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Music — An Inner Truth

Apr 24, 2015
by Caroline Miller
Gottfried Schlaug, how the brain repairs itself, music as healer, The Healing Power of Music, William Forde Thompson
4 Comments

When I was in college, several of my dorm mates played the recorder.  I loved the melodious sound of that wind instrument and thought I’d like to learn to play it one day.  I never found the time. The nearest I came to a recorder was listening to pan flute music by Gheorghe Zamfir. 

 Of late, music has had little place in my life because reading and writing swallows so much of the day.  It’s a pity because there’s a growing body of evidence that says music is more than pleasurable, it’s good for the brain.  Its effect is best seen in people who stutter or have lost the power of speech or suffer from Alzheimer’s.  Despite their impairments, they all retain their ability to sing.  What’s more when music plays, people frozen with Parkinson’s discover they can move.  (“The Healing Power of Music,” by William Forde Thompson and Gottfried Schlaug, Scientific American Mind, March/April 2015, pgs. 34-39.)

Scientists have long known the brain is malleable.  When damage is done to the left side of the brain, for example, sometimes the right side can pick up the lost skills.  Chanting and music with its rhythms are tools used to retrain the brain.  Until recently, no one knew how that happened.  Now, brain imaging is beginning to give us a clue.  The evidence suggests that “during rhythmic auditory stimulation, neural control of motor behavior is rerouted around the basal ganglia,” (Ibid pg. 37.)  The brain stem takes over as a way station, sending “auditory input to motor networks in the cerebellum, which governs coordination, and other cortical regions that could help synchronize sound and motion.”  (Ibid pg. 37)

 Knowing how the brain reroutes damaged functions will no doubt aid in the development of more treatments for brain impairment.  Of course, knowing the how of a thing doesn’t tell us the why.  Why is music is so fundamental to human life, going back as far as ancient drum beating?  Perhaps the answer is as simple as a placental memory – the recall of a mother’s heart beat while in the womb. Or perhaps the memory goes back further, to the rhythms of the sea from which we once emerged.

 Whatever the source of its power, music can heal, soothe or call us to arms.  We trust it as an inner truth that speaks to our emotions.  It never lies or tricks us as words can. 

drum beater

Courtesy of southseasonsonsongofheaven.blogspot.com

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4 Comments
  1. Christine Webb April 24, 2015 at 8:38 am Reply
    Each morning on the way to school, my grandchildren and I listen eagerly (the younger child a little more eagerly than the older one) to whatever piece is being performed on our public All Classical radio station. Yesterday morning it was the London Philharmonic Symphony transporting us to a destination we would have never visited otherwise and which was created solely in our imaginations and through the movement of the music. Sometimes we travel to the moon, or a hidden cave, a faraway island, or the beach. Sometimes zombies, bats, dark skies and tornadoes are involved but more often it's fairies who appear from nowhere in the forest, and animals of any shape and size are always welcome in our faraway places. This time spent with passionate, elegant, thoughtful music and two lovely grandchildren is perhaps the most fun, most moving, most meditative and most enchanting 20 minutes of my day. Thank you for confirming that in truth there's a real possibility we may also be increasing our brain power at the very same time. The kids are going to love hearing this--at least the younger one will!! :)
    • Caroline Miller April 24, 2015 at 10:37 am Reply
      Each morning, you are giving your grandchildren an enrichment which will carry them through their lives. Good for you, Grandma!
  2. Judy Farrell April 24, 2015 at 10:17 am Reply
    I also love the recorder and plan to take beginning lessons next fall at Portland Parks and Rec music center in SE Portland. I agree just from my own experience....puts me in a pleasant "zone" when listening to or playing the piano. PSU offers wonderful music theory and appreciation classes.....if the classes are to filled, seniors can attend for free. Thanks again, Caroline, for your insightful blog entries.
    • Caroline Miller April 24, 2015 at 10:40 am Reply
      Ah, I hadn't thought of the Parks Program. Think I'll dust off the recorder and see what's available in my neck of the woods. Thanks for the suggestion, Judy.

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Contact Caroline at

carolinemiller11@yahoo.com

Portland, Oregon author Caroline Miller had distinguished careers as an educator, union president, elected official and artist/advocate.

Her play, Woman on the Scarlet Beast, was performed at the Post5 Theatre, Portland, OR, January/February 2015

Caroline published a serialized novelette, Marie Eau-Claire, on the website, The Colored Lens.  She also published the story Gustav Pavel,  a parable about ordinary lives, choice and alternate potential, on the website Fixional.co.

Caroline has published four novels

  • Ballet Noir
  • Trompe l’Oeil
  • Gothic Spring
  • Heart Land

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