills (perception and differentiation of rhythmical and tonal/melodic patterns) and decoding skills, and the effects of musical training on word-level reading abilities were investigated. Cognitive skills and…

The Relationship of Listening to Classical Music on First Graders' Ability To Retain Information.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lewis, Erin

In traditional reading and CARE lessons (a curriculum used to help students learn to read and identify sounds), music is not played to enhance the learning environment. However, some studies have shown that when music is played during learning experiences there is more retention of the material. This research project compared the traditional…

Musical Expertise Increases Top–Down Modulation Over Hippocampal Activation during Familiarity Decisions

PubMed Central

Gagnepain, Pierre; Fauvel, Baptiste; Desgranges, Béatrice; Gaubert, Malo; Viader, Fausto; Eustache, Francis; Groussard, Mathilde; Platel, Hervé

2017-01-01

The hippocampus has classically been associated with episodic memory, but is sometimes also recruited during semantic memory tasks, especially for the skilled exploration of familiar information. Cognitive control mechanisms guiding semantic memory search may benefit from the set of cognitive processes at stake during musical training. Here, we examined using functional magnetic resonance imaging, whether musical expertise would promote the top–down control of the left inferior frontal gyrus (LIFG) over the generation of hippocampally based goal-directed thoughts mediating the familiarity judgment of proverbs and musical items. Analyses of behavioral data confirmed that musical experts more efficiently access familiar melodies than non-musicians although such increased ability did not transfer to verbal semantic memory. At the brain level, musical expertise specifically enhanced the recruitment of the hippocampus during semantic access to melodies, but not proverbs. Additionally, hippocampal activation contributed to speed of access to familiar melodies, but only in musicians. Critically, causal modeling of neural dynamics between LIFG and the hippocampus further showed that top–down excitatory regulation over the hippocampus during familiarity decision specifically increases with musical expertise – an effect that generalized across melodies and proverbs. At the local level, our data show that musical expertise modulates the online recruitment of hippocampal response to serve semantic memory retrieval of familiar melodies. The reconfiguration of memory network dynamics following musical training could constitute a promising framework to understand its ability to preserve brain functions. PMID:29033805

Song and speech: examining the link between singing talent and speech imitation ability

PubMed Central

Christiner, Markus; Reiterer, Susanne M.

2013-01-01

In previous research on speech imitation, musicality, and an ability to sing were isolated as the strongest indicators of good pronunciation skills in foreign languages. We, therefore, wanted to take a closer look at the nature of the ability to sing, which shares a common ground with the ability to imitate speech. This study focuses on whether good singing performance predicts good speech imitation. Forty-one singers of different levels of proficiency were selected for the study and their ability to sing, to imitate speech, their musical talent and working memory were tested. Results indicated that singing performance is a better indicator of the ability to imitate speech than the playing of a musical instrument. A multiple regression revealed that 64% of the speech imitation score variance could be explained by working memory together with educational background and singing performance. A second multiple regression showed that 66% of the speech imitation variance of completely unintelligible and unfamiliar language stimuli (Hindi) could be explained by working memory together with a singer's sense of rhythm and quality of voice. This supports the idea that both vocal behaviors have a common grounding in terms of vocal and motor flexibility, ontogenetic and phylogenetic development, neural orchestration and auditory memory with singing fitting better into the category of “speech” on the productive level and “music” on the acoustic level. As a result, good singers benefit from vocal and motor flexibility, productively and cognitively, in three ways. (1) Motor flexibility and the ability to sing improve language and musical function. (2) Good singers retain a certain plasticity and are open to new and unusual sound combinations during adulthood both perceptually and productively. (3) The ability to sing improves the memory span of the auditory working memory. PMID:24319438

Expert music performance: cognitive, neural, and developmental bases.

PubMed

Brown, Rachel M; Zatorre, Robert J; Penhune, Virginia B

2015-01-01

In this chapter, we explore what happens in the brain of an expert musician during performance. Understanding expert music performance is interesting to cognitive neuroscientists not only because it tests the limits of human memory and movement, but also because studying expert musicianship can help us understand skilled human behavior in general. In this chapter, we outline important facets of our current understanding of the cognitive and neural basis for music performance, and developmental factors that may underlie musical ability. We address three main questions. (1) What is expert performance? (2) How do musicians achieve expert-level performance? (3) How does expert performance come about? We address the first question by describing musicians' ability to remember, plan, execute, and monitor their performances in order to perform music accurately and expressively. We address the second question by reviewing evidence for possible cognitive and neural mechanisms that may underlie or contribute to expert music performance, including the integration of sound and movement, feedforward and feedback motor control processes, expectancy, and imagery. We further discuss how neural circuits in auditory, motor, parietal, subcortical, and frontal cortex all contribute to different facets of musical expertise. Finally, we address the third question by reviewing evidence for the heritability of musical expertise and for how expertise develops through training and practice. We end by discussing outlooks for future work. © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

The developmental origins of musicality.

PubMed

Trehub, Sandra E

2003-07-01

The study of musical abilities and activities in infancy has the potential to shed light on musical biases or dispositions that are rooted in nature rather than nurture. The available evidence indicates that infants are sensitive to a number of sound features that are fundamental to music across cultures. Their discrimination of pitch and timing differences and their perception of equivalence classes are similar, in many respects, to those of listeners who have had many years of exposure to music. Whether these perceptual skills are unique to human listeners is not known. What is unique is the intense human interest in music, which is evident from the early days of life. Also unique is the importance of music in social contexts. Current ideas about musical timing and interpersonal synchrony are considered here, along with proposals for future research.

Contributions to singing ability by the posterior portion of the superior temporal gyrus of the non-language-dominant hemisphere: First evidence from subdural cortical stimulation, Wada testing, and fMRI

PubMed Central

Suarez, Ralph O.; Golby, Alexandra; Whalen, Stephen; Sato, Susumu; Theodore, William H.; Kufta, Conrad V.; Devinsky, Orrin; Balish, Marshall; Bromfield, Edward B.

2009-01-01

INTRODUCTION Although the substrates that mediate singing abilities in the human brain are not well understood, invasive brain mapping techniques used for clinical decision making such as intracranial electrocortical testing and Wada testing offer a rare opportunity to examine music-related function in a select group of subjects, affording exceptional spatial and temporal specificity. METHODS We studied eight patients with medically refractory epilepsy undergoing indwelling subdural electrode seizure focus localization. All patients underwent Wada testing for language lateralization. Functional assessment of language and music tasks was done by electrode grid cortical stimulation. One patient was also tested non-invasively with functional MRI. Functional organization of singing ability compared to language ability was determined based on four regions-ofinterest: left and right inferior frontal gyrus (IFG), and left and right posterior superior temporal gyrus (pSTG). RESULTS In some subjects, electrical stimulation of dominant pSTG can interfere with speech and not singing, whereas stimulation of non-dominant pSTG area can interfere with singing and not speech. Stimulation of the dominant IFG tends to interfere with both musical and language expression, while non-dominant IFG stimulation was often observed to cause no interference with either task; and finally, that stimulation of areas adjacent to but not within non-dominant pSTG typically does not affect either ability. FMRI mappings of one subject revealed similar music/language dissociation with respect to activation asymmetry within the regions-of-interest. CONCLUSION Despite inherent limitations with respect to strictly research objectives, invasive clinical techniques offer a rare opportunity to probe musical and language cognitive processes of the brain in a select group of patients. PMID:19570530

Are there pre-existing neural, cognitive, or motoric markers for musical ability?

PubMed

Norton, Andrea; Winner, Ellen; Cronin, Karl; Overy, Katie; Lee, Dennis J; Schlaug, Gottfried

2005-11-01

Adult musician's brains show structural enlargements, but it is not known whether these are inborn or a consequence of long-term training. In addition, music training in childhood has been shown to have positive effects on visual-spatial and verbal outcomes. However, it is not known whether pre-existing advantages in these skills are found in children who choose to study a musical instrument nor is it known whether there are pre-existing associations between music and any of these outcome measures that could help explain the training effects. To answer these questions, we compared 5- to 7-year-olds beginning piano or string lessons (n=39) with 5- to 7-year-olds not beginning instrumental training (n=31). All children received a series of tests (visual-spatial, non-verbal reasoning, verbal, motor, and musical) and underwent magnetic resonance imaging. We found no pre-existing neural, cognitive, motor, or musical differences between groups and no correlations (after correction for multiple analyses) between music perceptual skills and any brain or visual-spatial measures. However, correlations were found between music perceptual skills and both non-verbal reasoning and phonemic awareness. Such pre-existing correlations suggest similarities in auditory and visual pattern recognition as well a sharing of the neural substrates for language and music processing, most likely due to innate abilities or implicit learning during early development. This baseline study lays the groundwork for an ongoing longitudinal study addressing the effects of intensive musical training on brain and cognitive development, and making it possible to look retroactively at the brain and cognitive development of those children who emerge showing exceptional musical talent.

Music-evoked emotions in schizophrenia.

PubMed

Abe, Daijyu; Arai, Makoto; Itokawa, Masanari

2017-07-01

Previous studies have reported that people with schizophrenia have impaired musical abilities. Here we developed a simple music-based assay to assess patient's ability to associate a minor chord with sadness. We further characterize correlations between impaired musical responses and psychiatric symptoms. We exposed participants sequentially to two sets of sound stimuli, first a C-major progression and chord, and second a C-minor progression and chord. Participants were asked which stimulus they associated with sadness, the first set, the second set, or neither. The severity of psychiatric symptoms was assessed using the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS). Study participants were 29 patients diagnosed with schizophrenia and 29 healthy volunteers matched in age, gender and musical background. 37.9% (95% confidence interval [CI]:19.1-56.7) of patients with schizophrenia associated the minor chord set as sad, compared with 97.9% (95%CI: 89.5-103.6) of controls. Four patients were diagnosed with treatment-resistant schizophrenia, and all four failed to associate the minor chord with sadness. Patients who did not recognize minor chords as sad had significantly higher scores on all PANSS subscales. A simple test allows music-evoked emotions to be assessed in schizophrenia patient, and may show potential relationships between music-evoked emotions and psychiatric symptoms. Copyright © 2016. Published by Elsevier B.V.

Defining the biological bases of individual differences in musicality.

PubMed

Gingras, Bruno; Honing, Henkjan; Peretz, Isabelle; Trainor, Laurel J; Fisher, Simon E

2015-03-19

Advances in molecular technologies make it possible to pinpoint genomic factors associated with complex human traits. For cognition and behaviour, identification of underlying genes provides new entry points for deciphering the key neurobiological pathways. In the past decade, the search for genetic correlates of musicality has gained traction. Reports have documented familial clustering for different extremes of ability, including amusia and absolute pitch (AP), with twin studies demonstrating high heritability for some music-related skills, such as pitch perception. Certain chromosomal regions have been linked to AP and musical aptitude, while individual candidate genes have been investigated in relation to aptitude and creativity. Most recently, researchers in this field started performing genome-wide association scans. Thus far, studies have been hampered by relatively small sample sizes and limitations in defining components of musicality, including an emphasis on skills that can only be assessed in trained musicians. With opportunities to administer standardized aptitude tests online, systematic large-scale assessment of musical abilities is now feasible, an important step towards high-powered genome-wide screens. Here, we offer a synthesis of existing literatures and outline concrete suggestions for the development of comprehensive operational tools for the analysis of musical phenotypes. © 2015 The Author(s) Published by the Royal Society. All rights reserved.

When listening to rain sounds boosts arithmetic ability

PubMed Central

De Benedetto, Francesco; Ferrari, Maria Vittoria; Ferrarini, Giorgia

2018-01-01

Studies in the literature have provided conflicting evidence about the effects of background noise or music on concurrent cognitive tasks. Some studies have shown a detrimental effect, while others have shown a beneficial effect of background auditory stimuli. The aim of this study was to investigate the influence of agitating, happy or touching music, as opposed to environmental sounds or silence, on the ability of non-musician subjects to perform arithmetic operations. Fifty university students (25 women and 25 men, 25 introverts and 25 extroverts) volunteered for the study. The participants were administered 180 easy or difficult arithmetic operations (division, multiplication, subtraction and addition) while listening to heavy rain sounds, silence or classical music. Silence was detrimental when participants were faced with difficult arithmetic operations, as it was associated with significantly worse accuracy and slower RTs than music or rain sound conditions. This finding suggests that the benefit of background stimulation was not music-specific but possibly due to an enhanced cerebral alertness level induced by the auditory stimulation. Introverts were always faster than extroverts in solving mathematical problems, except when the latter performed calculations accompanied by the sound of heavy rain, a condition that made them as fast as introverts. While the background auditory stimuli had no effect on the arithmetic ability of either group in the easy condition, it strongly affected extroverts in the difficult condition, with RTs being faster during agitating or joyful music as well as rain sounds, compared to the silent condition. For introverts, agitating music was associated with faster response times than the silent condition. This group difference may be explained on the basis of the notion that introverts have a generally higher arousal level compared to extroverts and would therefore benefit less from the background auditory stimuli. PMID:29466472

Processing of musical structure by high-functioning adolescents with autism spectrum disorders.

PubMed

Quintin, Eve-Marie; Bhatara, Anjali; Poissant, Hélène; Fombonne, Eric; Levitin, Daniel J

2013-01-01

Enhanced pitch perception and memory have been cited as evidence of a local processing bias in autism spectrum disorders (ASD). This bias is argued to account for enhanced perceptual functioning ( Mottron & Burack, 2001 ; Mottron, Dawson, Soulières, Hubert, & Burack, 2006 ) and central coherence theories of ASD ( Frith, 1989 ; Happé & Frith, 2006 ). A local processing bias confers a different cognitive style to individuals with ASD ( Happé, 1999 ), which accounts in part for their good visuospatial and visuoconstructive skills. Here, we present analogues in the auditory domain, audiotemporal or audioconstructive processing, which we assess using a novel experimental task: a musical puzzle. This task evaluates the ability of individuals with ASD to process temporal sequences of musical events as well as various elements of musical structure and thus indexes their ability to employ a global processing style. Musical structures created and replicated by children and adolescents with ASD (10-19 years old) and typically developing children and adolescents (7-17 years old) were found to be similar in global coherence. Presenting a musical template for reference increased accuracy equally for both groups, with performance associated to performance IQ and short-term auditory memory. The overall pattern of performance was similar for both groups; some puzzles were easier than others and this was the case for both groups. Task performance was further found to be correlated with the ability to perceive musical emotions, more so for typically developing participants. Findings are discussed in light of the empathizing-systemizing theory of ASD ( Baron-Cohen, 2009 ) and the importance of describing the strengths of individuals with ASD ( Happé, 1999 ; Heaton, 2009 ).

When listening to rain sounds boosts arithmetic ability.

PubMed

Proverbio, Alice Mado; De Benedetto, Francesco; Ferrari, Maria Vittoria; Ferrarini, Giorgia

2018-01-01

Studies in the literature have provided conflicting evidence about the effects of background noise or music on concurrent cognitive tasks. Some studies have shown a detrimental effect, while others have shown a beneficial effect of background auditory stimuli. The aim of this study was to investigate the influence of agitating, happy or touching music, as opposed to environmental sounds or silence, on the ability of non-musician subjects to perform arithmetic operations. Fifty university students (25 women and 25 men, 25 introverts and 25 extroverts) volunteered for the study. The participants were administered 180 easy or difficult arithmetic operations (division, multiplication, subtraction and addition) while listening to heavy rain sounds, silence or classical music. Silence was detrimental when participants were faced with difficult arithmetic operations, as it was associated with significantly worse accuracy and slower RTs than music or rain sound conditions. This finding suggests that the benefit of background stimulation was not music-specific but possibly due to an enhanced cerebral alertness level induced by the auditory stimulation. Introverts were always faster than extroverts in solving mathematical problems, except when the latter performed calculations accompanied by the sound of heavy rain, a condition that made them as fast as introverts. While the background auditory stimuli had no effect on the arithmetic ability of either group in the easy condition, it strongly affected extroverts in the difficult condition, with RTs being faster during agitating or joyful music as well as rain sounds, compared to the silent condition. For introverts, agitating music was associated with faster response times than the silent condition. This group difference may be explained on the basis of the notion that introverts have a generally higher arousal level compared to extroverts and would therefore benefit less from the background auditory stimuli.

The Complementary Teaching of Physics and Music Acoustics - The Science of Sound

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Milicevic, D.; Markusev, D.; Nesic, Lj.; Djordjevic, G.

2007-04-01

The results of some up-to-date solutions referring to teaching physics as a part of educational reform in Serbia, can be negative in a great deal to content and scope of teaching process which has existed so far. Basic course and characteristics of those solutions mean decreasing the number of classes of full-time physics teaching. Such tendencies are unjustified for many reasons, and the basic one is that physics is the foundation of understanding not only natural science, but also art and music (optics and acoustics respectively) and physical education (statics and dynamics). As a result of all this, there is necessity to have natural lessons of physics with the teachers of subjects such as music, art and physical education. The main objective of it is to conclude one good quality teaching cycle, and make student acquire new as well as revise their knowledge in different subjects.

Kids with disabilities inspire a musical instrument

ScienceCinema

Daily, Dan; Pfeifer, Kent

2018-02-14

The Midiwing is a musical instrument that unites music and computer technology for those who lack the experience, physical ability, or maturity to play music with traditional instruments. To create the instrument, Dan Daily, Director of Musicode Innovations, reworked and recoded Musical Instrument Digital Interface (MIDI) technology and introduced ergonomic design. He applied to the New Mexico Small Business Assistance (NMSBA) Program to receive help when he discovered the microcontroller he used was being phased out. Daily and Kent Pfeifer, an engineer at Sandia National Laboratories and musician himself, partnered to create a new state-of-the-art design.

Emotional power of music in patients with memory disorders: clinical implications of cognitive neuroscience.

PubMed

Samson, Séverine; Dellacherie, Delphine; Platel, Hervé

2009-07-01

By adapting methods of cognitive psychology to neuropsychology, we examined memory and familiarity abilities in music in relation to emotion. First we present data illustrating how the emotional content of stimuli influences memory for music. Second, we discuss recent findings obtained in patients with two different brain disorders (medically intractable epilepsy and Alzheimer's disease) that show relatively spared memory performance for music, despite severe verbal memory disorders. Studies on musical memory and its relation to emotion open up paths for new strategies in cognitive rehabilitation and reinstate the importance of examining interactions between cognitive and clinical neurosciences.

Kids with disabilities inspire a musical instrument

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Daily, Dan; Pfeifer, Kent

The Midiwing is a musical instrument that unites music and computer technology for those who lack the experience, physical ability, or maturity to play music with traditional instruments. To create the instrument, Dan Daily, Director of Musicode Innovations, reworked and recoded Musical Instrument Digital Interface (MIDI) technology and introduced ergonomic design. He applied to the New Mexico Small Business Assistance (NMSBA) Program to receive help when he discovered the microcontroller he used was being phased out. Daily and Kent Pfeifer, an engineer at Sandia National Laboratories and musician himself, partnered to create a new state-of-the-art design.

Creativity and personality in classical, jazz and folk musicians.

PubMed

Benedek, Mathias; Borovnjak, Barbara; Neubauer, Aljoscha C; Kruse-Weber, Silke

2014-06-01

The music genre of jazz is commonly associated with creativity. However, this association has hardly been formally tested. Therefore, this study aimed at examining whether jazz musicians actually differ in creativity and personality from musicians of other music genres. We compared students of classical music, jazz music, and folk music with respect to their musical activities, psychometric creativity and different aspects of personality. In line with expectations, jazz musicians are more frequently engaged in extracurricular musical activities, and also complete a higher number of creative musical achievements. Additionally, jazz musicians show higher ideational creativity as measured by divergent thinking tasks, and tend to be more open to new experiences than classical musicians. This study provides first empirical evidence that jazz musicians show particularly high creativity with respect to domain-specific musical accomplishments but also in terms of domain-general indicators of divergent thinking ability that may be relevant for musical improvisation. The findings are further discussed with respect to differences in formal and informal learning approaches between music genres.

Creativity and personality in classical, jazz and folk musicians

PubMed Central

Benedek, Mathias; Borovnjak, Barbara; Neubauer, Aljoscha C.; Kruse-Weber, Silke

2014-01-01

The music genre of jazz is commonly associated with creativity. However, this association has hardly been formally tested. Therefore, this study aimed at examining whether jazz musicians actually differ in creativity and personality from musicians of other music genres. We compared students of classical music, jazz music, and folk music with respect to their musical activities, psychometric creativity and different aspects of personality. In line with expectations, jazz musicians are more frequently engaged in extracurricular musical activities, and also complete a higher number of creative musical achievements. Additionally, jazz musicians show higher ideational creativity as measured by divergent thinking tasks, and tend to be more open to new experiences than classical musicians. This study provides first empirical evidence that jazz musicians show particularly high creativity with respect to domain-specific musical accomplishments but also in terms of domain-general indicators of divergent thinking ability that may be relevant for musical improvisation. The findings are further discussed with respect to differences in formal and informal learning approaches between music genres. PMID:24895472

Neurophysiological Influence of Musical Training on Speech Perception

PubMed Central

Shahin, Antoine J.

2011-01-01

Does musical training affect our perception of speech? For example, does learning to play a musical instrument modify the neural circuitry for auditory processing in a way that improves one's ability to perceive speech more clearly in noisy environments? If so, can speech perception in individuals with hearing loss (HL), who struggle in noisy situations, benefit from musical training? While music and speech exhibit some specialization in neural processing, there is evidence suggesting that skills acquired through musical training for specific acoustical processes may transfer to, and thereby improve, speech perception. The neurophysiological mechanisms underlying the influence of musical training on speech processing and the extent of this influence remains a rich area to be explored. A prerequisite for such transfer is the facilitation of greater neurophysiological overlap between speech and music processing following musical training. This review first establishes a neurophysiological link between musical training and speech perception, and subsequently provides further hypotheses on the neurophysiological implications of musical training on speech perception in adverse acoustical environments and in individuals with HL. PMID:21716639

Neurophysiological influence of musical training on speech perception.

PubMed

Shahin, Antoine J

2011-01-01

Does musical training affect our perception of speech? For example, does learning to play a musical instrument modify the neural circuitry for auditory processing in a way that improves one's ability to perceive speech more clearly in noisy environments? If so, can speech perception in individuals with hearing loss (HL), who struggle in noisy situations, benefit from musical training? While music and speech exhibit some specialization in neural processing, there is evidence suggesting that skills acquired through musical training for specific acoustical processes may transfer to, and thereby improve, speech perception. The neurophysiological mechanisms underlying the influence of musical training on speech processing and the extent of this influence remains a rich area to be explored. A prerequisite for such transfer is the facilitation of greater neurophysiological overlap between speech and music processing following musical training. This review first establishes a neurophysiological link between musical training and speech perception, and subsequently provides further hypotheses on the neurophysiological implications of musical training on speech perception in adverse acoustical environments and in individuals with HL.

Expressive body movement responses to music are coherent, consistent, and low dimensional.

PubMed

Amelynck, Denis; Maes, Pieter-Jan; Martens, Jean Pierre; Leman, Marc

2014-12-01

Embodied music cognition stresses the role of the human body as mediator for the encoding and decoding of musical expression. In this paper, we set up a low dimensional functional model that accounts for 70% of the variability in the expressive body movement responses to music. With the functional principal component analysis, we modeled individual body movements as a linear combination of a group average and a number of eigenfunctions. The group average and the eigenfunctions are common to all subjects and make up what we call the commonalities. An individual performance is then characterized by a set of scores (the individualities), one score per eigenfunction. The model is based on experimental data which finds high levels of coherence/consistency between participants when grouped according to musical education. This shows an ontogenetic effect. Participants without formal musical education focus on the torso for the expression of basic musical structure (tempo). Musically trained participants decode additional structural elements in the music and focus on body parts having more degrees of freedom (such as the hands). Our results confirm earlier studies that different body parts move differently along with the music.

Leveraging the power of music to improve science education

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Crowther, Gregory J.; McFadden, Tom; Fleming, Jean S.; Davis, Katie

2016-01-01

We assessed the impact of music videos with science-based lyrics on content knowledge and attitudes in a three-part experimental research study of over 1000 participants (mostly K-12 students). In Study A, 13 of 15 music videos were followed by statistically significant improvements on questions about material covered in the videos, while performance on 'bonus questions' not covered by the videos did not improve. Video-specific improvement was observed in both basic knowledge and genuine comprehension (levels 1 and 2 of Bloom's taxonomy, respectively) and after both lyrics-only and visually rich versions of some videos. In Study B, musical versions of additional science videos were not superior to non-musical ones in their immediate impact on content knowledge, though musical versions were significantly more enjoyable. In Study C, a non-musical video on fossils elicited greater immediate test improvement than the musical version ('Fossil Rock Anthem'); however, viewers of the music video enjoyed a modest advantage on a delayed post-test administered 28 days later. Music video viewers more frequently rated their video as 'fun', and seemed more likely to revisit and/or share the video. Our findings contribute to a broader dialogue on promising new pedagogical strategies in science education.

Comparison of psychomotor function between music students and students participating in music training.

PubMed

Chansirinukor, Wunpen; Khemthong, Supalak

2014-07-01

To compare psychomotor function between a music student group who had music education and a non-music student group who participated in music training. Consecutive sampling was used for completing questionnaires, testing reaction times (visual, auditory, and tactile system), measuring electromyography of upper trapezius muscles both sides and taking photos of the Craniovertebral (CV) angle in the sitting position. Data collection was made twice for each student group: the music students at one-hour intervals for resting and conducting nonmusic activities, the non-music students at two-day intervals, 20 minutes/session, and performed music training (by a manual of keyboard notation). The non-music students (n = 65) improved reaction times, but responded slower than the music students except for the tactile system. The music students (n = 28) showed faster reaction times and higher activities of the trapezius muscle than the non-music students at post-test. In addition, the CV angle of the non-music students was significantly improved. The level of musical ability may influence the psychomotor function. Significant improvement was observed in visual, auditory and tactile reaction time, and CV angle in the non-music students. However upper trapezius muscle activities between both student groups were unchanged.

The Use of Music and Its Effects on the Behavior and Academic Performance of Special Students: A Review of the Literature.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

McIntyre, Thomas; Cowell, Karol

This literature review focuses upon research addressing the playing of music and its effects upon the academic performance and behavior of students with exceptionalities. Literature on music's effects on academic performance focuses primarily on mathematics, reading, and ability to attend to study materials. Behavioral research focused on the…

Before They Walk in the Door: Environmental Influences on Musical Ability in Early Childhood and Implications for Nurturing the Nurturers

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bond, Vanessa L.

2011-01-01

Environmental factors play a role in musical development, particularly in the critical period of early childhood. Children have the capacity to learn in the first days of life, long before entering formal schooling. Music education during this period is consequently the responsibility of parents, caregivers, and early childhood teachers. These…

Predictive Ability from ePortfolios of Student Achievement Associated with Professional Teaching Standards: An Exploratory Case Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Payne, Phillip; Burrack, Frederick

2017-01-01

This exploratory case study, focused on a music teacher preparation program, examined the coursework ePortfolios of pre-service music teachers to determine if any parts of the ePortfolio process predicted teaching effectiveness in the classroom during the student teaching semester. Sixty-five undergraduate pre-service music teachers made up the…

The Engagement in Musical Activities of Young Children with Varied Hearing Abilities

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Chen-Hafteck, Lily; Schraer-Joiner, Lyn

2011-01-01

This multiple case study examined the musical experiences of five hard-of-hearing/deaf children (hearing loss ranging from 35-95 dB) and four typical-hearing children, ages 3-4. Their responses to various musical activities were observed and analysed using flow indicators. It was found that both groups of children: (1) were capable of engaging in…

The Effect of Music and Sound Effects on the Listening Comprehension of Fourth Grade Students.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mann, Raymond E.

This study was designed to determine if the addition of music and sound effects to recorded stories increased the comprehension and retention of information presented on tape to fourth grade students at three levels of reading ability. Two versions of four narrated stories were recorded, one version with music and sound effects, the other with…

Music training and inhibitory control: a multidimensional model.

PubMed

Moreno, Sylvain; Farzan, Faranak

2015-03-01

Training programs aimed to improve cognitive skills have either yielded mixed results or remain to be validated. The limited benefits of such regimens are largely attributable to weak understanding of (1) how (and which) interventions provide the most cognitive improvements; and (2) how brain networks and neural mechanisms that underlie specific cognitive abilities can be modified selectively. Studies indicate that music training leads to robust and long-lasting benefits to behavior. Importantly, behavioral advantages conferred by music extend beyond perceptual abilities to even nonauditory functions, such as inhibitory control (IC) and its neural correlates. Alternative forms of arts engagement or brain training do not appear to yield such enhancements, which suggests that music uniquely taps into brain networks subserving a variety of auditory as well as domain-general mechanisms such as IC. To account for such widespread benefits of music training, we propose a framework of transfer effects characterized by three dimensions: level of processing, nature of the transfer, and involvement of executive functions. We suggest that transfer of skills is mediated through modulation of general cognitive processes, in particular IC. We believe that this model offers a viable framework to test the extent and limitations of music-related changes. © 2014 New York Academy of Sciences.

When music is salty: The crossmodal associations between sound and taste.

PubMed

Guetta, Rachel; Loui, Psyche

2017-01-01

Here we investigate associations between complex auditory and complex taste stimuli. A novel piece of music was composed and recorded in four different styles of musical articulation to reflect the four basic tastes groups (sweet, sour, salty, bitter). In Experiment 1, participants performed above chance at pairing the music clips with corresponding taste words. Experiment 2 uses multidimensional scaling to interpret how participants categorize these musical stimuli, and to show that auditory categories can be organized in a similar manner as taste categories. Experiment 3 introduces four different flavors of custom-made chocolate ganache and shows that participants can match music clips with the corresponding taste stimuli with above-chance accuracy. Experiment 4 demonstrates the partial role of pleasantness in crossmodal mappings between sound and taste. The present findings confirm that individuals are able to make crossmodal associations between complex auditory and gustatory stimuli, and that valence may mediate multisensory integration in the general population.

I Don't Need a Million-Dollar Grant--$5,000 Will Do!

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Keast, Dan A.

2011-01-01

Music teachers often need to be creative in finding monies for programs that go beyond the basics and reach more students. Grant-writing skills can bring both funding and other types of donations to enhance music programs. Researching the funding sources, looking at successful proposals, carefully following directions, seeking the opinions of…

American Art Music in the Twentieth-Century: An Assessment of the Basic Information Sources.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Green, Alan Anthony

This assessment of 62 reference sources that contain information on U.S. art (classical) music of the twentieth century examines the following categories of sources: (1) Pilot Sources; (2) Lexica; (3) Histories and Chronologies; (4) Gesamtausgaben, Denkmaler, and Thematic catalogs; (5) Indexes and Bibliographies of Literature; (6) Lists of Music…

The Effects of Peer Tutoring on the Aural Skills Performance of Undergraduate Music Majors

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Furby, Victoria J.

2016-01-01

As workloads of faculty and staff increase in higher education, it seems important for new learning opportunities to be devised to improve individual progress through basic musicianship courses. Many university music departments rely on in-class instruction and individual work sessions with the instructors of these courses to enhance student…

The Effects of a Developmentally Appropriate Music and Movement Program on Motor Performance

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Zachopoulou, E.; Tsapakidou, A.; Derri, V.

2004-01-01

Basic motor skills development is achieved through the implementation of different types of physical education programs. The purpose of this study was to investigate and to compare the effect of a developmentally appropriate music and movement program and of a developmentally appropriate physical education program on the development of jumping and…

Measure for measure: curriculum requirements and children's achievement in music education.

PubMed

Bond, Trevor; Bond, Marie

2010-01-01

Children in all public primary schools in Queensland, Australia have weekly music lessons designed to develop key musical concepts such as reading, writing, singing and playing simple music notation. Their understanding of basic musical concepts is developed through a blend of kinaesthetic, visual and auditory experiences. In keeping with the pedagogical principles outlined by the Hungarian composer, Zoltan Kodaly, early musical experiences are based in singing well-known children's chants - usually restricted to notes of the pentatonic scale. In order to determine the extent to which primary school children's musical understandings developed in response to these carefully structured developmental learning experiences, the Queensland Primary Music Curriculum was examined to yield a set of over 70 indicators of musical understanding in the areas of rhythm, melody and part-work,the essential skills for choral singing. Data were collected from more than 400 children's attempts at elicited musical performances. Quantitative data analysis procedures derived from the Rasch model for measurement were used to establish the sequence of children's mastery of key musical concepts. Results suggested that while the music curriculum did reflect the general development of musical concepts, the grade allocation for a few concepts needed to be revised. Subsequently, children's performances over several years were also analysed to track the musical achievements of students over time. The empirical evidence confirmed that children's musical development was enhanced by school learning and that indicators can be used to identify both outstanding and atypical development of musical understanding. It was concluded that modest adjustments to the music curriculum might enhance children's learning opportunities in music.

Neural Correlates of Musical Creativity: Differences between High and Low Creative Subjects

PubMed Central

Villarreal, Mirta F.; Cerquetti, Daniel; Caruso, Silvina; Schwarcz López Aranguren, Violeta; Gerschcovich, Eliana Roldán; Frega, Ana Lucía; Leiguarda, Ramón C.

2013-01-01

Previous studies of musical creativity suggest that this process involves multi-regional intra and interhemispheric interactions, particularly in the prefrontal cortex. However, the activity of the prefrontal cortex and that of the parieto-temporal regions, seems to depend on the domains of creativity that are evaluated and the task that is performed. In the field of music, only few studies have investigated the brain process of a creative task and none of them have investigated the effect of the level of creativity on the recruit networks. In this work we used magnetic resonance imaging to explore these issues by comparing the brain activities of subjects with higher creative abilities to those with lesser abilities, while the subjects improvised on different rhythmic fragments. We evaluated the products the subjects created during the fMRI scan using two musical parameters: fluidity and flexibility, and classified the subjects according to their punctuation. We examined the relation between brain activity and creativity level. Subjects with higher abilities generated their own creations based on modifications of the original rhythm with little adhesion to it. They showed activation in prefrontal regions of both hemispheres and the right insula. Subjects with lower abilities made only partial changes to the original musical patterns. In these subjects, activation was only observed in left unimodal areas. We demonstrated that the activations of prefrontal and paralimbic areas, such as the insula, are related to creativity level, which is related to a widespread integration of networks that are mainly associated with cognitive, motivational and emotional processes. PMID:24069414

Absolute Pitch: Effects of Timbre on Note-Naming Ability

PubMed Central

Vanzella, Patrícia; Schellenberg, E. Glenn

2010-01-01

Background Absolute pitch (AP) is the ability to identify or produce isolated musical tones. It is evident primarily among individuals who started music lessons in early childhood. Because AP requires memory for specific pitches as well as learned associations with verbal labels (i.e., note names), it represents a unique opportunity to study interactions in memory between linguistic and nonlinguistic information. One untested hypothesis is that the pitch of voices may be difficult for AP possessors to identify. A musician's first instrument may also affect performance and extend the sensitive period for acquiring accurate AP. Methods/Principal Findings A large sample of AP possessors was recruited on-line. Participants were required to identity test tones presented in four different timbres: piano, pure tone, natural (sung) voice, and synthesized voice. Note-naming accuracy was better for non-vocal (piano and pure tones) than for vocal (natural and synthesized voices) test tones. This difference could not be attributed solely to vibrato (pitch variation), which was more pronounced in the natural voice than in the synthesized voice. Although starting music lessons by age 7 was associated with enhanced note-naming accuracy, equivalent abilities were evident among listeners who started music lessons on piano at a later age. Conclusions/Significance Because the human voice is inextricably linked to language and meaning, it may be processed automatically by voice-specific mechanisms that interfere with note naming among AP possessors. Lessons on piano or other fixed-pitch instruments appear to enhance AP abilities and to extend the sensitive period for exposure to music in order to develop accurate AP. PMID:21085598

Nine Suggestions for Improving Sequences. Technology.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Muro, Don

1995-01-01

Maintains that many educators are using sequences to create accompaniments and practice tapes geared to student abilities. Describes musical instruction using Musical Instrument Digital Interface (MIDI). Discusses eight suggestions designed to make the process of sequencing more efficient. (CFR)

Organists and organ music composers.

PubMed

Foerch, Christian; Hennerici, Michael G

2015-01-01

Clinical case reports of patients with exceptional musical talent and education provide clues as to how the brain processes musical ability and aptitude. In this chapter, selected examples from famous and unknown organ players/composers are presented to demonstrate the complexity of modified musical performances as well as the capacities of the brain to preserve artistic abilities: both authors are active organists and academic neurologists with strong clinical experience, practice, and knowledge about the challenges to play such an outstanding instrument and share their interest to explore potentially instrument-related phenomena of brain modulation in specific transient or permanent impairments. We concentrate on the sites of lesions, suggested pathophysiology, separate positive (e.g., seizures, visual or auditory hallucinations, or synesthesia [an involuntary perception produced by stimulation of another sense]) and negative phenomena (e.g., amusia, aphasia, neglect, or sensory-motor deficits) and particularly address aspects of recent concepts of temporary and permanent network disorders. © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Climate Science Communications - Video Visualization Techniques

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Reisman, J. P.; Mann, M. E.

2010-12-01

Communicating Climate science is challenging due to it's complexity. But as they say, a picture is worth a thousand words. Visualization techniques can be merely graphical or combine multimedia so as to make graphs come alive in context with other visual and auditory cues. This can also make the information come alive in a way that better communicates what the science is all about. What types of graphics to use depends on your audience, some graphs are great for scientists but if you are trying to communicate to a less sophisticated audience, certain visuals translate information in a more easily perceptible manner. Hollywood techniques and style can be applied to these graphs to give them even more impact. Video is one of the most powerful communication tools in its ability to combine visual and audio through time. Adding music and visual cues such as pans and zooms can greatly enhance the ability to communicate your concepts. Video software ranges from relatively simple to very sophisticated. In reality, you don't need the best tools to get your point across. In fact, with relatively inexpensive software, you can put together powerful videos that more effectively convey the science you are working on with greater sophistication, and in an entertaining way. We will examine some basic techniques to increase the quality of video visualization to make it more effective in communicating complexity. If a picture is worth a thousand words, a decent video with music, and a bit of narration is priceless.

Music training improves pitch perception in prelingually deafened children with cochlear implants.

PubMed

Chen, Joshua Kuang-Chao; Chuang, Ann Yi Chiun; McMahon, Catherine; Hsieh, Jen-Chuen; Tung, Tao-Hsin; Li, Lieber Po-Hung

2010-04-01

The comparatively poor music appreciation in patients with cochlear implants might be ascribed to an inadequate exposure to music; however, the effect of training on music perception in prelingually deafened children with cochlear implants remains unknown. This study aimed to investigate whether previous musical education improves pitch perception ability in these children. Twenty-seven children with congenital/prelingual deafness of profound degree were studied. Test stimuli consisted of 2 sequential piano tones, ranging from C (256 Hz) to B (495 Hz). Children were asked to identify the pitch relationship between the 2 tones (same, higher, or lower). Effects of musical training duration, pitch-interval size, current age, age of implantation, gender, and type of cochlear implant on accuracy of pitch perception were evaluated. The duration of musical training positively correlated with the correct rate of pitch perception. Pitch perception performance was better in children who had a cochlear implant and were older than 6 years than in those who were aged < or =6 years (ie, preschool). Effect of pitch-interval size was insignificant on pitch perception, and there was no correlation between pitch perception and the age of implantation, gender, or type of cochlear implant. Musical training seems to improve pitch perception ability in prelingually deafened children with a cochlear implant. Auditory plasticity might play an important role in such enhancement. This suggests that incorporation of a structured training program on music perception early in life and as part of the postoperative rehabilitation program for prelingually deafened children with cochlear implants would be beneficial. A longitudinal study is needed to show whether improvement of music performance in these children is measurable by use of auditory evoked potentials.

The pleasures of sad music: a systematic review.

PubMed

Sachs, Matthew E; Damasio, Antonio; Habibi, Assal

2015-01-01

Sadness is generally seen as a negative emotion, a response to distressing and adverse situations. In an aesthetic context, however, sadness is often associated with some degree of pleasure, as suggested by the ubiquity and popularity, throughout history, of music, plays, films and paintings with a sad content. Here, we focus on the fact that music regarded as sad is often experienced as pleasurable. Compared to other art forms, music has an exceptional ability to evoke a wide-range of feelings and is especially beguiling when it deals with grief and sorrow. Why is it, then, that while human survival depends on preventing painful experiences, mental pain often turns out to be explicitly sought through music? In this article we consider why and how sad music can become pleasurable. We offer a framework to account for how listening to sad music can lead to positive feelings, contending that this effect hinges on correcting an ongoing homeostatic imbalance. Sadness evoked by music is found pleasurable: (1) when it is perceived as non-threatening; (2) when it is aesthetically pleasing; and (3) when it produces psychological benefits such as mood regulation, and empathic feelings, caused, for example, by recollection of and reflection on past events. We also review neuroimaging studies related to music and emotion and focus on those that deal with sadness. Further exploration of the neural mechanisms through which stimuli that usually produce sadness can induce a positive affective state could help the development of effective therapies for disorders such as depression, in which the ability to experience pleasure is attenuated.

The shared neural basis of music and language.

PubMed

Yu, Mengxia; Xu, Miao; Li, Xueting; Chen, Zhencai; Song, Yiying; Liu, Jia

2017-08-15

Human musical ability is proposed to play a key phylogenetical role in the evolution of language, and the similarity of hierarchical structure in music and language has led to considerable speculation about their shared mechanisms. While behavioral and electrophysioglocial studies have revealed associations between music and linguistic abilities, results from functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies on their relations are contradictory, possibly because these studies usually treat music or language as single entities without breaking down to their components. Here, we examined the relations between different components of music (i.e., melodic and rhythmic analysis) and language (i.e., semantic and phonological processing) using both behavioral tests and resting-state fMRI. Behaviorally, we found that individuals with music training experiences were better at semantic processing, but not at phonological processing, than those without training. Further correlation analyses showed that semantic processing of language was related to melodic, but not rhythmic, analysis of music. Neurally, we found that performances in both semantic processing and melodic analysis were correlated with spontaneous brain activities in the bilateral precentral gyrus (PCG) and superior temporal plane at the regional level, and with the resting-state functional connectivity of the left PCG with the left supramarginal gyrus and left superior temporal gyrus at the network level. Together, our study revealed the shared spontaneous neural basis of music and language based on the behavioral link between melodic analysis and semantic processing, which possibly relied on a common mechanism of automatic auditory-motor integration. Copyright © 2017 IBRO. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

The pleasures of sad music: a systematic review

PubMed Central

Sachs, Matthew E.; Damasio, Antonio; Habibi, Assal

2015-01-01

Sadness is generally seen as a negative emotion, a response to distressing and adverse situations. In an aesthetic context, however, sadness is often associated with some degree of pleasure, as suggested by the ubiquity and popularity, throughout history, of music, plays, films and paintings with a sad content. Here, we focus on the fact that music regarded as sad is often experienced as pleasurable. Compared to other art forms, music has an exceptional ability to evoke a wide-range of feelings and is especially beguiling when it deals with grief and sorrow. Why is it, then, that while human survival depends on preventing painful experiences, mental pain often turns out to be explicitly sought through music? In this article we consider why and how sad music can become pleasurable. We offer a framework to account for how listening to sad music can lead to positive feelings, contending that this effect hinges on correcting an ongoing homeostatic imbalance. Sadness evoked by music is found pleasurable: (1) when it is perceived as non-threatening; (2) when it is aesthetically pleasing; and (3) when it produces psychological benefits such as mood regulation, and empathic feelings, caused, for example, by recollection of and reflection on past events. We also review neuroimaging studies related to music and emotion and focus on those that deal with sadness. Further exploration of the neural mechanisms through which stimuli that usually produce sadness can induce a positive affective state could help the development of effective therapies for disorders such as depression, in which the ability to experience pleasure is attenuated. PMID:26257625

Machine musicianship

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rowe, Robert

2002-05-01

The training of musicians begins by teaching basic musical concepts, a collection of knowledge commonly known as musicianship. Computer programs designed to implement musical skills (e.g., to make sense of what they hear, perform music expressively, or compose convincing pieces) can similarly benefit from access to a fundamental level of musicianship. Recent research in music cognition, artificial intelligence, and music theory has produced a repertoire of techniques that can make the behavior of computer programs more musical. Many of these were presented in a recently published book/CD-ROM entitled Machine Musicianship. For use in interactive music systems, we are interested in those which are fast enough to run in real time and that need only make reference to the material as it appears in sequence. This talk will review several applications that are able to identify the tonal center of musical material during performance. Beyond this specific task, the design of real-time algorithmic listening through the concurrent operation of several connected analyzers is examined. The presentation includes discussion of a library of C++ objects that can be combined to perform interactive listening and a demonstration of their capability.

[The relations between music and medicine in history and present].

PubMed

Gasenzer, E R; Neugebauer, E A M

2011-12-01

Since the ancient world relations exist between music and medicine. In the prehistoric music, dance, rhythm and religious practice were important parts of shamanism and early medical procedures. Important philosophers of the classic period already began with the scientific research of musical and medical questions. During the middle age convents conserved ancient knowledge. They offered medical care and taught the ancient knowledge of medicine, arts and music. The Gregorian choral was created. Traditions of popular believe expressed the relations between music and medicine. The Renaissance became the great époque of art, music and science. Leonardo da Vinci and Andreas Vesalius presented a new style of artistic working and scientific knowledge. Also the basics of western music, like tonality was developed. With the separation of scientific subjects in natural sciences and humanities, the relationships between music and medicine fall into oblivion. During the classic and romantic era music and art were important parts of cultural live of the well educated society. With the development of neurology, psychiatry and psychoanalysis more physicians and scientists were interested in musical questions. Questions about the role of music in human behavior and the ancient method to use music in medical treatment became popular. In the early 20th century the music therapy was developed. Today the effects of music to the human brain are investigated with radionuclear methods. A lot of investigations showed the effect of music and music performance to humans. Music plays an important part in psychotherapy, therapeutic pedagogy and medical care, the importance of music and music therapy increases. In the 80ies of the 20th century the performing arts medicine was developed, which asks for the medical problems of performing musicians. © Georg Thieme Verlag KG Stuttgart · New York.

On the biological basis of musicality.

PubMed

Honing, Henkjan

2018-03-15

In recent years, music and musicality have been the focus of an increasing amount of research effort. This has led to a growing role and visibility of the contribution of (bio)musicology to the field of neuroscience and cognitive sciences at large. While it has been widely acknowledged that there are commonalities between speech, language, and musicality, several researchers explain this by considering musicality as an epiphenomenon of language. However, an alternative hypothesis is that musicality is an innate and widely shared capacity for music that can be seen as a natural, spontaneously developing set of traits based on and constrained by our cognitive abilities and their underlying biology. A comparative study of musicality in humans and well-known animal models (monkeys, birds, pinnipeds) will further our insights on which features of musicality are exclusive to humans and which are shared between humans and nonhuman animals, contribute to an understanding of the musical phenotype, and further constrain existing evolutionary theories of music and musicality. © 2018 The Authors. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. on behalf of New York Academy of Sciences.

Apollo's gift: new aspects of neurologic music therapy.

PubMed

Altenmüller, Eckart; Schlaug, Gottfried

2015-01-01

Music listening and music making activities are powerful tools to engage multisensory and motor networks, induce changes within these networks, and foster links between distant, but functionally related brain regions with continued and life-long musical practice. These multimodal effects of music together with music's ability to tap into the emotion and reward system in the brain can be used to facilitate and enhance therapeutic approaches geared toward rehabilitating and restoring neurological dysfunctions and impairments of an acquired or congenital brain disorder. In this article, we review plastic changes in functional networks and structural components of the brain in response to short- and long-term music listening and music making activities. The specific influence of music on the developing brain is emphasized and possible transfer effects on emotional and cognitive processes are discussed. Furthermore, we present data on the potential of using musical tools and activities to support and facilitate neurorehabilitation. We will focus on interventions such as melodic intonation therapy and music-supported motor rehabilitation to showcase the effects of neurologic music therapies and discuss their underlying neural mechanisms. © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Do women prefer more complex music around ovulation?

PubMed

Charlton, Benjamin D; Filippi, Piera; Fitch, W Tecumseh

2012-01-01

The evolutionary origins of music are much debated. One theory holds that the ability to produce complex musical sounds might reflect qualities that are relevant in mate choice contexts and hence, that music is functionally analogous to the sexually-selected acoustic displays of some animals. If so, women may be expected to show heightened preferences for more complex music when they are most fertile. Here, we used computer-generated musical pieces and ovulation predictor kits to test this hypothesis. Our results indicate that women prefer more complex music in general; however, we found no evidence that their preference for more complex music increased around ovulation. Consequently, our findings are not consistent with the hypothesis that a heightened preference/bias in women for more complex music around ovulation could have played a role in the evolution of music. We go on to suggest future studies that could further investigate whether sexual selection played a role in the evolution of this universal aspect of human culture.

The Potential of Music in Promoting Oracy in Students with English as an Additional Language

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

McCormack, Brittany A.; Klopper, Christopher

2016-01-01

The ways in which we are able to communicate are, most of the time, dominated through speaking and listening. The ability to speak, listen and understand speech is the basis of oracy; a necessity within society today. The purpose of this study was to examine the interconnectedness of music and language to identify if music can assist in the…

Assessment of Creativity-Based Learning Environment for Major Instrument Courses: A Case Study of Buca Faculty of Education, Department of Music Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kaya, Asli; Bilen, Sermin

2016-01-01

The development of the creative potential of individuals is considered to be one of the requirements of modern education. As in all areas, the development of students' creative potential is also among the objectives of education programs in music education. The ability of music teachers to achieve this objective and create creative learning…

Musical rhythm and reading development: does beat processing matter?

PubMed

Ozernov-Palchik, Ola; Patel, Aniruddh D

2018-05-20

There is mounting evidence for links between musical rhythm processing and reading-related cognitive skills, such as phonological awareness. This may be because music and speech are rhythmic: both involve processing complex sound sequences with systematic patterns of timing, accent, and grouping. Yet, there is a salient difference between musical and speech rhythm: musical rhythm is often beat-based (based on an underlying grid of equal time intervals), while speech rhythm is not. Thus, the role of beat-based processing in the reading-rhythm relationship is not clear. Is there is a distinct relation between beat-based processing mechanisms and reading-related language skills, or is the rhythm-reading link entirely due to shared mechanisms for processing nonbeat-based aspects of temporal structure? We discuss recent evidence for a distinct link between beat-based processing and early reading abilities in young children, and suggest experimental designs that would allow one to further methodically investigate this relationship. We propose that beat-based processing taps into a listener's ability to use rich contextual regularities to form predictions, a skill important for reading development. © 2018 New York Academy of Sciences.

Family members' views on the benefits of harp music vigils for terminally-ill or dying loved ones.

PubMed

Ganzini, Linda; Rakoski, Alexa; Cohn, Sharilyn; Mularski, Richard A

2015-02-01

Music-thanatology is a palliative modality that uses harp and voice to provide bedside vigils, particularly for terminally ill or actively dying. We sought to determine the benefits of music vigils for terminally ill patients. Survey of 55 family members, whose terminally ill loved one experienced a music vigil during hospitalization, regarding effects on the patient's breathing, relaxation, comfort, pain and ability to sleep. Written comments on negative and positive results of the vigils were coded using content analysis. Family members perceived that the vigils resulted in modest improvement in the patients' breathing, relaxation, comfort, and ability to sleep, with fewer positive effects on pain, and almost no negative effects. Open ended comments focused on the positive benefit in increasing calm, relaxation, comfort. Comments on the positive effects for the family were almost as common as comments on the positive results for the patient. The use of music-vigils in palliative care should be investigated more extensively as our study supports that this intervention has benefits, almost no risk, minimal cost, and may improve patient-family experience of the dying process.

A nonmusician with severe Alzheimer's dementia learns a new song.

PubMed

Baird, Amee; Umbach, Heidi; Thompson, William Forde

2017-02-01

The hallmark symptom of Alzheimer's Dementia (AD) is impaired memory, but memory for familiar music can be preserved. We explored whether a non-musician with severe AD could learn a new song. A 91 year old woman (NC) with severe AD was taught an unfamiliar song. We assessed her delayed song recall (24 hours and 2 weeks), music cognition, two word recall (presented within a familiar song lyric, a famous proverb, or as a word stem completion task), and lyrics and proverb completion. NC's music cognition (pitch and rhythm perception, recognition of familiar music, completion of lyrics) was relatively preserved. She recalled 0/2 words presented in song lyrics or proverbs, but 2/2 word stems, suggesting intact implicit memory function. She could sing along to the newly learnt song on immediate and delayed recall (24 hours and 2 weeks later), and with intermittent prompting could sing it alone. This is the first detailed study of preserved ability to learn a new song in a non-musician with severe AD, and contributes to observations of relatively preserved musical abilities in people with dementia.

The effect of musical practice on gesture/sound pairing.

PubMed

Proverbio, Alice M; Attardo, Lapo; Cozzi, Matteo; Zani, Alberto

2015-01-01

Learning to play a musical instrument is a demanding process requiring years of intense practice. Dramatic changes in brain connectivity, volume, and functionality have been shown in skilled musicians. It is thought that music learning involves the formation of novel audio visuomotor associations, but not much is known about the gradual acquisition of this ability. In the present study, we investigated whether formal music training enhances audiovisual multisensory processing. To this end, pupils at different stages of education were examined based on the hypothesis that the strength of audio/visuomotor associations would be augmented as a function of the number of years of conservatory study (expertise). The study participants were violin and clarinet students of pre-academic and academic levels and of different chronological ages, ages of acquisition, and academic levels. A violinist and a clarinetist each played the same score, and each participant viewed the video corresponding to his or her instrument. Pitch, intensity, rhythm, and sound duration were matched across instruments. In half of the trials, the soundtrack did not match (in pitch) the corresponding musical gestures. Data analysis indicated a correlation between the number of years of formal training (expertise) and the ability to detect an audiomotor incongruence in music performance (relative to the musical instrument practiced), thus suggesting a direct correlation between knowing how to play and perceptual sensitivity.

The Pitch Imagery Arrow Task: Effects of Musical Training, Vividness, and Mental Control

PubMed Central

Gelding, Rebecca W.; Thompson, William Forde; Johnson, Blake W.

2015-01-01

Musical imagery is a relatively unexplored area, partly because of deficiencies in existing experimental paradigms, which are often difficult, unreliable, or do not provide objective measures of performance. Here we describe a novel protocol, the Pitch Imagery Arrow Task (PIAT), which induces and trains pitch imagery in both musicians and non-musicians. Given a tonal context and an initial pitch sequence, arrows are displayed to elicit a scale-step sequence of imagined pitches, and participants indicate whether the final imagined tone matches an audible probe. It is a staircase design that accommodates individual differences in musical experience and imagery ability. This new protocol was used to investigate the roles that musical expertise, self-reported auditory vividness and mental control play in imagery performance. Performance on the task was significantly better for participants who employed a musical imagery strategy compared to participants who used an alternative cognitive strategy and positively correlated with scores on the Control subscale from the Bucknell Auditory Imagery Scale (BAIS). Multiple regression analysis revealed that Imagery performance accuracy was best predicted by a combination of strategy use and scores on the Vividness subscale of BAIS. These results confirm that competent performance on the PIAT requires active musical imagery and is very difficult to achieve using alternative cognitive strategies. Auditory vividness and mental control were more important than musical experience in the ability to perform manipulation of pitch imagery. PMID:25807078

Musical tasks targeting preserved and impaired functions in two dementias.

PubMed

Halpern, Andrea R; Golden, Hannah L; Magdalinou, Nadia; Witoonpanich, Pirada; Warren, Jason D

2015-03-01

Studies of musical abilities in dementia have for the most part been rather general assessments of abilities, for instance, assessing retention of music learned premorbidly. Here, we studied patients with dementias with contrasting cognitive profiles to explore specific aspects of music cognition under challenge. Patients suffered from Alzheimer's disease (AD), in which a primary impairment is in forming new declarative memories, or Lewy body disease (PD/LBD), a type of parkinsonism in which executive impairments are prominent. In the AD patients, we examined musical imagery. Behavioral and neural evidence confirms involvement of perceptual networks in imagery, and these are relatively spared in early stages of the illness. Thus, we expected patients to have relatively intact imagery in a mental pitch comparison task. For the LBD patients, we tested whether executive dysfunction would extend to music. We probed inhibitory skills by asking for a speeded pitch or timbre judgment when the irrelevant dimension was held constant or also changed. Preliminary results show that AD patients score similarly to controls in the imagery tasks, but PD/LBD patients are impaired relative to controls in suppressing some irrelevant musical dimensions, particularly when the required judgment varies from trial to trial. © 2014 The Authors. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences published by Wiley Periodicals Inc. on behalf of The New York Academy of Sciences.

Music and emotions: from enchantment to entrainment.

PubMed

Vuilleumier, Patrik; Trost, Wiebke

2015-03-01

Producing and perceiving music engage a wide range of sensorimotor, cognitive, and emotional processes. Emotions are a central feature of the enjoyment of music, with a large variety of affective states consistently reported by people while listening to music. However, besides joy or sadness, music often elicits feelings of wonder, nostalgia, or tenderness, which do not correspond to emotion categories typically studied in neuroscience and whose neural substrates remain largely unknown. Here we review the similarities and differences in the neural substrates underlying these "complex" music-evoked emotions relative to other more "basic" emotional experiences. We suggest that these emotions emerge through a combination of activation in emotional and motivational brain systems (e.g., including reward pathways) that confer its valence to music, with activation in several other areas outside emotional systems, including motor, attention, or memory-related regions. We then discuss the neural substrates underlying the entrainment of cognitive and motor processes by music and their relation to affective experience. These effects have important implications for the potential therapeutic use of music in neurological or psychiatric diseases, particularly those associated with motor, attention, or affective disturbances. © 2015 New York Academy of Sciences.

Influence of Musical Enculturation on Brain Responses to Metric Deviants.

PubMed

Haumann, Niels T; Vuust, Peter; Bertelsen, Freja; Garza-Villarreal, Eduardo A

2018-01-01

The ability to recognize metric accents is fundamental in both music and language perception. It has been suggested that music listeners prefer rhythms that follow simple binary meters, which are common in Western music. This means that listeners expect odd-numbered beats to be strong and even-numbered beats to be weak. In support of this, studies have shown that listeners exposed to Western music show stronger novelty and incongruity related P3 and irregularity detection related mismatch negativity (MMN) brain responses to attenuated odd- than attenuated even-numbered metric positions. Furthermore, behavioral evidence suggests that music listeners' preferences can be changed by long-term exposure to non-Western rhythms and meters, e.g., by listening to African or Balkan music. In our study, we investigated whether it might be possible to measure effects of music enculturation on neural responses to attenuated tones on specific metric positions. We compared the magnetic mismatch negativity (MMNm) to attenuated beats in a "Western group" of listeners ( n = 12) mainly exposed to Western music and a "Bicultural group" of listeners ( n = 13) exposed for at least 1 year to both Sub-Saharan African music in addition to Western music. We found that in the "Western group" the MMNm was higher in amplitude to deviant tones on odd compared to even metric positions, but not in the "Bicultural group." In support of this finding, there was also a trend of the "Western group" to rate omitted beats as more surprising on odd than even metric positions, whereas the "Bicultural group" seemed to discriminate less between metric positions in terms of surprise ratings. Also, we observed that the overall latency of the MMNm was significantly shorter in the Bicultural group compared to the Western group. These effects were not biased by possible differences in rhythm perception ability or music training, measured with the Musical Ear Test (MET). Furthermore, source localization analyses suggest that auditory, inferior temporal, sensory-motor, superior frontal, and parahippocampal regions might be involved in eliciting the MMNm to the metric deviants. These findings suggest that effects of music enculturation can be measured on MMNm responses to attenuated tones on specific metric positions.

[Effectiveness of music in brain rehabilitation. A systematic review].

PubMed

Sihvonen, Aleksi J; Leo, Vera; Särkämö, Teppo; Soinila, Seppo

2014-01-01

There is no curative treatment for diseases causing brain injury. Music causes extensive activation of the brain, promoting the repair of neural systems. Addition of music listening to rehabilitation enhances the regulation or motor functions in Parkinson and stroke patients, accelerates the recovery of speech disorder and cognitive injuries after stroke, and decreases the behavioral disorders of dementia patients. Music enhances the ability to concentrate and decreases mental confusion. The effect of music can also be observed as structural and functional changes of the brain. The effect is based, among other things, on lessening of physiologic stress and depression and on activation of the dopaminergic mesolimbic system.

Assessing musical skills in autistic children who are not savants.

PubMed

Heaton, Pamela

2009-05-27

Descriptions of autistic musical savants suggest that they possess extraordinary skills within the domain. However, until recently little was known about the musical skills and potential of individuals with autism who are not savants. The results from these more recent studies investigating music perception, cognition and learning in musically untrained children with autism have revealed a pattern of abilities that are either enhanced or spared. For example, increased sensitivity to musical pitch and timbre is frequently observed, and studies investigating perception of musical structure and emotions have consistently failed to reveal deficits in autism. While the phenomenon of the savant syndrome is of considerable theoretical interest, it may have led to an under-consideration of the potential talents and skills of that vast majority of autistic individuals, who do not meet savant criteria. Data from empirical studies show that many autistic children possess musical potential that can and should be developed.

Assessing musical skills in autistic children who are not savants

PubMed Central

Heaton, Pamela

2009-01-01

Descriptions of autistic musical savants suggest that they possess extraordinary skills within the domain. However, until recently little was known about the musical skills and potential of individuals with autism who are not savants. The results from these more recent studies investigating music perception, cognition and learning in musically untrained children with autism have revealed a pattern of abilities that are either enhanced or spared. For example, increased sensitivity to musical pitch and timbre is frequently observed, and studies investigating perception of musical structure and emotions have consistently failed to reveal deficits in autism. While the phenomenon of the savant syndrome is of considerable theoretical interest, it may have led to an under-consideration of the potential talents and skills of that vast majority of autistic individuals, who do not meet savant criteria. Data from empirical studies show that many autistic children possess musical potential that can and should be developed. PMID:19528029

Neural Correlates of Boredom in Music Perception

PubMed Central

Fakhr Tabatabaie, Ashkan; Azadehfar, Mohammad Reza; Mirian, Negin; Noroozian, Maryam; Yoonessi, Ahmad; Saebipour, Mohammad Reza; Yoonessi, Ali

2014-01-01

Introduction: Music can elicit powerful emotional responses, the neural correlates of which have not been properly understood. An important aspect about the quality of any musical piece is its ability to elicit a sense of excitement in the listeners. In this study, we investigated the neural correlates of boredom evoked by music in human subjects. Methods: We used EEG recording in nine subjects while they were listening to total number of 10 short-length (83 sec) musical pieces with various boredom indices. Subjects evaluated boringness of musical pieces while their EEG was recording. Results: Using short time Fourier analysis, we found that beta 2 rhythm was (16–20 Hz) significantly lower whenever the subjects rated the music as boring in comparison to non-boring. Discussion: The results demonstrate that the music modulates neural activity of various parts of the brain and can be measured using EEG. PMID:27284390

Rapid and flexible creativity in musical improvisation: review and a model.

PubMed

Loui, Psyche

2018-03-25

Creativity has been defined as the ability to produce output that is novel, useful, beneficial, and desired by an audience. But what is musical creativity, and relatedly, to what extent does creativity depend on domain-general or domain-specific neural and cognitive processes? To what extent can musical creativity be taught? To answer these questions from a reductionist scientific approach, we must attempt to isolate the creative process as it pertains to music. Recent work in the neuroscience of creativity has turned to musical improvisation as a window into real-time musical creative process in the brain. Here, I provide an overview of recent research in the neuroscience of musical improvisation, especially focusing on multimodal neuroimaging studies. This research informs a model of creativity as a combination of generative and reactive processes that coordinate their functions to give rise to perpetually novel and aesthetically rewarding improvised musical output. © 2018 New York Academy of Sciences.

Listening to music during electromyography does not influence the examinee's anxiety and pain levels.

PubMed

Abraham, Alon; Drory, Vivian E

2014-09-01

Listening to music is a low-cost intervention that has demonstrated ability to reduce pain and anxiety levels in various medical procedures. Subjects undergoing electrophysiological examinations were randomized into a music-listening group and a control group. Visual analog scales were used to measure anxiety and pain levels during the procedure. Thirty subjects were randomized to each group. No statistically significant difference was found in anxiety or pain levels during the procedure between groups. However, most subjects in the music-listening group reported anxiety and pain reduction and would prefer to hear music in a future examination. Although listening to music during electrophysiological examinations did not reduce anxiety or pain significantly, most subjects felt a positive effect and would prefer to hear music; therefore, we suggest that music may be offered optionally in the electromyography laboratory setting. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Musicality Correlates With Sociability and Emotionality in Williams Syndrome

PubMed Central

Ng, Rowena; Lai, Philip; Levitin, Daniel J.; Bellugi, Ursula

2012-01-01

Williams Syndrome (WS) is a neurogenetic developmental disorder characterized by peaks and valleys of cognitive abilities. One peak that has been understudied is the affinity that many individuals with WS have toward music. It remains unknown whether their high levels of musical interest, skill and expressivity are related to their sociable personality or their verbal intelligence. We examined the relationships between musicality (musical interest, creativity and expressivity), sociability (social-emotionality, social approach) and language comprehension in WS and typically developing (TD) controls. Findings suggest that emotion-expressivity through music in WS may be linked to their sensitivity and responsivity to emotions of others, whereas general interest in music may be related to greater linguistic capacity in TD individuals. Musicality and sociability may be more closely related in WS relative than in typical development; implications for future interventions for this neurodevelopmental condition will be discussed. PMID:24151530

Musicality Correlates With Sociability and Emotionality in Williams Syndrome.

PubMed

Ng, Rowena; Lai, Philip; Levitin, Daniel J; Bellugi, Ursula

2013-01-01

Williams Syndrome (WS) is a neurogenetic developmental disorder characterized by peaks and valleys of cognitive abilities. One peak that has been understudied is the affinity that many individuals with WS have toward music. It remains unknown whether their high levels of musical interest, skill and expressivity are related to their sociable personality or their verbal intelligence. We examined the relationships between musicality (musical interest, creativity and expressivity), sociability (social-emotionality, social approach) and language comprehension in WS and typically developing (TD) controls. Findings suggest that emotion-expressivity through music in WS may be linked to their sensitivity and responsivity to emotions of others, whereas general interest in music may be related to greater linguistic capacity in TD individuals. Musicality and sociability may be more closely related in WS relative than in typical development; implications for future interventions for this neurodevelopmental condition will be discussed.

Perceptual expertise and top-down expectation of musical notation engages the primary visual cortex.

PubMed

Wong, Yetta Kwailing; Peng, Cynthia; Fratus, Kristyn N; Woodman, Geoffrey F; Gauthier, Isabel

2014-08-01

Most theories of visual processing propose that object recognition is achieved in higher visual cortex. However, we show that category selectivity for musical notation can be observed in the first ERP component called the C1 (measured 40-60 msec after stimulus onset) with music-reading expertise. Moreover, the C1 note selectivity was observed only when the stimulus category was blocked but not when the stimulus category was randomized. Under blocking, the C1 activity for notes predicted individual music-reading ability, and behavioral judgments of musical stimuli reflected music-reading skill. Our results challenge current theories of object recognition, indicating that the primary visual cortex can be selective for musical notation within the initial feedforward sweep of activity with perceptual expertise and with a testing context that is consistent with the expertise training, such as blocking the stimulus category for music reading.

Anhedonia to music and mu-opioids: Evidence from the administration of naltrexone.

PubMed

Mallik, Adiel; Chanda, Mona Lisa; Levitin, Daniel J

2017-02-08

Music's universality and its ability to deeply affect emotions suggest an evolutionary origin. Previous investigators have found that naltrexone (NTX), a μ-opioid antagonist, may induce reversible anhedonia, attenuating both positive and negative emotions. The neurochemical basis of musical experience is not well-understood, and the NTX-induced anhedonia hypothesis has not been tested with music. Accordingly, we administered NTX or placebo on two different days in a double-blind crossover study, and assessed participants' responses to music using both psychophysiological (objective) and behavioral (subjective) measures. We found that both positive and negative emotions were attenuated. We conclude that endogenous opioids are critical to experiencing both positive and negative emotions in music, and that music uses the same reward pathways as food, drug and sexual pleasure. Our findings add to the growing body of evidence for the evolutionary biological substrates of music.

Post-stroke acquired amusia: A comparison between right- and left-brain hemispheric damages.

PubMed

Jafari, Zahra; Esmaili, Mahdiye; Delbari, Ahmad; Mehrpour, Masoud; Mohajerani, Majid H

2017-01-01

Although extensive research has been published about the emotional consequences of stroke, most studies have focused on emotional words, speech prosody, voices, or facial expressions. The emotional processing of musical excerpts following stroke has been relatively unexplored. The present study was conducted to investigate the effects of chronic stroke on the recognition of basic emotions in music. Seventy persons, including 25 normal controls (NC), 25 persons with right brain damage (RBD) from stroke, and 20 persons with left brain damage (LBD) from stroke between the ages of 31-71 years were studied. The Musical Emotional Bursts (MEB) test, which consists of a set of short musical pieces expressing basic emotional states (happiness, sadness, and fear) and neutrality, was used to test musical emotional perception. Both stroke groups were significantly poorer than normal controls for the MEB total score and its subtests (p < 0.001). The RBD group was significantly less able than the LBD group to recognize sadness (p = 0.047) and neutrality (p = 0.015). Negative correlations were found between age and MEB scores for all groups, particularly the NC and RBD groups. Our findings indicated that stroke affecting the auditory cerebrum can cause acquired amusia with greater severity in RBD than LBD. These results supported the "valence hypothesis" of right hemisphere dominance in processing negative emotions.

A dynamically minimalist cognitive explanation of musical preference: is familiarity everything?

PubMed

Schubert, Emery; Hargreaves, David J; North, Adrian C

2014-01-01

This paper examines the idea that attraction to music is generated at a cognitive level through the formation and activation of networks of interlinked "nodes." Although the networks involved are vast, the basic mechanism for activating the links is relatively simple. Two comprehensive cognitive-behavioral models of musical engagement are examined with the aim of identifying the underlying cognitive mechanisms and processes involved in musical experience. A "dynamical minimalism" approach (after Nowak, 2004) is applied to re-interpret musical engagement (listening, performing, composing, or imagining any of these) and to revise the latest version of the reciprocal-feedback model (RFM) of music processing. Specifically, a single cognitive mechanism of "spreading activation" through previously associated networks is proposed as a pleasurable outcome of musical engagement. This mechanism underlies the dynamic interaction of the various components of the RFM, and can thereby explain the generation of positive affects in the listener's musical experience. This includes determinants of that experience stemming from the characteristics of the individual engaging in the musical activity (whether listener, composer, improviser, or performer), the situation and contexts (e.g., social factors), and the music (e.g., genre, structural features). The theory calls for new directions for future research, two being (1) further investigation of the components of the RFM to better understand musical experience and (2) more rigorous scrutiny of common findings about the salience of familiarity in musical experience and preference.

The Role of the Conductor's Goal Orientation and Use of Shared Performance Cues on Collegiate Instrumentalists' Motivational Beliefs and Performance in Large Musical Ensembles

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Matthews, Wendy K.; Kitsantas, Anastasia

2013-01-01

This study examined the effects of the conductor's goal orientation (mastery vs. performance) and use of shared performance cues (basic vs. interpretive vs. expressive) on instrumentalists' self-efficacy, collective efficacy, attributions, and performance. Eighty-one college instrumentalists from two musical ensembles participated in the study. It…

IMPROVING AND EXTENDING THE JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL ORCHESTRA REPERTORY. FINAL REPORT.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

MOORE, JUNE

THE BASIC AIM OF THIS 1966-67 PROJECT WAS TO ENRICH AS WELL AS EDUCATE THOSE JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL ORCHESTRA STUDENTS WHO WILL BE THE MATURE MUSIC AUDIENCES OF THE FUTURE. A SURVEY WAS CONDUCTED OF SUITABLY ARRANGED ORCHESTRA LITERATURE WITHIN THE GRASP OF JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL ORCHESTRA STUDENTS, AND 64 CORE SELECTIONS WERE MADE. THE MUSIC WAS…

Experimenting with woodwind instruments

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lo Presto, Michael C.

2007-05-01

Simple experiments involving musical instruments of the woodwind family can be used to demonstrate the basic physics of vibrating air columns in resonance tubes using nothing more than straightforward measurements and data collection hardware and software. More involved experimentation with the same equipment can provide insight into the effects of holes in the tubing and other factors that make simple tubes useful as musical instruments.

The musicality of non-musicians: an index for assessing musical sophistication in the general population.

PubMed

Müllensiefen, Daniel; Gingras, Bruno; Musil, Jason; Stewart, Lauren

2014-01-01

Musical skills and expertise vary greatly in Western societies. Individuals can differ in their repertoire of musical behaviours as well as in the level of skill they display for any single musical behaviour. The types of musical behaviours we refer to here are broad, ranging from performance on an instrument and listening expertise, to the ability to employ music in functional settings or to communicate about music. In this paper, we first describe the concept of 'musical sophistication' which can be used to describe the multi-faceted nature of musical expertise. Next, we develop a novel measurement instrument, the Goldsmiths Musical Sophistication Index (Gold-MSI) to assess self-reported musical skills and behaviours on multiple dimensions in the general population using a large Internet sample (n = 147,636). Thirdly, we report results from several lab studies, demonstrating that the Gold-MSI possesses good psychometric properties, and that self-reported musical sophistication is associated with performance on two listening tasks. Finally, we identify occupation, occupational status, age, gender, and wealth as the main socio-demographic factors associated with musical sophistication. Results are discussed in terms of theoretical accounts of implicit and statistical music learning and with regard to social conditions of sophisticated musical engagement.

The Musicality of Non-Musicians: An Index for Assessing Musical Sophistication in the General Population

PubMed Central

Müllensiefen, Daniel; Gingras, Bruno; Musil, Jason; Stewart, Lauren

2014-01-01

Musical skills and expertise vary greatly in Western societies. Individuals can differ in their repertoire of musical behaviours as well as in the level of skill they display for any single musical behaviour. The types of musical behaviours we refer to here are broad, ranging from performance on an instrument and listening expertise, to the ability to employ music in functional settings or to communicate about music. In this paper, we first describe the concept of ‘musical sophistication’ which can be used to describe the multi-faceted nature of musical expertise. Next, we develop a novel measurement instrument, the Goldsmiths Musical Sophistication Index (Gold-MSI) to assess self-reported musical skills and behaviours on multiple dimensions in the general population using a large Internet sample (n = 147,636). Thirdly, we report results from several lab studies, demonstrating that the Gold-MSI possesses good psychometric properties, and that self-reported musical sophistication is associated with performance on two listening tasks. Finally, we identify occupation, occupational status, age, gender, and wealth as the main socio-demographic factors associated with musical sophistication. Results are discussed in terms of theoretical accounts of implicit and statistical music learning and with regard to social conditions of sophisticated musical engagement. PMID:24586929

Social support and performance anxiety of college music students.

PubMed

Schneider, Erin; Chesky, Kris

2011-09-01

This study characterized perceived social support and performance anxiety of college music students, compared characteristics to those of non-music majors, and explored the relationships between social support and performance anxiety. Subjects (n = 609) completed a questionnaire that included demographics, the Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support (MSPSS), and visual analog scale measures of performance anxiety. Results showed that music majors perceived significantly lower levels of social support from significant others when compared to non-music majors. Perceived social support was significantly correlated with measures of performance anxiety. Students with greater perceived social support reported less frequent anxiety and lower levels of impact of anxiety on ability to perform. These findings may have practical implications for schools of music and conservatories.

Musical Experience and the Aging Auditory System: Implications for Cognitive Abilities and Hearing Speech in Noise

PubMed Central

Parbery-Clark, Alexandra; Strait, Dana L.; Anderson, Samira; Hittner, Emily; Kraus, Nina

2011-01-01

Much of our daily communication occurs in the presence of background noise, compromising our ability to hear. While understanding speech in noise is a challenge for everyone, it becomes increasingly difficult as we age. Although aging is generally accompanied by hearing loss, this perceptual decline cannot fully account for the difficulties experienced by older adults for hearing in noise. Decreased cognitive skills concurrent with reduced perceptual acuity are thought to contribute to the difficulty older adults experience understanding speech in noise. Given that musical experience positively impacts speech perception in noise in young adults (ages 18–30), we asked whether musical experience benefits an older cohort of musicians (ages 45–65), potentially offsetting the age-related decline in speech-in-noise perceptual abilities and associated cognitive function (i.e., working memory). Consistent with performance in young adults, older musicians demonstrated enhanced speech-in-noise perception relative to nonmusicians along with greater auditory, but not visual, working memory capacity. By demonstrating that speech-in-noise perception and related cognitive function are enhanced in older musicians, our results imply that musical training may reduce the impact of age-related auditory decline. PMID:21589653

Musical experience and the aging auditory system: implications for cognitive abilities and hearing speech in noise.

PubMed

Parbery-Clark, Alexandra; Strait, Dana L; Anderson, Samira; Hittner, Emily; Kraus, Nina

2011-05-11

Much of our daily communication occurs in the presence of background noise, compromising our ability to hear. While understanding speech in noise is a challenge for everyone, it becomes increasingly difficult as we age. Although aging is generally accompanied by hearing loss, this perceptual decline cannot fully account for the difficulties experienced by older adults for hearing in noise. Decreased cognitive skills concurrent with reduced perceptual acuity are thought to contribute to the difficulty older adults experience understanding speech in noise. Given that musical experience positively impacts speech perception in noise in young adults (ages 18-30), we asked whether musical experience benefits an older cohort of musicians (ages 45-65), potentially offsetting the age-related decline in speech-in-noise perceptual abilities and associated cognitive function (i.e., working memory). Consistent with performance in young adults, older musicians demonstrated enhanced speech-in-noise perception relative to nonmusicians along with greater auditory, but not visual, working memory capacity. By demonstrating that speech-in-noise perception and related cognitive function are enhanced in older musicians, our results imply that musical training may reduce the impact of age-related auditory decline.

Song repertoire across the generations: a comparison of music therapy majors' and senior citizens' recognitions.

PubMed

Prickett, C A; Bridges, M S

2000-01-01

This study examined whether a basic song repertoire of folk-type melodies which can be accompanied with principal triads exists in the senior citizen population and compared this repertoire with that of music therapy students. An audiotape of the tunes of 25 standard songs, assumed in previous research to be known by everyone who has finished 6th grade, was played for undergraduate music therapy students (N = 78) and for healthy, active senior citizens (N = 78). None of the senior citizens had received any music therapy services, although many were involved in music activities such as the senior choir at church. Music therapy majors identified significantly more tunes than did the older listeners. Further analysis indicated that there is a good deal of overlap in the repertoires of these two groups. Sixteen tunes were recognized by 80% of therapy students; 10 songs were recognized by 80% of the seniors; the 10 songs identified by these seniors were 10 of the top 11 identified by the college students ("Kumbaya" was not known by the older listeners). Six songs could not be named by 50% of the students; 7 songs could not be named by 50% of the seniors; these two lists contained five common selections ("Oh Shenandoah," "Kookaburra," "Down in the Valley," "Shalom Chaverim," and "Tinga Layo"). Given the growth of the senior segment of the American population, the expansion of services for them, and the popularity of including music activities among these services, it would appear that music therapy students' basic knowledge of a repertoire of songs which are known to older people and which can easily be accompanied with principal triads is adequate, even though the range of songs which could be identified was broad (11-24) and the mean correctly named was merely 70.82% of a set which other investigators, teachers, and professional organizations have said represent a minimal repertoire for all citizens beyond the 6th grade.

Apollo’s gift: new aspects of neurologic music therapy

PubMed Central

Altenmüller, Eckart; Schlaug, Gottfried

2015-01-01

Music listening and music making activities are powerful tools to engage multisensory and motor networks, induce changes within these networks, and foster links between distant, but functionally related brain regions with continued and life-long musical practice. These multimodal effects of music together with music’s ability to tap into the emotion and reward system in the brain can be used to facilitate and enhance therapeutic approaches geared toward rehabilitating and restoring neurological dysfunctions and impairments of an acquired or congenital brain disorder. In this article, we review plastic changes in functional networks and structural components of the brain in response to short- and long-term music listening and music making activities. The specific influence of music on the developing brain is emphasized and possible transfer effects on emotional and cognitive processes are discussed. Furthermore, we present data on the potential of using musical tools and activities to support and facilitate neurorehabilitation. We will focus on interventions such as melodic intonation therapy and music-supported motor rehabilitation to showcase the effects of neurologic music therapies and discuss their underlying neural mechanisms. PMID:25725918

"It's a hurricane! it's a hurricane!": can music facilitate social constructive and sociodramatic play in a preschool classroom?

PubMed

Love, Angela; Burns, M Susan

2006-12-01

Sustaining attention and successfully engaging with others in collaborative play are important accomplishments focused on in preschool classrooms and childcare centers. In addition, music is frequently used in early childhood classrooms, and even recommended as an environmental feature to motivate and regulate children's behavior. Although pretend play provides appealing opportunities for developing these social abilities, no studies to date have explored the use of music as a tool to motivate and sustain constructive and social pretend play. Results from the current study indicate that within 1 preschool classroom, more sustained play (with fewer interruptions) occurred when music played as compared to when no music played in the background. In addition, significantly more dyadic play occurred when slower music played in the background, than when no music played.

Is It All Relative? Relative Pitch and L2 Lexical Tone Perception/Tone Language Comprehension by Adult Tone and Non-Tone Language Speakers

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

von Wertz, Sloane Celeste

2017-01-01

Languages generally use musical pitch variation of the voice as part of their sound systems (Maddieson, 2011)--pitch variations that can be somewhat reminiscent of music. Music ability and/or training may influence language processing (e.g., Bidelman et al., 2011; Delogue et al., 2010). In particular, studies have concluded that there may be a…

Thinking beyond the Myths and Misconceptions of Talent: Creating Music Education Policy that Advances Music's Essential Contribution to Twenty-First-Century Teaching and Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Scripp, Lawrence; Ulibarri, Devin; Flax, Robert

2013-01-01

At present, there is growing scientific evidence of music's powerful, positive influence on the neurological, cognitive, and social-emotional development of all children. At the same time, a flurry of new studies now show that extensive, deliberate, and deep practice supported by an ability growth mindset--and not a fixed degree of talent--is the…

Enriched childhood experiences moderate age-related motor and cognitive decline

PubMed Central

Metzler, Megan J.; Saucier, Deborah M.; Metz, Gerlinde A.

2012-01-01

Aging is associated with deterioration of skilled manual movement. Specifically, aging corresponds with increased reaction time, greater movement duration, segmentation of movement, increased movement variability, and reduced ability to adapt to external forces and inhibit previously learned sequences. Moreover, it is thought that decreased lateralization of neural function in older adults may point to increased neural recruitment as a compensatory response to deterioration of key frontal and intra-hemispheric networks, particularly of callosal structures. However, factors that mediate age-related motor decline are not well understood. Here we show that music training in childhood is associated with reduced age-related decline of bimanual and unimanual motor skills in a MIDI keyboard motor learning task. Compared to older adults without music training, older adults with more than a year of music training demonstrated proficient bimanual and unimanual movement, evidenced by enhanced speed and decreased movement errors. Further, this group demonstrated significantly better implicit learning in the weather prediction task, a non-motor task. The performance of older adults with music training in those tasks was comparable to young adults. Older adults, however, displayed greater verbal ability compared to young adults irrespective of a past history of music training. Our results indicate that music training early in life may reduce age-associated decline of neural motor and cognitive networks. PMID:23423702

Genomic Imprinting Is Implicated in the Psychology of Music.

PubMed

Mehr, Samuel A; Kotler, Jennifer; Howard, Rhea M; Haig, David; Krasnow, Max M

2017-10-01

Why do people sing to babies? Human infants are relatively altricial and need their parents' attention to survive. Infant-directed song may constitute a signal of that attention. In Prader-Willi syndrome (PWS), a rare disorder of genomic imprinting, genes from chromosome 15q11-q13 that are typically paternally expressed are unexpressed, which results in exaggeration of traits that reduce offspring's investment demands on the mother. PWS may thus be associated with a distinctive musical phenotype. We report unusual responses to music in people with PWS. Subjects with PWS ( N = 39) moved more during music listening, exhibited greater reductions in heart rate in response to music listening, and displayed a specific deficit in pitch-discrimination ability relative to typically developing adults and children ( N = 589). Paternally expressed genes from 15q11-q13, which are unexpressed in PWS, may thus increase demands for music and enhance perceptual sensitivity to music. These results implicate genomic imprinting in the psychology of music, informing theories of music's evolutionary history.

Dissociation between musical and monetary reward responses in specific musical anhedonia.

PubMed

Mas-Herrero, Ernest; Zatorre, Robert J; Rodriguez-Fornells, Antoni; Marco-Pallarés, Josep

2014-03-17

Music has been present in all human cultures since prehistory [1, 2], although it is not associated with any apparent biological advantages (such as food, sex, etc.) or utility value (such as money). Nevertheless, music is ranked among the highest sources of pleasure [3], and its important role in our society and culture has led to the assumption that the ability of music to induce pleasure is universal. However, this assumption has never been empirically tested. In the present report, we identified a group of healthy individuals without depression or generalized anhedonia who showed reduced behavioral pleasure ratings and no autonomic responses to pleasurable music, despite having normal musical perception capacities. These persons showed preserved behavioral and physiological responses to monetary reward, indicating that the low sensitivity to music was not due to a global hypofunction of the reward network. These results point to the existence of specific musical anhedonia and suggest that there may be individual differences in access to the reward system. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Cross-cultural influences on rhythm processing: reproduction, discrimination, and beat tapping

PubMed Central

Cameron, Daniel J.; Bentley, Jocelyn; Grahn, Jessica A.

2015-01-01

The structures of musical rhythm differ between cultures, despite the fact that the ability to entrain movement to musical rhythm occurs in virtually all individuals across cultures. To measure the influence of culture on rhythm processing, we tested East African and North American adults on perception, production, and beat tapping for rhythms derived from East African and Western music. To assess rhythm perception, participants identified whether pairs of rhythms were the same or different. To assess rhythm production, participants reproduced rhythms after hearing them. To assess beat tapping, participants tapped the beat along with repeated rhythms. We expected that performance in all three tasks would be influenced by the culture of the participant and the culture of the rhythm. Specifically, we predicted that a participant’s ability to discriminate, reproduce, and accurately tap the beat would be better for rhythms from their own culture than for rhythms from another culture. In the rhythm discrimination task, there were no differences in discriminating culturally familiar and unfamiliar rhythms. In the rhythm reproduction task, both groups reproduced East African rhythms more accurately than Western rhythms, but East African participants also showed an effect of cultural familiarity, leading to a significant interaction. In the beat tapping task, participants in both groups tapped the beat more accurately for culturally familiar than for unfamiliar rhythms. Moreover, there were differences between the two participant groups, and between the two types of rhythms, in the metrical level selected for beat tapping. The results demonstrate that culture does influence the processing of musical rhythm. In terms of the function of musical rhythm, our results are consistent with theories that musical rhythm enables synchronization. Musical rhythm may foster musical cultural identity by enabling within-group synchronization to music, perhaps supporting social cohesion. PMID:26029122

New Learning of Music after Bilateral Medial Temporal Lobe Damage: Evidence from an Amnesic Patient

PubMed Central

Valtonen, Jussi; Gregory, Emma; Landau, Barbara; McCloskey, Michael

2014-01-01

Damage to the hippocampus impairs the ability to acquire new declarative memories, but not the ability to learn simple motor tasks. An unresolved question is whether hippocampal damage affects learning for music performance, which requires motor processes, but in a cognitively complex context. We studied learning of novel musical pieces by sight-reading in a newly identified amnesic, LSJ, who was a skilled amateur violist prior to contracting herpes simplex encephalitis. LSJ has suffered virtually complete destruction of the hippocampus bilaterally, as well as extensive damage to other medial temporal lobe structures and the left anterior temporal lobe. Because of LSJ’s rare combination of musical training and near-complete hippocampal destruction, her case provides a unique opportunity to investigate the role of the hippocampus for complex motor learning processes specifically related to music performance. Three novel pieces of viola music were composed and closely matched for factors contributing to a piece’s musical complexity. LSJ practiced playing two of the pieces, one in each of the two sessions during the same day. Relative to a third unpracticed control piece, LSJ showed significant pre- to post-training improvement for the two practiced pieces. Learning effects were observed both with detailed analyses of correctly played notes, and with subjective whole-piece performance evaluations by string instrument players. The learning effects were evident immediately after practice and 14 days later. The observed learning stands in sharp contrast to LSJ’s complete lack of awareness that the same pieces were being presented repeatedly, and to the profound impairments she exhibits in other learning tasks. Although learning in simple motor tasks has been previously observed in amnesic patients, our results demonstrate that non-hippocampal structures can support complex learning of novel musical sequences for music performance. PMID:25232312

Cross-cultural influences on rhythm processing: reproduction, discrimination, and beat tapping.

PubMed

Cameron, Daniel J; Bentley, Jocelyn; Grahn, Jessica A

2015-01-01

The structures of musical rhythm differ between cultures, despite the fact that the ability to entrain movement to musical rhythm occurs in virtually all individuals across cultures. To measure the influence of culture on rhythm processing, we tested East African and North American adults on perception, production, and beat tapping for rhythms derived from East African and Western music. To assess rhythm perception, participants identified whether pairs of rhythms were the same or different. To assess rhythm production, participants reproduced rhythms after hearing them. To assess beat tapping, participants tapped the beat along with repeated rhythms. We expected that performance in all three tasks would be influenced by the culture of the participant and the culture of the rhythm. Specifically, we predicted that a participant's ability to discriminate, reproduce, and accurately tap the beat would be better for rhythms from their own culture than for rhythms from another culture. In the rhythm discrimination task, there were no differences in discriminating culturally familiar and unfamiliar rhythms. In the rhythm reproduction task, both groups reproduced East African rhythms more accurately than Western rhythms, but East African participants also showed an effect of cultural familiarity, leading to a significant interaction. In the beat tapping task, participants in both groups tapped the beat more accurately for culturally familiar than for unfamiliar rhythms. Moreover, there were differences between the two participant groups, and between the two types of rhythms, in the metrical level selected for beat tapping. The results demonstrate that culture does influence the processing of musical rhythm. In terms of the function of musical rhythm, our results are consistent with theories that musical rhythm enables synchronization. Musical rhythm may foster musical cultural identity by enabling within-group synchronization to music, perhaps supporting social cohesion.

Disentangling beat perception from sequential learning and examining the influence of attention and musical abilities on ERP responses to rhythm.

PubMed

Bouwer, Fleur L; Werner, Carola M; Knetemann, Myrthe; Honing, Henkjan

2016-05-01

Beat perception is the ability to perceive temporal regularity in musical rhythm. When a beat is perceived, predictions about upcoming events can be generated. These predictions can influence processing of subsequent rhythmic events. However, statistical learning of the order of sounds in a sequence can also affect processing of rhythmic events and must be differentiated from beat perception. In the current study, using EEG, we examined the effects of attention and musical abilities on beat perception. To ensure we measured beat perception and not absolute perception of temporal intervals, we used alternating loud and soft tones to create a rhythm with two hierarchical metrical levels. To control for sequential learning of the order of the different sounds, we used temporally regular (isochronous) and jittered rhythmic sequences. The order of sounds was identical in both conditions, but only the regular condition allowed for the perception of a beat. Unexpected intensity decrements were introduced on the beat and offbeat. In the regular condition, both beat perception and sequential learning were expected to enhance detection of these deviants on the beat. In the jittered condition, only sequential learning was expected to affect processing of the deviants. ERP responses to deviants were larger on the beat than offbeat in both conditions. Importantly, this difference was larger in the regular condition than in the jittered condition, suggesting that beat perception influenced responses to rhythmic events in addition to sequential learning. The influence of beat perception was present both with and without attention directed at the rhythm. Moreover, beat perception as measured with ERPs correlated with musical abilities, but only when attention was directed at the stimuli. Our study shows that beat perception is possible when attention is not directed at a rhythm. In addition, our results suggest that attention may mediate the influence of musical abilities on beat perception. Copyright © 2016 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

Vibrotactile Discrimination of Musical Timbre

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Russo, Frank A.; Ammirante, Paolo; Fels, Deborah I.

2012-01-01

Five experiments investigated the ability to discriminate between musical timbres based on vibrotactile stimulation alone. Participants made same/different judgments on pairs of complex waveforms presented sequentially to the back through voice coils embedded in a conforming chair. Discrimination between cello, piano, and trombone tones matched…

Randomized Controlled Trials in Music Therapy: Guidelines for Design and Implementation.

PubMed

Bradt, Joke

2012-01-01

Evidence from randomized controlled trials (RCTs) plays a powerful role in today's healthcare industry. At the same time, it is important that multiple types of evidence contribute to music therapy's knowledge base and that the dialogue of clinical effectiveness in music therapy is not dominated by the biomedical hierarchical model of evidence-based practice. Whether or not one agrees with the hierarchical model of evidence in the current healthcare climate, RCTs can contribute important knowledge to our field. Therefore, it is important that music therapists are prepared to design trials that meet current methodological standards and, equally important, are able to respond appropriately to those design aspects that may not be feasible in music therapy research. To provide practical guidelines to music therapy researchers for the design and implementation of RCTs as well as to enable music therapists to be well-informed consumers of RCT evidence. This article reviews key design aspects of RCTs and discusses how to best implement these standards in music therapy trials. A systematic presentation of basic randomization methods, allocation concealment strategies, issues related to blinding in music therapy trials and strategies for implementation, the use of treatment manuals, types of control groups, outcome selection, and sample size computation is provided. Despite the challenges of meeting all key design demands typical of an RCT, it is possible to design rigorous music therapy RCTs that accurately estimate music therapy treatment benefits.

The psychological functions of music listening

PubMed Central

Schäfer, Thomas; Sedlmeier, Peter; Städtler, Christine; Huron, David

2013-01-01

Why do people listen to music? Over the past several decades, scholars have proposed numerous functions that listening to music might fulfill. However, different theoretical approaches, different methods, and different samples have left a heterogeneous picture regarding the number and nature of musical functions. Moreover, there remains no agreement about the underlying dimensions of these functions. Part one of the paper reviews the research contributions that have explicitly referred to musical functions. It is concluded that a comprehensive investigation addressing the basic dimensions underlying the plethora of functions of music listening is warranted. Part two of the paper presents an empirical investigation of hundreds of functions that could be extracted from the reviewed contributions. These functions were distilled to 129 non-redundant functions that were then rated by 834 respondents. Principal component analysis suggested three distinct underlying dimensions: People listen to music to regulate arousal and mood, to achieve self-awareness, and as an expression of social relatedness. The first and second dimensions were judged to be much more important than the third—a result that contrasts with the idea that music has evolved primarily as a means for social cohesion and communication. The implications of these results are discussed in light of theories on the origin and the functionality of music listening and also for the application of musical stimuli in all areas of psychology and for research in music cognition. PMID:23964257

Serotonin 2A Receptor Signaling Underlies LSD-induced Alteration of the Neural Response to Dynamic Changes in Music.

PubMed

Barrett, Frederick S; Preller, Katrin H; Herdener, Marcus; Janata, Petr; Vollenweider, Franz X

2017-09-28

Classic psychedelic drugs (serotonin 2A, or 5HT2A, receptor agonists) have notable effects on music listening. In the current report, blood oxygen level-dependent (BOLD) signal was collected during music listening in 25 healthy adults after administration of placebo, lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD), and LSD pretreated with the 5HT2A antagonist ketanserin, to investigate the role of 5HT2A receptor signaling in the neural response to the time-varying tonal structure of music. Tonality-tracking analysis of BOLD data revealed that 5HT2A receptor signaling alters the neural response to music in brain regions supporting basic and higher-level musical and auditory processing, and areas involved in memory, emotion, and self-referential processing. This suggests a critical role of 5HT2A receptor signaling in supporting the neural tracking of dynamic tonal structure in music, as well as in supporting the associated increases in emotionality, connectedness, and meaningfulness in response to music that are commonly observed after the administration of LSD and other psychedelics. Together, these findings inform the neuropsychopharmacology of music perception and cognition, meaningful music listening experiences, and altered perception of music during psychedelic experiences. © The Author 2017. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Audiovisual Interval Size Estimation Is Associated with Early Musical Training.

PubMed

Abel, Mary Kathryn; Li, H Charles; Russo, Frank A; Schlaug, Gottfried; Loui, Psyche

2016-01-01

Although pitch is a fundamental attribute of auditory perception, substantial individual differences exist in our ability to perceive differences in pitch. Little is known about how these individual differences in the auditory modality might affect crossmodal processes such as audiovisual perception. In this study, we asked whether individual differences in pitch perception might affect audiovisual perception, as it relates to age of onset and number of years of musical training. Fifty-seven subjects made subjective ratings of interval size when given point-light displays of audio, visual, and audiovisual stimuli of sung intervals. Audiovisual stimuli were divided into congruent and incongruent (audiovisual-mismatched) stimuli. Participants' ratings correlated strongly with interval size in audio-only, visual-only, and audiovisual-congruent conditions. In the audiovisual-incongruent condition, ratings correlated more with audio than with visual stimuli, particularly for subjects who had better pitch perception abilities and higher nonverbal IQ scores. To further investigate the effects of age of onset and length of musical training, subjects were divided into musically trained and untrained groups. Results showed that among subjects with musical training, the degree to which participants' ratings correlated with auditory interval size during incongruent audiovisual perception was correlated with both nonverbal IQ and age of onset of musical training. After partialing out nonverbal IQ, pitch discrimination thresholds were no longer associated with incongruent audio scores, whereas age of onset of musical training remained associated with incongruent audio scores. These findings invite future research on the developmental effects of musical training, particularly those relating to the process of audiovisual perception.

Audiovisual Interval Size Estimation Is Associated with Early Musical Training

PubMed Central

Abel, Mary Kathryn; Li, H. Charles; Russo, Frank A.; Schlaug, Gottfried; Loui, Psyche

2016-01-01

Although pitch is a fundamental attribute of auditory perception, substantial individual differences exist in our ability to perceive differences in pitch. Little is known about how these individual differences in the auditory modality might affect crossmodal processes such as audiovisual perception. In this study, we asked whether individual differences in pitch perception might affect audiovisual perception, as it relates to age of onset and number of years of musical training. Fifty-seven subjects made subjective ratings of interval size when given point-light displays of audio, visual, and audiovisual stimuli of sung intervals. Audiovisual stimuli were divided into congruent and incongruent (audiovisual-mismatched) stimuli. Participants’ ratings correlated strongly with interval size in audio-only, visual-only, and audiovisual-congruent conditions. In the audiovisual-incongruent condition, ratings correlated more with audio than with visual stimuli, particularly for subjects who had better pitch perception abilities and higher nonverbal IQ scores. To further investigate the effects of age of onset and length of musical training, subjects were divided into musically trained and untrained groups. Results showed that among subjects with musical training, the degree to which participants’ ratings correlated with auditory interval size during incongruent audiovisual perception was correlated with both nonverbal IQ and age of onset of musical training. After partialing out nonverbal IQ, pitch discrimination thresholds were no longer associated with incongruent audio scores, whereas age of onset of musical training remained associated with incongruent audio scores. These findings invite future research on the developmental effects of musical training, particularly those relating to the process of audiovisual perception. PMID:27760134

Longitudinal Analysis of Music Education on Executive Functions in Primary School Children

PubMed Central

Jaschke, Artur C.; Honing, Henkjan; Scherder, Erik J. A.

2018-01-01

Background: Research on the effects of music education on cognitive abilities has generated increasing interest across the scientific community. Nonetheless, longitudinal studies investigating the effects of structured music education on cognitive sub-functions are still rare. Prime candidates for investigating a relationship between academic achievement and music education appear to be executive functions such as planning, working memory, and inhibition. Methods: One hundred and forty-seven primary school children, Mage = 6.4 years, SD = 0.65 were followed for 2.5 years. Participants were randomized into four groups: two music intervention groups, one active visual arts group, and a no arts control group. Neuropsychological tests assessed verbal intelligence and executive functions. Additionally, a national pupil monitor provided data on academic performance. Results: Children in the visual arts group perform better on visuospatial memory tasks as compared to the three other conditions. However, the test scores on inhibition, planning and verbal intelligence increased significantly in the two music groups over time as compared to the visual art and no arts controls. Mediation analysis with executive functions and verbal IQ as mediator for academic performance have shown a possible far transfer effect from executive sub-function to academic performance scores. Discussion: The present results indicate a positive influence of long-term music education on cognitive abilities such as inhibition and planning. Of note, following a two-and-a-half year long visual arts program significantly improves scores on a visuospatial memory task. All results combined, this study supports a far transfer effect from music education to academic achievement mediated by executive sub-functions. PMID:29541017

Longitudinal Analysis of Music Education on Executive Functions in Primary School Children.

PubMed

Jaschke, Artur C; Honing, Henkjan; Scherder, Erik J A

2018-01-01

Background: Research on the effects of music education on cognitive abilities has generated increasing interest across the scientific community. Nonetheless, longitudinal studies investigating the effects of structured music education on cognitive sub-functions are still rare. Prime candidates for investigating a relationship between academic achievement and music education appear to be executive functions such as planning, working memory, and inhibition. Methods: One hundred and forty-seven primary school children, M age = 6.4 years, SD = 0.65 were followed for 2.5 years. Participants were randomized into four groups: two music intervention groups, one active visual arts group, and a no arts control group. Neuropsychological tests assessed verbal intelligence and executive functions. Additionally, a national pupil monitor provided data on academic performance. Results: Children in the visual arts group perform better on visuospatial memory tasks as compared to the three other conditions. However, the test scores on inhibition, planning and verbal intelligence increased significantly in the two music groups over time as compared to the visual art and no arts controls. Mediation analysis with executive functions and verbal IQ as mediator for academic performance have shown a possible far transfer effect from executive sub-function to academic performance scores. Discussion: The present results indicate a positive influence of long-term music education on cognitive abilities such as inhibition and planning. Of note, following a two-and-a-half year long visual arts program significantly improves scores on a visuospatial memory task. All results combined, this study supports a far transfer effect from music education to academic achievement mediated by executive sub-functions.

Mozart effect, cognitive dissonance, and the pleasure of music.

PubMed

Perlovsky, Leonid; Cabanac, Arnaud; Bonniot-Cabanac, Marie-Claude; Cabanac, Michel

2013-05-01

We explore a possibility that the 'Mozart effect' points to a fundamental cognitive function of music. Would such an effect of music be due to the hedonicity, a fundamental dimension of mental experience? The present paper explores a recent hypothesis that music helps to tolerate cognitive dissonances and thus enabled accumulation of knowledge and human cultural evolution. We studied whether the influence of music is related to its hedonicity and whether pleasant or unpleasant music would influence scholarly test performance and cognitive dissonance. Specific hypotheses evaluated in this study are that during a test students experience contradictory cognitions that cause cognitive dissonances. If some music helps to tolerate cognitive dissonances, then first, this music should increase the duration during which participants can tolerate stressful conditions while evaluating test choices. Second, this should result in improved performance. These hypotheses are tentatively confirmed in the reported experiments as the agreeable music was correlated with longer duration of tests under stressful conditions and better performance above that under indifferent or unpleasant music. It follows that music likely performs a fundamental cognitive function explaining the origin and evolution of musical ability that have been considered a mystery. Published by Elsevier B.V.

When music is salty: The crossmodal associations between sound and taste

PubMed Central

Guetta, Rachel; Loui, Psyche

2017-01-01

Here we investigate associations between complex auditory and complex taste stimuli. A novel piece of music was composed and recorded in four different styles of musical articulation to reflect the four basic tastes groups (sweet, sour, salty, bitter). In Experiment 1, participants performed above chance at pairing the music clips with corresponding taste words. Experiment 2 uses multidimensional scaling to interpret how participants categorize these musical stimuli, and to show that auditory categories can be organized in a similar manner as taste categories. Experiment 3 introduces four different flavors of custom-made chocolate ganache and shows that participants can match music clips with the corresponding taste stimuli with above-chance accuracy. Experiment 4 demonstrates the partial role of pleasantness in crossmodal mappings between sound and taste. The present findings confirm that individuals are able to make crossmodal associations between complex auditory and gustatory stimuli, and that valence may mediate multisensory integration in the general population. PMID:28355227

Influence of Tempo and Rhythmic Unit in Musical Emotion Regulation.

PubMed

Fernández-Sotos, Alicia; Fernández-Caballero, Antonio; Latorre, José M

2016-01-01

This article is based on the assumption of musical power to change the listener's mood. The paper studies the outcome of two experiments on the regulation of emotional states in a series of participants who listen to different auditions. The present research focuses on note value, an important musical cue related to rhythm. The influence of two concepts linked to note value is analyzed separately and discussed together. The two musical cues under investigation are tempo and rhythmic unit. The participants are asked to label music fragments by using opposite meaningful words belonging to four semantic scales, namely "Tension" (ranging from Relaxing to Stressing), "Expressiveness" (Expressionless to Expressive), "Amusement" (Boring to Amusing) and "Attractiveness" (Pleasant to Unpleasant). The participants also have to indicate how much they feel certain basic emotions while listening to each music excerpt. The rated emotions are "Happiness," "Surprise," and "Sadness." This study makes it possible to draw some interesting conclusions about the associations between note value and emotions.

Emotions over time: synchronicity and development of subjective, physiological, and facial affective reactions to music.

PubMed

Grewe, Oliver; Nagel, Frederik; Kopiez, Reinhard; Altenmüller, Eckart

2007-11-01

Most people are able to identify basic emotions expressed in music and experience affective reactions to music. But does music generally induce emotion? Does it elicit subjective feelings, physiological arousal, and motor reactions reliably in different individuals? In this interdisciplinary study, measurement of skin conductance, facial muscle activity, and self-monitoring were synchronized with musical stimuli. A group of 38 participants listened to classical, rock, and pop music and reported their feelings in a two-dimensional emotion space during listening. The first entrance of a solo voice or choir and the beginning of new sections were found to elicit interindividual changes in subjective feelings and physiological arousal. Quincy Jones' "Bossa Nova" motivated movement and laughing in more than half of the participants. Bodily reactions such as "goose bumps" and "shivers" could be stimulated by the "Tuba Mirum" from Mozart's Requiem in 7 of 38 participants. In addition, the authors repeated the experiment seven times with one participant to examine intraindividual stability of effects. This exploratory combination of approaches throws a new light on the astonishing complexity of affective music listening.

The acquisition process of musical tonal schema: implications from connectionist modeling.

PubMed

Matsunaga, Rie; Hartono, Pitoyo; Abe, Jun-Ichi

2015-01-01

Using connectionist modeling, we address fundamental questions concerning the acquisition process of musical tonal schema of listeners. Compared to models of previous studies, our connectionist model (Learning Network for Tonal Schema, LeNTS) was better equipped to fulfill three basic requirements. Specifically, LeNTS was equipped with a learning mechanism, bound by culture-general properties, and trained by sufficient melody materials. When exposed to Western music, LeNTS acquired musical 'scale' sensitivity early and 'harmony' sensitivity later. The order of acquisition of scale and harmony sensitivities shown by LeNTS was consistent with the culture-specific acquisition order shown by musically westernized children. The implications of these results for the acquisition process of a tonal schema of listeners are as follows: (a) the acquisition process may entail small and incremental changes, rather than large and stage-like changes, in corresponding neural circuits; (b) the speed of schema acquisition may mainly depend on musical experiences rather than maturation; and (c) the learning principles of schema acquisition may be culturally invariant while the acquired tonal schemas are varied with exposed culture-specific music.

Mixed methods research in music therapy research.

PubMed

Bradt, Joke; Burns, Debra S; Creswell, John W

2013-01-01

Music therapists have an ethical and professional responsibility to provide the highest quality care possible to their patients. Much of the time, high quality care is guided by evidence-based practice standards that integrate the most current, available research in making decisions. Accordingly, music therapists need research that integrates multiple ways of knowing and forms of evidence. Mixed methods research holds great promise for facilitating such integration. At this time, there have not been any methodological articles published on mixed methods research in music therapy. The purpose of this article is to introduce mixed methods research as an approach to address research questions relevant to music therapy practice. This article describes the core characteristics of mixed methods research, considers paradigmatic issues related to this research approach, articulates major challenges in conducting mixed methods research, illustrates four basic designs, and provides criteria for evaluating the quality of mixed methods articles using examples of mixed methods research from the music therapy literature. Mixed methods research offers unique opportunities for strengthening the evidence base in music therapy. Recommendations are provided to ensure rigorous implementation of this research approach.

The acquisition process of musical tonal schema: implications from connectionist modeling

PubMed Central

Matsunaga, Rie; Hartono, Pitoyo; Abe, Jun-ichi

2015-01-01

Using connectionist modeling, we address fundamental questions concerning the acquisition process of musical tonal schema of listeners. Compared to models of previous studies, our connectionist model (Learning Network for Tonal Schema, LeNTS) was better equipped to fulfill three basic requirements. Specifically, LeNTS was equipped with a learning mechanism, bound by culture-general properties, and trained by sufficient melody materials. When exposed to Western music, LeNTS acquired musical ‘scale’ sensitivity early and ‘harmony’ sensitivity later. The order of acquisition of scale and harmony sensitivities shown by LeNTS was consistent with the culture-specific acquisition order shown by musically westernized children. The implications of these results for the acquisition process of a tonal schema of listeners are as follows: (a) the acquisition process may entail small and incremental changes, rather than large and stage-like changes, in corresponding neural circuits; (b) the speed of schema acquisition may mainly depend on musical experiences rather than maturation; and (c) the learning principles of schema acquisition may be culturally invariant while the acquired tonal schemas are varied with exposed culture-specific music. PMID:26441725

Perception of Leitmotives in Richard Wagner's Der Ring des Nibelungen.

PubMed

Baker, David J; Müllensiefen, Daniel

2017-01-01

The music of Richard Wagner tends to generate very diverse judgments indicative of the complex relationship between listeners and the sophisticated musical structures in Wagner's music. This paper presents findings from two listening experiments using the music from Wagner's Der Ring des Nibelungen that explores musical as well as individual listener parameters to better understand how listeners are able to hear leitmotives, a compositional device closely associated with Wagner's music. Results confirm findings from a previous experiment showing that specific expertise with Wagner's music can account for a greater portion of the variance in an individual's ability to recognize and remember musical material compared to measures of generic musical training. Results also explore how acoustical distance of the leitmotives affects memory recognition using a chroma similarity measure. In addition, we show how characteristics of the compositional structure of the leitmotives contributes to their salience and memorability. A final model is then presented that accounts for the aforementioned individual differences factors, as well as parameters of musical surface and structure. Our results suggest that that future work in music perception may consider both individual differences variables beyond musical training, as well as symbolic features and audio commonly used in music information retrieval in order to build robust models of musical perception and cognition.

Musical Imagery Involves Wernicke's Area in Bilateral and Anti-Correlated Network Interactions in Musicians.

PubMed

Zhang, Yizhen; Chen, Gang; Wen, Haiguang; Lu, Kun-Han; Liu, Zhongming

2017-12-06

Musical imagery is the human experience of imagining music without actually hearing it. The neural basis of this mental ability is unclear, especially for musicians capable of engaging in accurate and vivid musical imagery. Here, we created a visualization of an 8-minute symphony as a silent movie and used it as real-time cue for musicians to continuously imagine the music for repeated and synchronized sessions during functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). The activations and networks evoked by musical imagery were compared with those elicited by the subjects directly listening to the same music. Musical imagery and musical perception resulted in overlapping activations at the anterolateral belt and Wernicke's area, where the responses were correlated with the auditory features of the music. Whereas Wernicke's area interacted within the intrinsic auditory network during musical perception, it was involved in much more complex networks during musical imagery, showing positive correlations with the dorsal attention network and the motor-control network and negative correlations with the default-mode network. Our results highlight the important role of Wernicke's area in forming vivid musical imagery through bilateral and anti-correlated network interactions, challenging the conventional view of segregated and lateralized processing of music versus language.

Perception of Leitmotives in Richard Wagner's Der Ring des Nibelungen

PubMed Central

Baker, David J.; Müllensiefen, Daniel

2017-01-01

The music of Richard Wagner tends to generate very diverse judgments indicative of the complex relationship between listeners and the sophisticated musical structures in Wagner's music. This paper presents findings from two listening experiments using the music from Wagner's Der Ring des Nibelungen that explores musical as well as individual listener parameters to better understand how listeners are able to hear leitmotives, a compositional device closely associated with Wagner's music. Results confirm findings from a previous experiment showing that specific expertise with Wagner's music can account for a greater portion of the variance in an individual's ability to recognize and remember musical material compared to measures of generic musical training. Results also explore how acoustical distance of the leitmotives affects memory recognition using a chroma similarity measure. In addition, we show how characteristics of the compositional structure of the leitmotives contributes to their salience and memorability. A final model is then presented that accounts for the aforementioned individual differences factors, as well as parameters of musical surface and structure. Our results suggest that that future work in music perception may consider both individual differences variables beyond musical training, as well as symbolic features and audio commonly used in music information retrieval in order to build robust models of musical perception and cognition. PMID:28522981

Not all sounds sound the same: Parkinson's disease affects differently emotion processing in music and in speech prosody.

PubMed

Lima, César F; Garrett, Carolina; Castro, São Luís

2013-01-01

Does emotion processing in music and speech prosody recruit common neurocognitive mechanisms? To examine this question, we implemented a cross-domain comparative design in Parkinson's disease (PD). Twenty-four patients and 25 controls performed emotion recognition tasks for music and spoken sentences. In music, patients had impaired recognition of happiness and peacefulness, and intact recognition of sadness and fear; this pattern was independent of general cognitive and perceptual abilities. In speech, patients had a small global impairment, which was significantly mediated by executive dysfunction. Hence, PD affected differently musical and prosodic emotions. This dissociation indicates that the mechanisms underlying the two domains are partly independent.

[Emotional response to music by postlingually-deafened adult cochlear implant users].

PubMed

Wang, Shuo; Dong, Ruijuan; Zhou, Yun; Li, Jing; Qi, Beier; Liu, Bo

2012-10-01

To assess the emotional response to music by postlingually-deafened adult cochlear implant users. Munich music questionnaire (MUMU) was used to match the music experience and the motivation of use of music between 12 normal-hearing and 12 cochlear implant subjects. Emotion rating test in Musical Sounds in Cochlear Implants (MuSIC) test battery was used to assess the emotion perception ability for both normal-hearing and cochlear implant subjects. A total of 15 pieces of music phases were used. Responses were given by selecting the rating scales from 1 to 10. "1" represents "very sad" feeling, and "10" represents "very happy feeling. In comparison with normal-hearing subjects, 12 cochlear implant subjects made less active use of music for emotional purpose. The emotion ratings for cochlear implant subjects were similar to normal-hearing subjects, but with large variability. Post-lingually deafened cochlear implant subjects on average performed similarly in emotion rating tasks relative to normal-hearing subjects, but their active use of music for emotional purpose was obviously less than normal-hearing subjects.

Brain disorders and the biological role of music.

PubMed

Clark, Camilla N; Downey, Laura E; Warren, Jason D

2015-03-01

Despite its evident universality and high social value, the ultimate biological role of music and its connection to brain disorders remain poorly understood. Recent findings from basic neuroscience have shed fresh light on these old problems. New insights provided by clinical neuroscience concerning the effects of brain disorders promise to be particularly valuable in uncovering the underlying cognitive and neural architecture of music and for assessing candidate accounts of the biological role of music. Here we advance a new model of the biological role of music in human evolution and the link to brain disorders, drawing on diverse lines of evidence derived from comparative ethology, cognitive neuropsychology and neuroimaging studies in the normal and the disordered brain. We propose that music evolved from the call signals of our hominid ancestors as a means mentally to rehearse and predict potentially costly, affectively laden social routines in surrogate, coded, low-cost form: essentially, a mechanism for transforming emotional mental states efficiently and adaptively into social signals. This biological role of music has its legacy today in the disordered processing of music and mental states that characterizes certain developmental and acquired clinical syndromes of brain network disintegration. © The Author (2014). Published by Oxford University Press.

Brain disorders and the biological role of music

PubMed Central

Clark, Camilla N.; Downey, Laura E.

2015-01-01

Despite its evident universality and high social value, the ultimate biological role of music and its connection to brain disorders remain poorly understood. Recent findings from basic neuroscience have shed fresh light on these old problems. New insights provided by clinical neuroscience concerning the effects of brain disorders promise to be particularly valuable in uncovering the underlying cognitive and neural architecture of music and for assessing candidate accounts of the biological role of music. Here we advance a new model of the biological role of music in human evolution and the link to brain disorders, drawing on diverse lines of evidence derived from comparative ethology, cognitive neuropsychology and neuroimaging studies in the normal and the disordered brain. We propose that music evolved from the call signals of our hominid ancestors as a means mentally to rehearse and predict potentially costly, affectively laden social routines in surrogate, coded, low-cost form: essentially, a mechanism for transforming emotional mental states efficiently and adaptively into social signals. This biological role of music has its legacy today in the disordered processing of music and mental states that characterizes certain developmental and acquired clinical syndromes of brain network disintegration. PMID:24847111

Comparison of L-system applications towards plant modelling, music rendering and score generation using visual language programming

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lim, Chen Kim; Tan, Kian Lam; Yusran, Hazwanni; Suppramaniam, Vicknesh

2017-10-01

Visual language or visual representation has been used in the past few years in order to express the knowledge in graphic. One of the important graphical elements is fractal and L-Systems is a mathematic-based grammatical model for modelling cell development and plant topology. From the plant model, L-Systems can be interpreted as music sound and score. In this paper, LSound which is a Visual Language Programming (VLP) framework has been developed to model plant to music sound and generate music score and vice versa. The objectives of this research has three folds: (i) To expand the grammar dictionary of L-Systems music based on visual programming, (ii) To design and produce a user-friendly and icon based visual language framework typically for L-Systems musical score generation which helps the basic learners in musical field and (iii) To generate music score from plant models and vice versa using L-Systems method. This research undergoes a four phases methodology where the plant is first modelled, then the music is interpreted, followed by the output of music sound through MIDI and finally score is generated. LSound is technically compared to other existing applications in the aspects of the capability of modelling the plant, rendering the music and generating the sound. It has been found that LSound is a flexible framework in which the plant can be easily altered through arrow-based programming and the music score can be altered through the music symbols and notes. This work encourages non-experts to understand L-Systems and music hand-in-hand.

Music therapy in cardiac health care: current issues in research.

PubMed

Hanser, Suzanne B

2014-01-01

Music therapy is a service that has become more prevalent as an adjunct to medical practice-as its evidence base expands and music therapists begin to join the cardiology team in every phase of care, from the most serious cases to those maintaining good heart health. Although applications of music medicine, primarily listening to short segments of music, are capable of stabilizing vital signs and managing symptoms in the short-term, music therapy interventions by a qualified practitioner are showing promise in establishing deeper and more lasting impact. On the basis of mind-body approaches, stress/coping models, the neuromatrix theory of pain, and entrainment, music therapy capitalizes on the ability of music to affect the autonomic nervous system. Although only a limited number of randomized controlled trials pinpoint the efficacy of specific music therapy interventions, qualitative research reveals some profound outcomes in certain individuals. A depth of understanding related to the experience of living with a cardiovascular disease can be gained through music therapy approaches such as nonverbal music psychotherapy and guided imagery and music. The multifaceted nature of musical responsiveness contributes to strong individual variability and must be taken into account in the development of research protocols for future music therapy and music medicine interventions. The extant research provides a foundation for exploring the many potential psychosocial, physiological, and spiritual outcomes of a music therapy service for cardiology patients.

The Discrimination of Pitch in Pulse Trains and Speech

DTIC Science & Technology

1984-04-12

music from their corresponding abilities with the simpler sounds which could serve as the •’• components of the more complex ones (p. 175). Two...reported normal hearing. Previous researchers have found that, on tests of tone or melody-sequence perception, musically trained subjects perform better...than individuals who have not had musical training (e.g. Stucker, 1980; Raz and Brandt, 1977; Zatorre, 1979). For this reason, subjects were asked to

Effect of audiovisual distraction with 3D video glasses on dental anxiety of children experiencing administration of local analgesia: a randomised clinical trial.

PubMed

Nuvvula, S; Alahari, S; Kamatham, R; Challa, R R

2015-02-01

To determine the effect of three-dimensional (3D) audiovisual (AV) distraction in reducing dental anxiety of children. A randomised clinical trial with a parallel design carried out on 90 children (49 boys and 41 girls) aged between 7 and 10 years (mean age of 8.4 years) to ascertain the comparative efficacy of audio (music) and AV (3D video glasses) distraction in reducing the dental anxiety of children during local analgesia (LA) administration. Ninety children were randomly divided into three groups; control (basic behaviour guidance techniques without distraction), audio (basic techniques plus music) and AV (basic techniques plus 3D AV) distraction groups. All the children experienced LA administration with/without distraction and the anxiety was assessed using a combination of measures: MCDAS(f) (self-report), pulse rate (physiological), behaviour (using Wright's modification of Frankl behaviour rating scale and Houpt scale) and preferences of children. All 90 children completed the study. A highly significant reduction in the anxiety of audiovisual group as reported by the MCDAS(f) values (p<0.001) and Houpt scale (p=0.003); whereas pulse rate showed statistically significant increase (p<0.001) in all the three groups irrespective of distraction. The child preferences also affirmed the usage of 3D video glasses. LA administration with music or 3D video glasses distraction had an added advantage in a majority of children with 3D video glasses being superior to music. High levels of satisfaction from children who experienced treatment with 3D video glasses were also observed.

Hemispheric Laterality in Music and Math

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Szirony, Gary Michael; Burgin, John S.; Pearson, L. Carolyn

2008-01-01

Hemispheric laterality may be a useful concept in teaching, learning, training, and in understanding more about human development. To address this issue, a measure of hemispheric laterality was compared to musical and mathematical ability. The Human Information Processing Survey (HIPS) instrument, designed to measure hemispheric laterality, was…

A dynamically minimalist cognitive explanation of musical preference: is familiarity everything?

PubMed Central

Schubert, Emery; Hargreaves, David J.; North, Adrian C.

2014-01-01

This paper examines the idea that attraction to music is generated at a cognitive level through the formation and activation of networks of interlinked “nodes.” Although the networks involved are vast, the basic mechanism for activating the links is relatively simple. Two comprehensive cognitive-behavioral models of musical engagement are examined with the aim of identifying the underlying cognitive mechanisms and processes involved in musical experience. A “dynamical minimalism” approach (after Nowak, 2004) is applied to re-interpret musical engagement (listening, performing, composing, or imagining any of these) and to revise the latest version of the reciprocal-feedback model (RFM) of music processing. Specifically, a single cognitive mechanism of “spreading activation” through previously associated networks is proposed as a pleasurable outcome of musical engagement. This mechanism underlies the dynamic interaction of the various components of the RFM, and can thereby explain the generation of positive affects in the listener’s musical experience. This includes determinants of that experience stemming from the characteristics of the individual engaging in the musical activity (whether listener, composer, improviser, or performer), the situation and contexts (e.g., social factors), and the music (e.g., genre, structural features). The theory calls for new directions for future research, two being (1) further investigation of the components of the RFM to better understand musical experience and (2) more rigorous scrutiny of common findings about the salience of familiarity in musical experience and preference. PMID:24567723

A descriptive study of Myers-Briggs personality types of professional music educators and music therapists with comparisons to undergraduate majors.

PubMed

Steele, Anita Louise; Young, Sylvester

2011-01-01

The purpose of the current study was to determine personality types and demographic characteristics of professional music educators and music therapists. The researchers also sought to determine if personality types of professionals were consistent with undergraduate majors in those fields and personal characteristics as suggested by The Music Education National Conference (MENC) and the American Music Therapy Association (AMTA). The research of Steele and Young (2008) found strong similarities and some differences between undergraduate music education and music therapy students. The possibility that basic types extend across the life span may strengthen understanding of job satisfaction, stress, burn out and other factors affecting retention. Participants were a voluntary convenience sample of 253 music educators (n=110) and music therapists (n=143). The highest preference for music educators was Extrovert-Intuition-Feeling-Judgment (ENFJ) and the highest preference for music therapists was Introvert-Intuition-Feeling-Judgment (INFJ). The difference in the collective type of each group was their "outlook on life", which was either Extrovert or Introvert. However, both groups were the same in their secondary type functions of "NFJ". A comparison of findings with the Steele and Young (2008) study suggested small changes in personality type over time. Caution must be exercised in generalizing findings; however this descriptive investigation may serve as the basis for future studies, which should help foster a stable work force in these professions.

Exploring Musical Activities and Their Relationship to Emotional Well-Being in Elderly People across Europe: A Study Protocol.

PubMed

Grau-Sánchez, Jennifer; Foley, Meabh; Hlavová, Renata; Muukkonen, Ilkka; Ojinaga-Alfageme, Olatz; Radukic, Andrijana; Spindler, Melanie; Hundevad, Bodil

2017-01-01

Music is a powerful, pleasurable stimulus that can induce positive feelings and can therefore be used for emotional self-regulation. Musical activities such as listening to music, playing an instrument, singing or dancing are also an important source for social contact, promoting interaction and the sense of belonging with others. Recent evidence has suggested that after retirement, other functions of music, such as self-conceptual processing related to autobiographical memories, become more salient. However, few studies have addressed the meaningfulness of music in the elderly. This study aims to investigate elderly people's habits and preferences related to music, study the role music plays in their everyday life, and explore the relationship between musical activities and emotional well-being across different countries of Europe. A survey will be administered to elderly people over the age of 65 from five different European countries (Bosnia and Herzegovina, Czechia, Germany, Ireland, and UK) and to a control group. Participants in both groups will be asked about basic sociodemographic information, habits and preferences in their participation in musical activities and emotional well-being. Overall, the aim of this study is to gain a deeper understanding of the role of music in the elderly from a psychological perspective. This advanced knowledge could help to develop therapeutic applications, such as musical recreational programs for healthy older people or elderly in residential care, which are better able to meet their emotional and social needs.

Anhedonia to music and mu-opioids: Evidence from the administration of naltrexone

PubMed Central

Mallik, Adiel; Chanda, Mona Lisa; Levitin, Daniel J.

2017-01-01

Music’s universality and its ability to deeply affect emotions suggest an evolutionary origin. Previous investigators have found that naltrexone (NTX), a μ-opioid antagonist, may induce reversible anhedonia, attenuating both positive and negative emotions. The neurochemical basis of musical experience is not well-understood, and the NTX-induced anhedonia hypothesis has not been tested with music. Accordingly, we administered NTX or placebo on two different days in a double-blind crossover study, and assessed participants’ responses to music using both psychophysiological (objective) and behavioral (subjective) measures. We found that both positive and negative emotions were attenuated. We conclude that endogenous opioids are critical to experiencing both positive and negative emotions in music, and that music uses the same reward pathways as food, drug and sexual pleasure. Our findings add to the growing body of evidence for the evolutionary biological substrates of music. PMID:28176798

Impaired learning of event frequencies in tone deafness

PubMed Central

Loui, Psyche; Schlaug, Gottfried

2013-01-01

Musical knowledge is ubiquitous, effortless, and implicitly acquired all over the world via exposure to musical materials in one’s culture. In contrast, one group of individuals who show insensitivity to music, specifically the inability to discriminate pitches and melodies, is the tone-deaf. In this study, we asked whether difficulties in pitch and melody discrimination among the tone-deaf could be related to learning difficulties, and, if so, what processes of learning might be affected in the tone-deaf. We investigated the learning of frequency information in a new musical system in tone-deaf individuals and matched controls. Results showed significantly impaired learning abilities in frequency matching in the tone-deaf. This impairment was positively correlated with the severity of tone deafness as assessed by the Montreal Battery for Evaluation of Amusia. Taken together, the results suggest that tone deafness is characterized by an impaired ability to acquire frequency information from pitched materials in the sound environment. PMID:22524379

Impaired learning of event frequencies in tone deafness.

PubMed

Loui, Psyche; Schlaug, Gottfried

2012-04-01

Musical knowledge is ubiquitous, effortless, and implicitly acquired all over the world via exposure to musical materials in one's culture. In contrast, one group of individuals who show insensitivity to music, specifically the inability to discriminate pitches and melodies, is the tone-deaf. In this study, we asked whether difficulties in pitch and melody discrimination among the tone-deaf could be related to learning difficulties, and, if so, what processes of learning might be affected in the tone-deaf. We investigated the learning of frequency information in a new musical system in tone-deaf individuals and matched controls. Results showed significantly impaired learning abilities in frequency matching in the tone-deaf. This impairment was positively correlated with the severity of tone deafness as assessed by the Montreal Battery for Evaluation of Amusia. Taken together, the results suggest that tone deafness is characterized by an impaired ability to acquire frequency information from pitched materials in the sound environment. © 2012 New York Academy of Sciences.

Absolute pitch in children prior to the beginning of musical training.

PubMed

Ross, David A; Marks, Lawrence E

2009-07-01

Absolute pitch (AP) is a rare skill, historically defined as the ability to name notes. Until now, methodologic limitations made it impossible to directly test the extent to which the development of AP depends on musical training. Using a new paradigm, we tested children with minimal musical experience. Although most children performed poorly, two performed comparably to adult possessors of AP. Follow-up testing showed that the performance of both children progressed to that of "classic" AP. These data support the theory that AP can result from differences in the encoding of stimulus frequency that are independent of musical experience.

A nonmusical paradigm for identifying absolute pitch possessors

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ross, David A.; Olson, Ingrid R.; Marks, Lawrence E.; Gore, John C.

2004-09-01

The ability to identify and reproduce sounds of specific frequencies is remarkable and uncommon. The etiology and defining characteristics of this skill, absolute pitch (AP), have been very controversial. One theory suggests that AP requires a specific type of early musical training and that the ability to encode and remember tones depends on these learned musical associations. An alternate theory argues that AP may be strongly dependent on hereditary factors and relatively independent of musical experience. To date, it has been difficult to test these hypotheses because all previous paradigms for identifying AP have required subjects to employ knowledge of musical nomenclature. As such, these tests are insensitive to the possibility of discovering AP in either nonmusicians or musicians of non-Western training. Based on previous literature in pitch memory, a paradigm is presented that is intended to distinguish between AP possessors and nonpossessors independent of the subjects' musical experience. The efficacy of this method is then tested with 20 classically defined AP possessors and 22 nonpossessors. Data from these groups strongly support the validity of the paradigm. The use of a nonmusical paradigm to identify AP may facilitate research into many aspects of this phenomenon.

That note sounds wrong! Age-related effects in processing of musical expectation.

PubMed

Halpern, Andrea R; Zioga, Ioanna; Shankleman, Martin; Lindsen, Job; Pearce, Marcus T; Bhattacharya, Joydeep

2017-04-01

Part of musical understanding and enjoyment stems from the ability to accurately predict what note (or one of a small set of notes) is likely to follow after hearing the first part of a melody. Selective violation of expectations can add to aesthetic response but radical or frequent violations are likely to be disliked or not comprehended. In this study we investigated whether a lifetime of exposure to music among untrained older adults would enhance their reaction to unexpected endings of unfamiliar melodies. Older and younger adults listened to melodies that had expected or unexpected ending notes, according to Western music theory. Ratings of goodness-of-fit were similar in the groups, as was ERP response to the note onset (N1). However, in later time windows (P200 and Late Positive Component), the amplitude of a response to unexpected and expected endings was both larger in older adults, corresponding to greater sensitivity, and more widespread in locus, consistent with a dedifferentiation pattern. Lateralization patterns also differed. We conclude that older adults refine their understanding of this important aspect of music throughout life, with the ability supported by changing patterns of neural activity. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

A nonmusical paradigm for identifying absolute pitch possessors.

PubMed

Ross, David A; Olson, Ingrid R; Marks, Lawrence E; Gore, John C

2004-09-01

The ability to identify and reproduce sounds of specific frequencies is remarkable and uncommon. The etiology and defining characteristics of this skill, absolute pitch (AP), have been very controversial. One theory suggests that AP requires a specific type of early musical training and that the ability to encode and remember tones depends on these learned musical associations. An alternate theory argues that AP may be strongly dependent on hereditary factors and relatively independent of musical experience. To date, it has been difficult to test these hypotheses because all previous paradigms for identifying AP have required subjects to employ knowledge of musical nomenclature. As such, these tests are insensitive to the possibility of discovering AP in either nonmusicians or musicians of non-Western training. Based on previous literature in pitch memory, a paradigm is presented that is intended to distinguish between AP possessors and nonpossessors independent of the subjects' musical experience. The efficacy of this method is then tested with 20 classically defined AP possessors and 22 nonpossessors. Data from these groups strongly support the validity of the paradigm. The use of a nonmusical paradigm to identify AP may facilitate research into many aspects of this phenomenon.

Awakening Students' Entrepreneurial Selves: Case Music in Basic Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hietanen, Lenita; Ruismäki, Heikki

2016-01-01

Purpose: Entrepreneurship education is recommended for implementation throughout the entire educational path. However, there have been challenges in implementing entrepreneurship education for many kinds of students, especially in non-business education. The purpose of this paper is to ask how 15-year-old students in Finnish basic education are…

Turn Off the Music! Music Impairs Visual Associative Memory Performance in Older Adults

PubMed Central

Reaves, Sarah; Graham, Brittany; Grahn, Jessica; Rabannifard, Parissa; Duarte, Audrey

2016-01-01

Purpose of the Study: Whether we are explicitly listening to it or not, music is prevalent in our environment. Surprisingly, little is known about the effect of environmental music on concurrent cognitive functioning and whether young and older adults are differentially affected by music. Here, we investigated the impact of background music on a concurrent paired associate learning task in healthy young and older adults. Design and Methods: Young and older adults listened to music or to silence while simultaneously studying face–name pairs. Participants’ memory for the pairs was then tested while listening to either the same or different music. Participants also made subjective ratings about how distracting they found each song to be. Results: Despite the fact that all participants rated music as more distracting to their performance than silence, only older adults’ associative memory performance was impaired by music. These results are most consistent with the theory that older adults’ failure to inhibit processing of distracting task-irrelevant information, in this case background music, contributes to their memory impairments. Implications: These data have important practical implications for older adults’ ability to perform cognitively demanding tasks even in what many consider to be an unobtrusive environment. PMID:26035876

Influence of Musical Enculturation on Brain Responses to Metric Deviants

PubMed Central

Haumann, Niels T.; Vuust, Peter; Bertelsen, Freja; Garza-Villarreal, Eduardo A.

2018-01-01

The ability to recognize metric accents is fundamental in both music and language perception. It has been suggested that music listeners prefer rhythms that follow simple binary meters, which are common in Western music. This means that listeners expect odd-numbered beats to be strong and even-numbered beats to be weak. In support of this, studies have shown that listeners exposed to Western music show stronger novelty and incongruity related P3 and irregularity detection related mismatch negativity (MMN) brain responses to attenuated odd- than attenuated even-numbered metric positions. Furthermore, behavioral evidence suggests that music listeners' preferences can be changed by long-term exposure to non-Western rhythms and meters, e.g., by listening to African or Balkan music. In our study, we investigated whether it might be possible to measure effects of music enculturation on neural responses to attenuated tones on specific metric positions. We compared the magnetic mismatch negativity (MMNm) to attenuated beats in a “Western group” of listeners (n = 12) mainly exposed to Western music and a “Bicultural group” of listeners (n = 13) exposed for at least 1 year to both Sub-Saharan African music in addition to Western music. We found that in the “Western group” the MMNm was higher in amplitude to deviant tones on odd compared to even metric positions, but not in the “Bicultural group.” In support of this finding, there was also a trend of the “Western group” to rate omitted beats as more surprising on odd than even metric positions, whereas the “Bicultural group” seemed to discriminate less between metric positions in terms of surprise ratings. Also, we observed that the overall latency of the MMNm was significantly shorter in the Bicultural group compared to the Western group. These effects were not biased by possible differences in rhythm perception ability or music training, measured with the Musical Ear Test (MET). Furthermore, source localization analyses suggest that auditory, inferior temporal, sensory-motor, superior frontal, and parahippocampal regions might be involved in eliciting the MMNm to the metric deviants. These findings suggest that effects of music enculturation can be measured on MMNm responses to attenuated tones on specific metric positions. PMID:29720932

Emotional Responses to Music: Shifts in Frontal Brain Asymmetry Mark Periods of Musical Change.

PubMed

Arjmand, Hussain-Abdulah; Hohagen, Jesper; Paton, Bryan; Rickard, Nikki S

2017-01-01

Recent studies have demonstrated increased activity in brain regions associated with emotion and reward when listening to pleasurable music. Unexpected change in musical features intensity and tempo - and thereby enhanced tension and anticipation - is proposed to be one of the primary mechanisms by which music induces a strong emotional response in listeners. Whether such musical features coincide with central measures of emotional response has not, however, been extensively examined. In this study, subjective and physiological measures of experienced emotion were obtained continuously from 18 participants (12 females, 6 males; 18-38 years) who listened to four stimuli-pleasant music, unpleasant music (dissonant manipulations of their own music), neutral music, and no music, in a counter-balanced order. Each stimulus was presented twice: electroencephalograph (EEG) data were collected during the first, while participants continuously subjectively rated the stimuli during the second presentation. Frontal asymmetry (FA) indices from frontal and temporal sites were calculated, and peak periods of bias toward the left (indicating a shift toward positive affect) were identified across the sample. The music pieces were also examined to define the temporal onset of key musical features. Subjective reports of emotional experience averaged across the condition confirmed participants rated their music selection as very positive, the scrambled music as negative, and the neutral music and silence as neither positive nor negative. Significant effects in FA were observed in the frontal electrode pair FC3-FC4, and the greatest increase in left bias from baseline was observed in response to pleasurable music. These results are consistent with findings from previous research. Peak FA responses at this site were also found to co-occur with key musical events relating to change, for instance, the introduction of a new motif, or an instrument change, or a change in low level acoustic factors such as pitch, dynamics or texture. These findings provide empirical support for the proposal that change in basic musical features is a fundamental trigger of emotional responses in listeners.

Neurophysiological and Behavioral Differences between Older and Younger Adults When Processing Violations of Tonal Structure in Music

PubMed Central

Lagrois, Marie-Élaine; Peretz, Isabelle; Zendel, Benjamin Rich

2018-01-01

Aging is associated with decline in both cognitive and auditory abilities. However, evidence suggests that music perception is relatively spared, despite relying on auditory and cognitive abilities that tend to decline with age. It is therefore likely that older adults engage compensatory mechanisms which should be evident in the underlying functional neurophysiology related to processing music. In other words, the perception of musical structure would be similar or enhanced in older compared to younger adults, while the underlying functional neurophysiology would be different. The present study aimed to compare the electrophysiological brain responses of younger and older adults to melodic incongruities during a passive and active listening task. Older and younger adults had a similar ability to detect an out-of-tune incongruity (i.e., non-chromatic), while the amplitudes of the ERAN and P600 were reduced in older adults compared to younger adults. On the other hand, out-of-key incongruities (i.e., non-diatonic), were better detected by older adults compared to younger adults, while the ERAN and P600 were comparable between the two age groups. This pattern of results indicates that perception of tonal structure is preserved in older adults, despite age-related neurophysiological changes in how melodic violations are processed. PMID:29487498

Neurophysiological and Behavioral Differences between Older and Younger Adults When Processing Violations of Tonal Structure in Music.

PubMed

Lagrois, Marie-Élaine; Peretz, Isabelle; Zendel, Benjamin Rich

2018-01-01

Aging is associated with decline in both cognitive and auditory abilities. However, evidence suggests that music perception is relatively spared, despite relying on auditory and cognitive abilities that tend to decline with age. It is therefore likely that older adults engage compensatory mechanisms which should be evident in the underlying functional neurophysiology related to processing music. In other words, the perception of musical structure would be similar or enhanced in older compared to younger adults, while the underlying functional neurophysiology would be different. The present study aimed to compare the electrophysiological brain responses of younger and older adults to melodic incongruities during a passive and active listening task. Older and younger adults had a similar ability to detect an out-of-tune incongruity (i.e., non-chromatic), while the amplitudes of the ERAN and P600 were reduced in older adults compared to younger adults. On the other hand, out-of-key incongruities (i.e., non-diatonic), were better detected by older adults compared to younger adults, while the ERAN and P600 were comparable between the two age groups. This pattern of results indicates that perception of tonal structure is preserved in older adults, despite age-related neurophysiological changes in how melodic violations are processed.

Exploring the impact of music concerts in promoting well-being in dementia care.

PubMed

Shibazaki, Kagari; Marshall, Nigel A

2017-05-01

This study explores the specific effects of live music concerts on the clients with dementia, their families and nursing staff/caregivers. Researchers attended 22 concerts in care facilities in England and Japan. Interviews were carried out with clients with dementia, nursing staff and family members. Observations were also carried out before, during and after the concerts. All observations were recorded in field notes. The effect of the concerts in both countries was seen to be beneficial to all clients and nursing staff, whether or not they attended the concert. Interviews with clients with mild to mid-stage dementia noted increased levels of cooperation, interaction and conversation. Those with more advanced forms of dementia exhibited decreased levels of agitation and anti-social behaviour. Staff members reported increased levels of care, cooperation and opportunities for assessment. Family members noted an increase in the levels of well-being in their partner/parent as well as in themselves. The study also suggested that the knowledge of musical components, an awareness of the rules of music and specific musical preferences appear to remain well beyond the time when other cognitive skills and abilities have disappeared. This initial study provided some further indication in terms of the uses of music as a non-pharmacological intervention for those living with all stages of dementia. These included opportunities for assessment of physical abilities as well as facilitating an increasing level of care.

Enhanced phase synchrony in the electroencephalograph γ band for musicians while listening to music

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bhattacharya, Joydeep; Petsche, Hellmuth

2001-07-01

Multichannel electroencephalograph signals from two broad groups, 10 musicians and 10 nonmusicians, recorded in different states (in resting states or no task condition, with eyes opened and eyes closed, and with two musical tasks, listening to two different pieces of music) were studied. Degrees of phase synchrony in various frequency bands were assessed. No differences in the degree of synchronization in any frequency band were found between the two groups in resting conditions. Yet, while listening to music, significant increases of synchronization were found only in the γ-frequency range (>30 Hz) over large cortical areas for the group of musicians. This high degree of synchronization elicited by music in the group of musicians might be due to their ability to host long-term memory representations of music and mediate access to these stored representations.

Music-related reward responses predict episodic memory performance.

PubMed

Ferreri, Laura; Rodriguez-Fornells, Antoni

2017-12-01

Music represents a special type of reward involving the recruitment of the mesolimbic dopaminergic system. According to recent theories on episodic memory formation, as dopamine strengthens the synaptic potentiation produced by learning, stimuli triggering dopamine release could result in long-term memory improvements. Here, we behaviourally test whether music-related reward responses could modulate episodic memory performance. Thirty participants rated (in terms of arousal, familiarity, emotional valence, and reward) and encoded unfamiliar classical music excerpts. Twenty-four hours later, their episodic memory was tested (old/new recognition and remember/know paradigm). Results revealed an influence of music-related reward responses on memory: excerpts rated as more rewarding were significantly better recognized and remembered. Furthermore, inter-individual differences in the ability to experience musical reward, measured through the Barcelona Music Reward Questionnaire, positively predicted memory performance. Taken together, these findings shed new light on the relationship between music, reward and memory, showing for the first time that music-driven reward responses are directly implicated in higher cognitive functions and can account for individual differences in memory performance.

Music therapy in neurological rehabilitation settings.

PubMed

Galińska, Elżbieta

2015-01-01

The neurologic music therapy is a new scope of music therapy. Its techniques deal with dysfunctions resulting from diseases of the human nervous system. Music can be used as an alternative modality to access functions unavailable through non-musical stimulus. Processes in the brain activated by the influence of music can be generalized and transferred to non-musical functions. Therefore, in clinical practice, the translation of non-musical therapeutic exercises into analogous, isomorphic musical exercises is performed. They make use of the executive peculiarity of musical instruments and musical structures to prime, cue and coordinate movements. Among musical components, a repetitive rhythm plays a significant role. It regulates physiologic and behavioural functions through the mechanism of entrainment (synchronization of biological rhythms with musical rhythm based on acoustic resonance). It is especially relevant for patients with a deficient internal timing system in the brain. Additionally, regular rhythmic patterns facilitate memory encoding and decoding of non-musical information hence music is an efficient mnemonic tool. The music as a hierarchical, compound language of time, with its unique ability to access affective/motivational systems in the brain, provides time structures enhancing perception processes, mainly in the range of cognition, language and motor learning. It allows for emotional expression and improvement of the motivation for rehabilitation activities. The new technologies of rhythmic sensory stimulation (i.e. Binaural Beat Stimulation) or rhythmic music in combination with rhythmic light therapy appear. This multimodal forms of stimulation are used in the treatment of stroke, brain injury, dementia and other cognitive deficits. Clinical outcome studies provide evidence of the significant superiority of rehabilitation with music over the one without music.

Cortical Sensitivity to Guitar Note Patterns: EEG Entrainment to Repetition and Key.

PubMed

Bridwell, David A; Leslie, Emily; McCoy, Dakarai Q; Plis, Sergey M; Calhoun, Vince D

2017-01-01

Music is ubiquitous throughout recent human culture, and many individual's have an innate ability to appreciate and understand music. Our appreciation of music likely emerges from the brain's ability to process a series of repeated complex acoustic patterns. In order to understand these processes further, cortical responses were measured to a series of guitar notes presented with a musical pattern or without a pattern. ERP responses to individual notes were measured using a 24 electrode Bluetooth mobile EEG system (Smarting mBrainTrain) while 13 healthy non-musicians listened to structured (i.e., within musical keys and with repetition) or random sequences of guitar notes for 10 min each. We demonstrate an increased amplitude to the ERP that appears ~200 ms to notes presented within the musical sequence. This amplitude difference between random notes and patterned notes likely reflects individual's cortical sensitivity to guitar note patterns. These amplitudes were compared to ERP responses to a rare note embedded within a stream of frequent notes to determine whether the sensitivity to complex musical structure overlaps with the sensitivity to simple irregularities reflected in traditional auditory oddball experiments. Response amplitudes to the negative peak at ~175 ms are statistically correlated with the mismatch negativity (MMN) response measured to a rare note presented among a series of frequent notes (i.e., in a traditional oddball sequence), but responses to the subsequent positive peak at ~200 do not show a statistical relationship with the P300 response. Thus, the sensitivity to musical structure identified to 4 Hz note patterns appears somewhat distinct from the sensitivity to statistical regularities reflected in the traditional "auditory oddball" sequence. Overall, we suggest that this is a promising approach to examine individual's sensitivity to complex acoustic patterns, which may overlap with higher level cognitive processes, including language.

Music induces universal emotion-related psychophysiological responses: comparing Canadian listeners to Congolese Pygmies.

PubMed

Egermann, Hauke; Fernando, Nathalie; Chuen, Lorraine; McAdams, Stephen

2014-01-01

Subjective and psychophysiological emotional responses to music from two different cultures were compared within these two cultures. Two identical experiments were conducted: the first in the Congolese rainforest with an isolated population of Mebenzélé Pygmies without any exposure to Western music and culture, the second with a group of Western music listeners, with no experience with Congolese music. Forty Pygmies and 40 Canadians listened in pairs to 19 music excerpts of 29-99 s in duration in random order (eight from the Pygmy population and 11 Western instrumental excerpts). For both groups, emotion components were continuously measured: subjective feeling (using a two- dimensional valence and arousal rating interface), peripheral physiological activation, and facial expression. While Pygmy music was rated as positive and arousing by Pygmies, ratings of Western music by Westerners covered the range from arousing to calming and from positive to negative. Comparing psychophysiological responses to emotional qualities of Pygmy music across participant groups showed no similarities. However, Western stimuli, rated as high and low arousing by Canadians, created similar responses in both participant groups (with high arousal associated with increases in subjective and physiological activation). Several low-level acoustical features of the music presented (tempo, pitch, and timbre) were shown to affect subjective and physiological arousal similarly in both cultures. Results suggest that while the subjective dimension of emotional valence might be mediated by cultural learning, changes in arousal might involve a more basic, universal response to low-level acoustical characteristics of music.

Descriptive analysis of YouTube music therapy videos.

PubMed

Gooding, Lori F; Gregory, Dianne

2011-01-01

The purpose of this study was to conduct a descriptive analysis of music therapy-related videos on YouTube. Preliminary searches using the keywords music therapy, music therapy session, and "music therapy session" resulted in listings of 5000, 767, and 59 videos respectively. The narrowed down listing of 59 videos was divided between two investigators and reviewed in order to determine their relationship to actual music therapy practice. A total of 32 videos were determined to be depictions of music therapy sessions. These videos were analyzed using a 16-item investigator-created rubric that examined both video specific information and therapy specific information. Results of the analysis indicated that audio and visual quality was adequate, while narrative descriptions and identification information were ineffective in the majority of the videos. The top 5 videos (based on the highest number of viewings in the sample) were selected for further analysis in order to investigate demonstration of the Professional Level of Practice Competencies set forth in the American Music Therapy Association (AMTA) Professional Competencies (AMTA, 2008). Four of the five videos met basic competency criteria, with the quality of the fifth video precluding evaluation of content. Of particular interest is the fact that none of the videos included credentialing information. Results of this study suggest the need to consider ways to ensure accurate dissemination of music therapy-related information in the YouTube environment, ethical standards when posting music therapy session videos, and the possibility of creating AMTA standards for posting music therapy related video.

Effect of pre-task music on sports or exercise performance.

PubMed

Smirmaul, Bruno P

2017-01-01

Pre-task music is a very common strategy among sports competitors. However, as opposed to in-task music, the scientific evidence to support its ergogenic effects on either sports or exercise performance is limited. This brief review critically addresses the existing literature investigating the effects of pre-task music on sports and exercise performance, focusing on the methods and results of experimental studies, and offers basic and practical recommendations. In July 2015, a comprehensive literature search was performed in Web of Science, PubMed, and Google Scholar using the following key words in combination: "pre-task music," "pre-test music," "pre-exercise music," "exercise performance," "sports performance." The literature search was further expanded by both hand searching review articles on the topic and by searching the reference lists from the articles retrieved for any relevant references. Overall, a total of 15 studies in 14 articles were included. Pre-task music research has been unsystematic, methodologically limited and infrequent. Using this review as a starting point to overcome previous methodological limitations when designing future experiments may contribute to the development of pre-task music research, which is still in its infancy. Currently, there is no sufficient evidence to support the overall ergogenic effects of pre-task music on sports or exercise performance. Nonetheless, pre-task music has showed a likely ergogenic effect on shorter and predominantly anaerobic tasks such as grip strength, Wingate test, and short-duration sports or sports-like tasks, in contrast to longer and predominantly aerobic tasks.

Auditory risk assessment of college music students in jazz band-based instructional activity.

PubMed

Gopal, Kamakshi V; Chesky, Kris; Beschoner, Elizabeth A; Nelson, Paul D; Stewart, Bradley J

2013-01-01

It is well-known that musicians are at risk for music-induced hearing loss, however, systematic evaluation of music exposure and its effects on the auditory system are still difficult to assess. The purpose of the study was to determine if college students in jazz band-based instructional activity are exposed to loud classroom noise and consequently exhibit acute but significant changes in basic auditory measures compared to non-music students in regular classroom sessions. For this we (1) measured and compared personal exposure levels of college students (n = 14) participating in a routine 50 min jazz ensemble-based instructional activity (experimental) to personal exposure levels of non-music students (n = 11) participating in a 50-min regular classroom activity (control), and (2) measured and compared pre- to post-auditory changes associated with these two types of classroom exposures. Results showed that the L eq (equivalent continuous noise level) generated during the 50 min jazz ensemble-based instructional activity ranged from 95 dBA to 105.8 dBA with a mean of 99.5 ± 2.5 dBA. In the regular classroom, the L eq ranged from 46.4 dBA to 67.4 dBA with a mean of 49.9 ± 10.6 dBA. Additionally, significant differences were observed in pre to post-auditory measures between the two groups. The experimental group showed a significant temporary threshold shift bilaterally at 4000 Hz (P < 0.05), and a significant decrease in the amplitude of transient-evoked otoacoustic emission response in both ears (P < 0.05) after exposure to the jazz ensemble-based instructional activity. No significant changes were found in the control group between pre- and post-exposure measures. This study quantified the noise exposure in jazz band-based practice sessions and its effects on basic auditory measures. Temporary, yet significant, auditory changes seen in music students place them at risk for hearing loss compared to their non-music cohorts.

Social outcomes in children with autism spectrum disorder: a review of music therapy outcomes

PubMed Central

LaGasse, A Blythe

2017-01-01

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) affects approximately one in 68 children, substantially affecting the child’s ability to acquire social skills. The application of effective interventions to facilitate and develop social skills is essential due to the lifelong impact that social skills may have on independence and functioning. Research indicates that music therapy can improve social outcomes in children with ASD. Outcome measures are primarily assessed using standardized nonmusical scales of social functioning from the parent or clinician perspective. Certified music therapists may also assess musical engagement and outcomes as a part of the individual’s profile. These measures provide an assessment of the individual’s social functioning within the music therapy session and generalizability to nonmusical settings. PMID:28260959

Active music therapy in the rehabilitation of severe brain injured patients during coma recovery.

PubMed

Formisano, R; Vinicola, V; Penta, F; Matteis, M; Brunelli, S; Weckel, J W

2001-01-01

Active improvised music therapy may offer an adjuvant from of treatment in the early rehabilitation of severe brain-injured patients. Active music therapy consists of musical improvisation between patient and therapist by singing or by playing different musical instruments, according to the vital functions, the neurological conditions and the motor abilities of the patients. We studied 34 severe brain-injured patients with a mean coma duration of 52 days +/- 37.21 and a mean interval from coma onset to the beginning of rehabilitation of 154 days on average. Our preliminary results show a significant improvement of the collaboration of the severe brain-injured patients and a reduction of undesired behaviours such as inertia (reduced psychomotor initiative) or psychomotor agitation.

PubMed Central

Wulff, Verena; Hepp, Philip; Fehm, Tanja; Schaal, Nora K.

2017-01-01

In recent years, the effect of music interventions and music therapy has experienced increased attention in the literature. It has been shown that music has positive effects on cognitive and physical performance, such as concentration and endurance, as well as on psychological parameters, such as anxiety and relaxation. Studies within the context of medicine in particular are increasingly indicating that music may be used as an intervention for relief against anxiety, stress and pain. Music is therefore seen in actual practice as a supplement to conventional pharmacological and non-pharmacological forms of treatment – and the trend is rising. Studies involving music interventions in the field of obstetrics have shown, amongst other things, that music improves the ability to relax during pregnancy and can reduce anxiety. It was also discovered that during childbirth music interventions resulted in a reduction of pain and stress. Music also has the effect of reducing stress, pain and anxiety in expectant mothers during deliveries by caesarean section. This review intends to provide an overview of the literature on music interventions in the field of obstetrics and to give a resume on the current state of research around the topic of music in relation to pregnancy, spontaneous deliveries and caesarean sections. Furthermore, the relevance of music for everyday obstetrics will be illustrated. PMID:28959060

Women in Music: A 1940 Perspective.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Seashore, Carl E.

1979-01-01

This article originally appeared in March, 1940 as "Why No Great Women Composers?" The author, a psychologist, finds no sex differences in music achievement traceable to ability or opportunity, but feels that a woman's fundamental urge is to be loved, while a man's is to achieve in a career. (SJL)

Does Melody Assist in the Reproduction of Novel Rhythm Patterns?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kinney, Daryl W.; Forsythe, Jere L.

2013-01-01

We examined music education majors' ability to reproduce rhythmic stimuli presented in melody and rhythm only conditions. Participants reproduced rhythms of two-measure music examples by immediately echo-performing through a method of their choosing (e.g., clapping, tapping, vocalizing). Forty examples were presented in melody and rhythm only…

Innovative Case Studies of Good Practice in England.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gifted Education International, 2003

2003-01-01

Four case studies of gifted education programs in England are described, including the development of a teacher handbook based on the principles behind accelerated learning, the identification of students with musical ability and the provision of musical instrument lessons, and the development of a portable information communication technology…

Neural Correlates of Early Sound Encoding and their Relationship to Speech-in-Noise Perception

PubMed Central

Coffey, Emily B. J.; Chepesiuk, Alexander M. P.; Herholz, Sibylle C.; Baillet, Sylvain; Zatorre, Robert J.

2017-01-01

Speech-in-noise (SIN) perception is a complex cognitive skill that affects social, vocational, and educational activities. Poor SIN ability particularly affects young and elderly populations, yet varies considerably even among healthy young adults with normal hearing. Although SIN skills are known to be influenced by top-down processes that can selectively enhance lower-level sound representations, the complementary role of feed-forward mechanisms and their relationship to musical training is poorly understood. Using a paradigm that minimizes the main top-down factors that have been implicated in SIN performance such as working memory, we aimed to better understand how robust encoding of periodicity in the auditory system (as measured by the frequency-following response) contributes to SIN perception. Using magnetoencephalograpy, we found that the strength of encoding at the fundamental frequency in the brainstem, thalamus, and cortex is correlated with SIN accuracy. The amplitude of the slower cortical P2 wave was previously also shown to be related to SIN accuracy and FFR strength; we use MEG source localization to show that the P2 wave originates in a temporal region anterior to that of the cortical FFR. We also confirm that the observed enhancements were related to the extent and timing of musicianship. These results are consistent with the hypothesis that basic feed-forward sound encoding affects SIN perception by providing better information to later processing stages, and that modifying this process may be one mechanism through which musical training might enhance the auditory networks that subserve both musical and language functions. PMID:28890684

Effects of short-term piano training on measures of finger tapping, somatosensory perception and motor-related brain activity in patients with cerebral palsy.

PubMed

Alves-Pinto, Ana; Ehrlich, Stefan; Cheng, Gordon; Turova, Varvara; Blumenstein, Tobias; Lampe, Renée

2017-01-01

Playing a musical instrument demands the integration of sensory and perceptual information with motor processes in order to produce a harmonic musical piece. The diversity of brain mechanisms involved and the joyful character of playing an instrument make musical instrument training a potential vehicle for neurorehabilitation of motor skills in patients with cerebral palsy (CP). This clinical condition is characterized by motor impairments that can affect, among others, manual function, and limit severely the execution of basic daily activities. In this study, adolescents and adult patients with CP, as well as a group of typically developing children learned to play piano for 4 consecutive weeks, having completed a total of 8 hours of training. For ten of the participants, learning was supported by a special technical system aimed at helping people with sensorimotor deficits to better discriminate fingers and orient themselves along the piano keyboard. Potential effects of piano training were assessed with tests of finger tapping at the piano and tests of perception of vibratory stimulation of fingers, and by measuring neuronal correlates of motor learning in the absence of and after piano training. Results were highly variable especially among participants with CP. Nevertheless, a significant effect of training on the ability to perceive the localization of vibrations over fingers was found. No effects of training on the performance of simple finger tapping sequences at the piano or on motor-associated brain responses were registered. Longer periods of training are likely required to produce detectable changes.

Effects of short-term piano training on measures of finger tapping, somatosensory perception and motor-related brain activity in patients with cerebral palsy

PubMed Central

Alves-Pinto, Ana; Ehrlich, Stefan; Cheng, Gordon; Turova, Varvara; Blumenstein, Tobias; Lampe, Renée

2017-01-01

Playing a musical instrument demands the integration of sensory and perceptual information with motor processes in order to produce a harmonic musical piece. The diversity of brain mechanisms involved and the joyful character of playing an instrument make musical instrument training a potential vehicle for neurorehabilitation of motor skills in patients with cerebral palsy (CP). This clinical condition is characterized by motor impairments that can affect, among others, manual function, and limit severely the execution of basic daily activities. In this study, adolescents and adult patients with CP, as well as a group of typically developing children learned to play piano for 4 consecutive weeks, having completed a total of 8 hours of training. For ten of the participants, learning was supported by a special technical system aimed at helping people with sensorimotor deficits to better discriminate fingers and orient themselves along the piano keyboard. Potential effects of piano training were assessed with tests of finger tapping at the piano and tests of perception of vibratory stimulation of fingers, and by measuring neuronal correlates of motor learning in the absence of and after piano training. Results were highly variable especially among participants with CP. Nevertheless, a significant effect of training on the ability to perceive the localization of vibrations over fingers was found. No effects of training on the performance of simple finger tapping sequences at the piano or on motor-associated brain responses were registered. Longer periods of training are likely required to produce detectable changes. PMID:29123403

The evolutionary biology of musical rhythm: was Darwin wrong?

PubMed

Patel, Aniruddh D

2014-03-01

In The Descent of Man, Darwin speculated that our capacity for musical rhythm reflects basic aspects of brain function broadly shared among animals. Although this remains an appealing idea, it is being challenged by modern cross-species research. This research hints that our capacity to synchronize to a beat, i.e., to move in time with a perceived pulse in a manner that is predictive and flexible across a broad range of tempi, may be shared by only a few other species. Is this really the case? If so, it would have important implications for our understanding of the evolution of human musicality.

The Evolutionary Biology of Musical Rhythm: Was Darwin Wrong?

PubMed Central

Patel, Aniruddh D.

2014-01-01

In The Descent of Man, Darwin speculated that our capacity for musical rhythm reflects basic aspects of brain function broadly shared among animals. Although this remains an appealing idea, it is being challenged by modern cross-species research. This research hints that our capacity to synchronize to a beat, i.e., to move in time with a perceived pulse in a manner that is predictive and flexible across a broad range of tempi, may be shared by only a few other species. Is this really the case? If so, it would have important implications for our understanding of the evolution of human musicality. PMID:24667562

The effects of drumming on working memory in older adults.

PubMed

Degé, Franziska; Kerkovius, Katharina

2018-05-04

Our study investigated the effect of a music training program on working memory (verbal memory, visual memory, and as a part of central executive processing working memory) in older adults. The experimental group was musically trained (drumming and singing), whereas one control group received a literature training program and a second control group was untrained. We randomly assigned 24 participants (all females; M = 77 years and 3 months) to the music group, the literature group, and the untrained group. The training groups were trained for 15 weeks. The three groups did not differ significantly in age, socioeconomic status, music education, musical aptitude, cognitive abilities, or depressive symptoms. We did not find differences in the music group in central executive function. However, we found a potential effect of music training on verbal memory and an impact of music training on visual memory. Musically trained participants remembered more words from a word list than both control groups, and they were able to remember more symbol sequences correctly than the control groups. Our findings show a possible effect of music training on verbal and visual memory in older people. © 2018 New York Academy of Sciences.

Melody recognition by two-month-old infants.

PubMed

Plantinga, Judy; Trainor, Laurel J

2009-02-01

Music is part of an infant's world even before birth, and caregivers around the world sing to infants. Yet, there has been little research into the musical abilities or preferences of infants younger than 5 months. In this study, the head turn preference procedure used with older infants was adapted into an eye-movement preference procedure so that the ability of 2-month-old infants to remember a short melody could be tested. The results show that with minimal familiarization, 2-month-old infants remember a short melody and can discriminate it from a similar melody.

The use of film, literature, and music in becoming culturally competent in understanding african americans.

PubMed

Martin, Ardis C

2005-07-01

Increasing the cultural competence of child and adolescent psychiatrists through the use of film, literature, and music can improve their ability to understand what African Americans experience and the impact these experiences have on mental health. It also may help clinicians recognize their own underlying biases. This understanding, in turn, could improve their ability to address effectively in treatment the issues pertinent to the African-American community and help eliminate the well-documented disparities in the health care quality and health status of minorities.

Rhythm synchronization performance and auditory working memory in early- and late-trained musicians.

PubMed

Bailey, Jennifer A; Penhune, Virginia B

2010-07-01

Behavioural and neuroimaging studies provide evidence for a possible "sensitive" period in childhood development during which musical training results in long-lasting changes in brain structure and auditory and motor performance. Previous work from our laboratory has shown that adult musicians who begin training before the age of 7 (early-trained; ET) perform better on a visuomotor task than those who begin after the age of 7 (late-trained; LT), even when matched on total years of musical training and experience. Two questions were raised regarding the findings from this experiment. First, would this group performance difference be observed using a more familiar, musically relevant task such as auditory rhythms? Second, would cognitive abilities mediate this difference in task performance? To address these questions, ET and LT musicians, matched on years of musical training, hours of current practice and experience, were tested on an auditory rhythm synchronization task. The task consisted of six woodblock rhythms of varying levels of metrical complexity. In addition, participants were tested on cognitive subtests measuring vocabulary, working memory and pattern recognition. The two groups of musicians differed in their performance of the rhythm task, such that the ET musicians were better at reproducing the temporal structure of the rhythms. There were no group differences on the cognitive measures. Interestingly, across both groups, individual task performance correlated with auditory working memory abilities and years of formal training. These results support the idea of a sensitive period during the early years of childhood for developing sensorimotor synchronization abilities via musical training.

Mentalising music in frontotemporal dementia

PubMed Central

Downey, Laura E.; Blezat, Alice; Nicholas, Jennifer; Omar, Rohani; Golden, Hannah L.; Mahoney, Colin J.; Crutch, Sebastian J.; Warren, Jason D.

2013-01-01

Despite considerable recent interest, the biological basis and clinical diagnosis of behavioural variant frontotemporal dementia (bvFTD) pose unresolved problems. Mentalising (the cognitive capacity to interpret the behaviour of oneself and others in terms of mental states) is impaired as a prominent feature of bvFTD, consistent with involvement of brain regions including ventro-medial prefrontal cortex (PFC), orbitofrontal cortex and anterior temporal lobes. Here, we investigated mentalising ability in a cohort of patients with bvFTD using a novel modality: music. We constructed a novel neuropsychological battery requiring attribution of affective mental or non-mental associations to musical stimuli. Mentalising performance of patients with bvFTD (n = 20) was assessed in relation to matched healthy control subjects (n = 20); patients also had a comprehensive assessment of behaviour and general neuropsychological functions. Neuroanatomical correlates of performance on the experimental tasks were investigated using voxel-based morphometry of patients' brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans. Compared to healthy control subjects, patients showed impaired ability to attribute mental states but not non-mental characteristics to music, and this deficit correlated with performance on a standard test of social inference and with carer ratings of patients' empathic capacity, but not with other potentially relevant measures of general neuropsychological function. Mentalising performance in the bvFTD group was associated with grey matter changes in anterior temporal lobe and ventro-medial PFC. These findings suggest that music can represent surrogate mental states and the ability to construct such mental representations is impaired in bvFTD, with potential implications for our understanding of the biology of bvFTD and human social cognition more broadly. PMID:23107380

Neurobiology of Everyday Communication: What Have We Learned From Music?

PubMed

Kraus, Nina; White-Schwoch, Travis

2016-06-09

Sound is an invisible but powerful force that is central to everyday life. Studies in the neurobiology of everyday communication seek to elucidate the neural mechanisms underlying sound processing, their stability, their plasticity, and their links to language abilities and disabilities. This sound processing lies at the nexus of cognitive, sensorimotor, and reward networks. Music provides a powerful experimental model to understand these biological foundations of communication, especially with regard to auditory learning. We review studies of music training that employ a biological approach to reveal the integrity of sound processing in the brain, the bearing these mechanisms have on everyday communication, and how these processes are shaped by experience. Together, these experiments illustrate that music works in synergistic partnerships with language skills and the ability to make sense of speech in complex, everyday listening environments. The active, repeated engagement with sound demanded by music making augments the neural processing of speech, eventually cascading to listening and language. This generalization from music to everyday communications illustrates both that these auditory brain mechanisms have a profound potential for plasticity and that sound processing is biologically intertwined with listening and language skills. A new wave of studies has pushed neuroscience beyond the traditional laboratory by revealing the effects of community music training in underserved populations. These community-based studies reinforce laboratory work highlight how the auditory system achieves a remarkable balance between stability and flexibility in processing speech. Moreover, these community studies have the potential to inform health care, education, and social policy by lending a neurobiological perspective to their efficacy. © The Author(s) 2016.

Is there addiction to loud music? Findings in a group of non-professional pop/rock musicians.

PubMed

Schmuziger, Nicolas; Patscheke, Jochen; Stieglitz, Rolf; Probst, Rudolf

2012-01-09

Listening to loud music may be connected to addictive behavior possibly leading to damaging effects on the cochlea. We hypothesized that members of non-professional pop/rock bands with regular exposure to loud music are more likely to show an addictive-like behavior for loud music than matched control subjects. Fifty non-professional musicians and 50 matched control subjects were asked to complete the Northeastern Music Listening Survey (NEMLS) with two basic components. The first comprises an adaptation of the validated Michigan Alcohol Screening Test (MAST) to study the addictive-like behavior towards loud music. The second comprises the criteria outlined by the fourth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV) of the American Psychiatric Society for the diagnosis of substance dependence. The NEMLS was scored using the same point system as used in the MAST. The DSM-IV criteria for substance dependence were met by nine of the musician group and by one control subject. Seven of these nine musicians also had a positive NEMLS score. Traits of addictive-like behavior to loud music were detected more often in members of nonprofessional pop/rock bands than in control subjects.

Is there addiction to loud music? Findings in a group of non-professional pop/rock musicians

PubMed Central

Schmuziger, Nicolas; Patscheke, Jochen; Stieglitz, Rolf; Probst, Rudolf

2012-01-01

Listening to loud music may be connected to addictive behavior possibly leading to damaging effects on the cochlea. We hypothesized that members of non-professional pop/rock bands with regular exposure to loud music are more likely to show an addictive-like behavior for loud music than matched control subjects. Fifty non-professional musicians and 50 matched control subjects were asked to complete the Northeastern Music Listening Survey (NEMLS) with two basic components. The first comprises an adaptation of the validated Michigan Alcohol Screening Test (MAST) to study the addictive-like behavior towards loud music. The second comprises the criteria outlined by the fourth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV) of the American Psychiatric Society for the diagnosis of substance dependence. The NEMLS was scored using the same point system as used in the MAST. The DSM-IV criteria for substance dependence were met by nine of the musician group and by one control subject. Seven of these nine musicians also had a positive NEMLS score. Traits of addictive-like behavior to loud music were detected more often in members of nonprofessional pop/rock bands than in control subjects. PMID:26557326

Short-term effects of processing musical syntax: an ERP study.

PubMed

Koelsch, Stefan; Jentschke, Sebastian

2008-05-30

We investigated influences of short-term experience on music-syntactic processing, using a chord-sequence paradigm in which sequences ended on a harmony that was syntactically either regular or irregular. In contrast to previous studies (in which block durations were rather short), chord sequences were presented to participants for around 2 h while they were watching a silent movie with subtitles. Results showed that the music-syntactically irregular chord functions elicited an early right anterior negativity (ERAN), and that the ERAN amplitude significantly declined over the course of the experiment. The ERAN has previously been suggested to reflect the processing of music-syntactic irregularities, and the present data show that the cognitive representations of musical regularities are influenced by the repeated presentation of unexpected, irregular harmonies. Because harmonies were task-irrelevant, the data suggest that cognitive representations of musical regularities can change implicitly, i.e., even when listeners do not attend to the harmonies, and when they are presumably oblivious of the changes of such representations. Although the ERAN amplitude was significantly reduced, it was still present towards the end of the experiment at the right anterior electrodes, indicating that cognitive representations of basic music-syntactic regularities cannot easily be erased.

Neural correlates of specific musical anhedonia

PubMed Central

Martínez-Molina, Noelia; Mas-Herrero, Ernest; Rodríguez-Fornells, Antoni; Zatorre, Robert J.

2016-01-01

Although music is ubiquitous in human societies, there are some people for whom music holds no reward value despite normal perceptual ability and preserved reward-related responses in other domains. The study of these individuals with specific musical anhedonia may be crucial to understand better the neural correlates underlying musical reward. Previous neuroimaging studies have shown that musically induced pleasure may arise from the interaction between auditory cortical networks and mesolimbic reward networks. If such interaction is critical for music-induced pleasure to emerge, then those individuals who do not experience it should show alterations in the cortical-mesolimbic response. In the current study, we addressed this question using fMRI in three groups of 15 participants, each with different sensitivity to music reward. We demonstrate that the music anhedonic participants showed selective reduction of activity for music in the nucleus accumbens (NAcc), but normal activation levels for a monetary gambling task. Furthermore, this group also exhibited decreased functional connectivity between the right auditory cortex and ventral striatum (including the NAcc). In contrast, individuals with greater than average response to music showed enhanced connectivity between these structures. Thus, our results suggest that specific musical anhedonia may be associated with a reduction in the interplay between the auditory cortex and the subcortical reward network, indicating a pivotal role of this interaction for the enjoyment of music. PMID:27799544

Influence of Tempo and Rhythmic Unit in Musical Emotion Regulation

PubMed Central

Fernández-Sotos, Alicia; Fernández-Caballero, Antonio; Latorre, José M.

2016-01-01

This article is based on the assumption of musical power to change the listener's mood. The paper studies the outcome of two experiments on the regulation of emotional states in a series of participants who listen to different auditions. The present research focuses on note value, an important musical cue related to rhythm. The influence of two concepts linked to note value is analyzed separately and discussed together. The two musical cues under investigation are tempo and rhythmic unit. The participants are asked to label music fragments by using opposite meaningful words belonging to four semantic scales, namely “Tension” (ranging from Relaxing to Stressing), “Expressiveness” (Expressionless to Expressive), “Amusement” (Boring to Amusing) and “Attractiveness” (Pleasant to Unpleasant). The participants also have to indicate how much they feel certain basic emotions while listening to each music excerpt. The rated emotions are “Happiness,” “Surprise,” and “Sadness.” This study makes it possible to draw some interesting conclusions about the associations between note value and emotions. PMID:27536232

Quantifying auditory temporal stability in a large database of recorded music.

PubMed

Ellis, Robert J; Duan, Zhiyan; Wang, Ye

2014-01-01

"Moving to the beat" is both one of the most basic and one of the most profound means by which humans (and a few other species) interact with music. Computer algorithms that detect the precise temporal location of beats (i.e., pulses of musical "energy") in recorded music have important practical applications, such as the creation of playlists with a particular tempo for rehabilitation (e.g., rhythmic gait training), exercise (e.g., jogging), or entertainment (e.g., continuous dance mixes). Although several such algorithms return simple point estimates of an audio file's temporal structure (e.g., "average tempo", "time signature"), none has sought to quantify the temporal stability of a series of detected beats. Such a method--a "Balanced Evaluation of Auditory Temporal Stability" (BEATS)--is proposed here, and is illustrated using the Million Song Dataset (a collection of audio features and music metadata for nearly one million audio files). A publically accessible web interface is also presented, which combines the thresholdable statistics of BEATS with queryable metadata terms, fostering potential avenues of research and facilitating the creation of highly personalized music playlists for clinical or recreational applications.

Sensorimotor plasticity after music-supported therapy in chronic stroke patients revealed by transcranial magnetic stimulation.

PubMed

Amengual, Julià L; Rojo, Nuria; Veciana de Las Heras, Misericordia; Marco-Pallarés, Josep; Grau-Sánchez, Jennifer; Schneider, Sabine; Vaquero, Lucía; Juncadella, Montserrat; Montero, Jordi; Mohammadi, Bahram; Rubio, Francisco; Rueda, Nohora; Duarte, Esther; Grau, Carles; Altenmüller, Eckart; Münte, Thomas F; Rodríguez-Fornells, Antoni

2013-01-01

Several recently developed therapies targeting motor disabilities in stroke sufferers have shown to be more effective than standard neurorehabilitation approaches. In this context, several basic studies demonstrated that music training produces rapid neuroplastic changes in motor-related brain areas. Music-supported therapy has been recently developed as a new motor rehabilitation intervention. In order to explore the plasticity effects of music-supported therapy, this therapeutic intervention was applied to twenty chronic stroke patients. Before and after the music-supported therapy, transcranial magnetic stimulation was applied for the assessment of excitability changes in the motor cortex and a 3D movement analyzer was used for the assessment of motor performance parameters such as velocity, acceleration and smoothness in a set of diadochokinetic movement tasks. Our results suggest that the music-supported therapy produces changes in cortical plasticity leading the improvement of the subjects' motor performance. Our findings represent the first evidence of the neurophysiological changes induced by this therapy in chronic stroke patients, and their link with the amelioration of motor performance. Further studies are needed to confirm our observations.

Turn Off the Music! Music Impairs Visual Associative Memory Performance in Older Adults.

PubMed

Reaves, Sarah; Graham, Brittany; Grahn, Jessica; Rabannifard, Parissa; Duarte, Audrey

2016-06-01

Whether we are explicitly listening to it or not, music is prevalent in our environment. Surprisingly, little is known about the effect of environmental music on concurrent cognitive functioning and whether young and older adults are differentially affected by music. Here, we investigated the impact of background music on a concurrent paired associate learning task in healthy young and older adults. Young and older adults listened to music or to silence while simultaneously studying face-name pairs. Participants' memory for the pairs was then tested while listening to either the same or different music. Participants also made subjective ratings about how distracting they found each song to be. Despite the fact that all participants rated music as more distracting to their performance than silence, only older adults' associative memory performance was impaired by music. These results are most consistent with the theory that older adults' failure to inhibit processing of distracting task-irrelevant information, in this case background music, contributes to their memory impairments. These data have important practical implications for older adults' ability to perform cognitively demanding tasks even in what many consider to be an unobtrusive environment. © The Author 2015. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of The Gerontological Society of America. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

[Music, pulse, heart and sport].

PubMed

Gasenzer, E R; Leischik, R

2018-02-01

Music, with its various elements, such as rhythm, sound and melody had the unique ability even in prehistoric, ancient and medieval times to have a special fascination for humans. Nowadays, it is impossible to eliminate music from our daily lives. We are accompanied by music in shopping arcades, on the radio, during sport or leisure time activities and in wellness therapy. Ritualized drumming was used in the medical sense to drive away evil spirits or to undergo holy enlightenment. Today we experience the varied effects of music on all sensory organs and we utilize its impact on cardiovascular and neurological rehabilitation, during invasive cardiovascular procedures or during physical activities, such as training or work. The results of recent studies showed positive effects of music on heart rate and in therapeutic treatment (e. g. music therapy). This article pursues the impact of music on the body and the heart and takes sports medical aspects from the past and the present into consideration; however, not all forms of music and not all types of musical activity are equally suitable and are dependent on the type of intervention, the sports activity or form of movement and also on the underlying disease. This article discusses the influence of music on the body, pulse, on the heart and soul in the past and the present day.

Music training improves speech-in-noise perception: Longitudinal evidence from a community-based music program.

PubMed

Slater, Jessica; Skoe, Erika; Strait, Dana L; O'Connell, Samantha; Thompson, Elaine; Kraus, Nina

2015-09-15

Music training may strengthen auditory skills that help children not only in musical performance but in everyday communication. Comparisons of musicians and non-musicians across the lifespan have provided some evidence for a "musician advantage" in understanding speech in noise, although reports have been mixed. Controlled longitudinal studies are essential to disentangle effects of training from pre-existing differences, and to determine how much music training is necessary to confer benefits. We followed a cohort of elementary school children for 2 years, assessing their ability to perceive speech in noise before and after musical training. After the initial assessment, participants were randomly assigned to one of two groups: one group began music training right away and completed 2 years of training, while the second group waited a year and then received 1 year of music training. Outcomes provide the first longitudinal evidence that speech-in-noise perception improves after 2 years of group music training. The children were enrolled in an established and successful community-based music program and followed the standard curriculum, therefore these findings provide an important link between laboratory-based research and real-world assessment of the impact of music training on everyday communication skills. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Music training and child development: a review of recent findings from a longitudinal study.

PubMed

Habibi, Assal; Damasio, Antonio; Ilari, Beatriz; Elliott Sachs, Matthew; Damasio, Hanna

2018-03-06

Evidence suggests that learning to play music enhances musical processing skills and benefits other cognitive abilities. Furthermore, studies of children and adults indicate that the brains of musicians and nonmusicians are different. It has not been determined, however, whether such differences result from pre-existing traits, musical training, or an interaction between the two. As part of an ongoing longitudinal study, we investigated the effects of music training on children's brain and cognitive development. The target group of children was compared with two groups of children, one involved in sports and another not enrolled in any systematic afterschool training. Two years after training, we observed that children in the music group had better performance than comparison groups in musically relevant auditory skills and showed related brain changes. For nonmusical skills, children with music training, compared with children without music or with sports training, showed stronger neural activation during a cognitive inhibition task in regions involved in response inhibition despite no differences in performance on behavioral measures of executive function. No such differences were found between music and sports groups. We conclude that music training induces brain and behavioral changes in children, and those changes are not attributable to pre-existing biological traits. © 2018 New York Academy of Sciences.

Music and language: musical alexia and agraphia.

PubMed

Brust, J C

1980-06-01

Two aphasic right-handed professional musicians with left hemispheric lesions had disturbed musical function, especially musical alexia and agraphia. In Case 1 aphasia was of transcortical sensory type, with severe agraphia and decreased comprehension of written words, although she could match them with pictures. Except for reading and writing, musical ability was normal; she could sing in five languages. Musical alexia and agraphia affected pitch symbols more than rhythm. Case 2 had conduction aphasia and severe expressive amusia, especially for rhythm. Although his language alexia and agraphia were milder than Case 1's, his musical alexia and agraphia were more severe, affecting rhythm as much as pitch. In neither patient were those aspects of musical notation either closest to verbal language or most dependent upon temporal (sequential) processing maximally impaired. These cases are consistent with the literature in suggesting that the presence or absence of aphasia or of right or left hemispheric damage fails to predict the presence, type, or severity of amusia, including musical alexia and agraphia. The popular notion that receptive amusia follows lesions of the language-dominant temporal lobe, whereas expressive amusia follows non-dominant frontal lobe damage, is an over-simplification, as is the view that increasing musical sophistication causes a shift of musical processing from the right hemisphere to the left.