Music in the brain: the musical multi-feature studies

1. Reference
Music in the brain: the musical multi-feature studies by Peter Vuust
http://www.en.auh.dk/files/Hospital/AUH/English/Departments/Center%20of%20Functionally%20Integrative%20Neuroscience%20(CFIN)/The%20musical%20multi-feature%20studies.pdf

2. Summary

In Peter Vuust’s ‘The musical multi-feature studies’, he mentioned that the study of how musicians’ brains evolve through daily training has recently emerged as an effective way of gaining insight into changes of the human brain during development and training. Mismatch negativity (MMN) studies have consistently revealed neural differences in early sound processing between people with different musical backgrounds. And he throws a question, “Can the MMN paradigms be adapted to resemble a musical context while keeping the experimental duration contained, and will they reveal differences in sound-related brain activity among different types of musicians?”

For his experiment, he made two changes to classic MMN-paradigm: 1. Emulating harmonic progressions found in real music by using the Alberti bass with underlying a harmonic scheme of major and minor chords. 2. Embedding more than one type of sound with alternating pitches. Through using this musical multi-feature paradigm, he could test for differences between musicians playing different styles of Western music, specifically between classical, jazz and pop/rock musicians.

Regarding the listening experience, there are differences in relation to how musicians are taught and learned. For example, for Jazz musicians, they typically learn and perform music by using the ear and they are taught by ear training programme at Jazz school, in contrast, Classic musicians are less focused on learning by the ear. (Suzuki method teaches music by ear in the early years of childhood)

He applied the new fast musical multi-feature MMN paradigm with classical musicians, jazz musicians, band musicians and non-musicians with 6 types of acoustic changes: pitch, mistuning, intensity, timbre, sound-source location, and rhythm in the same sound sequence for 15 minutes. They obtained larger overall MMN amplitude in Jazz musicians as compared with all other types of musicians across six different sound features. This indicates a greater overall sensitivity to sound changes in Jazz musicians as compared to others. Especially, sliding to tones is a typical feature in improvisational music such as Jazz music as opposed to Classical music. When interpreting these results, it should be kept in mind that jazz musicians score higher in musical aptitude tests than rock musicians and non-musicians, especially with regards to tonal abilities.

He points out few interesting implications and applications of this study. First, the MMNs obtained in relation to the auditory deviants in our musical multi-feature paradigm shows that it is possible to develop highly controlled brain measuring paradigms which still resembles “real” music. “We may be able to track brain measures (MMN) involved in survival-related attentional processing during ‘real’ music listening, and thereby study other important aspects of music.” Secondly, this paradigm provides an ecological method of comparing MMNs in musicians from different musical genres and this is important because musical complexity, in many instances, is crucial in order to detect fine-grained auditory processing differences between participants from various musical backgrounds. Lastly, it may find usage in clinical studies, where it may be used to identify the cognitive limitations related to musical processing.

3. Reflections

I was very thrilled to know about the concept and purpose of Mismatch negativity (MMN) and it was interesting to see the differences in sound-related brain activity among different types of musicians. I was surprised that Jazz musicians scored higher in musical aptitude and obtained larger overall MMN amplitude than others since I expected Classic musicians would score higher than others. Vuust mentioned, “Jazz music in its modern form is characterized by complex chord changes, rich harmonies and challenging rhythmic structures such as polyrhythms that place great demands on listeners’ and performers’ theoretical and ear training skills”, as if classic musicians are not trained as much. I do not agree fully with his point because there are many classic musicians who have very well-trained ear and improvisation skills. Furthermore, we can see all of complex chord changes, rich harmonies and challenging rhythmic structure in many classic pieces since baroque to contemporary music. Also, for Rock musicians, there are many musicians who can improvise and composed very well as much as Jazz musicians. Of course, the result of this study would be varied depending on who they chose but I am just wondering if all musicians have same level of musical skills.

Moreover, since this study is first to show differences in pre-attentive brain responses between musicians, it would be very interesting to see “multi-attribute ‘profiles’ of sound-discrimination abilities in single individuals” in further study if they can refine ERP method at the individual level like what they mentioned. Also, I strongly agree and support the idea that it may be helpful to those who have cognitive limitations related to musical processing.

Re-thinking the Brain

Topical Reference:
Re-thinking the Brain.  Richard Faull at TEDxAuckland.  September 2nd, 2013.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NT_Z6kULoVw

Review
In this lecture, Dr. Faull, Center for Brain Research, University of Auckland,  describes his research into stem cells and neurogenesis pathways in the adult human brain.  He opens his lecture by stating that as a medical student he was taught that the human brain is fully formed by the age of twenty, with no new brain cell growth after that time.  Dr. Faull states, based on his research findings, that this commonly held dogma is is false, "absolutely, totally garbage".  Research studies in recent years at the Center for Brain Research has revealed that the adult human brain does in fact have stem cells and that it is continuously creating new brain cells.

Dr. Faull compares the human brain with the brain of rats and monkeys, noting that the human brain is incredibly more complex, indicated by the highly folded covered forebrain.  This is contrasted by the smoothness of the rat brain, described by Dr. Faull as the prototype brain.  Dr. Faull explains how each fold in the forebrain contributes to complex functioning and describes various brain regions and their related function.

Since the 1960's it has been recognized that rat, cat, and monkey brains have stem cells left over from the embyro stage.  These stem cells are located in the center of the brain and continue to create new brain cells, a process called neurogenesis.

In studies of rat brain slices from the middle of the brain near the ventricles, it was revealed that new brain cells are created throughout the rat's life.  Dr. Faull describes these new cells as "baby brain cells". These cells migrate down a neurogenesis motor way to the olfactory area in the front of the brain.
In experiments,  when cells in the rat brain are killed, mimicing stroke, Parkinson's, or Huntington Disease, new "baby brain cells" migrate via this neurogenesis motor way to replace lost brain cells and repair the brain.

Following graduation from medical school, Dr. Faull initially pursued neurosurgury.  Realizing how little was known about the inside of the brain, he instead pursued a career in brain research, specializing in the rat brain.  The area of the brain he focused on was the basil ganglia, the area of the brain involved with movement.  It is the basil ganglia that is affected in Parkinson's and Huntington's Diseases.

In 1980, he was approached by a professor of genetics, interested in his studies of the basal ganglia, and in particular, how these studies might shed light on Huntington's Disease.  Huntington is passed on within families due to a dominant gene that kills brain cells in the middle of the basil ganglia. Without a test for the gene, families wanted to know if the gene was present in the family line.  Thus,  following death, brains of parents with Huntington's Disease were provided to Dr. Faull for research.

While doing Huntington's research, Dr. Faull found unexpected and exciting results:  it was evident that the Huntington's brains had been making new brain cells, thus indicating that the human brain must have brain stem cells.  When looking at a slide of a normal brain, it revealed a small band of stem cells. However, a Huntington's brain had many more stem cells.  This seems to imply that the brain was trying to repair itself.

Recognizing the challenge of convincing the scientific community, who firmly held to the original dogma: no new brain cells,  of his findings, Dr. Faull realized that he would need to demonstrate the neurogenesis motor way in the human brain. Thus, PhD students began to search for this motor way, working with stained brain slices from front to back.  Although they were seeing hints of it, because they were slicing across the motor way, initially it was very difficult to find.  Changing strategy, they instead began to  cut larger blocks of sections, longitudinal segments, starting midline out.  These sections were joined together and after three years, they did in fact find segments of the motor way going several mm and cm.

The motor way was a different shape than that found in the rat, however that was explained by differential specialization of the human brain.  When the rat's brain was converted to human by decreasing olfactory section (in the human brain it is small) and increasing the cortex (in the human brain it is larger), the rat's motor way more resembled the human's.

In seeking to publish his results, Dr. Faull and his team had the paper rejected by the first major science journal they submitted to.  They added more information, additional studies, different cell counts, additional stains, and re-submitted to Science journal in the U.S.A.  Here is was accepted and featured on the front cover.

Dr. Faull acknowledges that his findings are "revolutionary and still controversial".   He stresses that an important aspect of his findings is that the human brain, although far more complex, has similar, comparable pathways to animals.  Therefore, what you find in animals, you can apply to humans.

This leads to the next important point.  We know that when you excite the rat's brain, when you place the rat in a stimulating environment, or provide more exercise, the rat's brain makes more brain cells.
Increased stimulation, creative thinking, and exercise all contribute to new brain cells in the human brain.

Dr. Faull concludes with challenges for future study:  how to stimulate normal and diseased brains to create more new brain cells from the stem cells in the brain and to explore if there are motor ways coming off the main motor way to regions of the brain affected by Huntington's or Parkinson's Diseases in an effort to repair the brain.

Reflections
Dr. Faull's findings result in new questions and potential research explorations regarding the injured or diseased brain.  New considerations can be given to potential rehab and treatments for these client populations.  As a neuro music therapist working in catastrophic brain injury,  I seek for ways to stimulate the brain's potential for a neuroplastic response, working towards rehab goals.  Recognizing the importance of the brain's ability to adapt itself is an important element of rehab.  The concept that the brain can produce new brain cells adds a whole new dimension to the importance of brain stimulation, especially as soon as possible following trauma.

A model that I  developed for use with ABI clients, dependent on their rehab goals,  is Therapeutic Music Education in which clients learn to play, at an elementary level, the piano keyboard. Among the various goals areas potentially addressed with this model is cognitive rehabilitation, in particular executive functioning.  The experience of learning to read music can serve as a strong neural stimulus, and this is used to support cognitive rehab.  Dr. Faull's research findings regarding the potential for brain stimulus and creative thinking to have a role in the creation of new brain cells, gives me the desire to learn more and to seek out other research on this topic so that I can further explore the rehab potential of this.  I was also interested, due to the motor component of piano playing,  that exercise can be a stimulus for new brain cell growth.  Perhaps this combination of brain stimulus through the new learning experience of reading music and the motor action of executing the notation may better support the stimulation of new brain cell growth.

Another area of interest is the neurogenesis motor ways.  Their existence begs the questions:  can the new brain cells be stimulated to migrate to specific brain sites or can new motor ways be stimulated?

 Although as he acknowledged, these finds are revolutionary, they provide not only new concepts to consider or explore, they also provide encouragement to those working with or living with brain injury or disease.  Although great gains have been made in recent years regarding our knowledge of the brain, I believe to date we have only discovered the "tip of the iceburg" and that there is so much yet to learn.  The brain is far too complex, in my opinion, for one to state "it can never.....".  Although at this stage Dr. Faull's finding may be controversial,  they are encouraging and result in yet more questions to explore.

Music Entrainment for Infants

1. I watched a video on this subject through the PBS "Music Instinct" website. This video presents something called the Gato Box, and is presented by Dr. Joanne Loewy. Here is a link: 
<http://www.pbs.org/wnet/musicinstinct/video/music-and-medicine/music-therapy-for-infants/76/>

2. Summary/Review:
As an individual who has little experience thinking in this field, I found this video very interesting. Even thinking about the idea of music as a tool for entrainment in the human body at any age and stage is quite intriguing. 

In this video, Dr. Loewy introduces us to a musical tool called the Gato Box, which is a small box-like instrument used percussively to mimic the sound of a heartbeat as a tool to entrain the baby's heart rate. Loewry, using her hands, softly beats to the beat that the baby's heart rate should be at in order to help it with the task at hand: sucking from a bottle of milk. This rhythm basis, as performed using the Gato Box, supports the baby's movement and speed of movement for sucking. This is paralleled to when a runner goes to run on a treadmill at the gym, and may use music at a certain tempo in order to help them continue running at a particular pace. 

The point of the Gato Box is to simply recreate the heart sounds, making it a natural sound for the infant to latch onto, therefore Dr. Loewy does not use a mallet, but her hand to keep the sound soft. The instrument itself is all hollow, so it creates a quiet and enclosed sound as to emulate what the baby would have heard in the womb.  Loewy also mentions how this tool helps transition the baby from an awake to a sleep state, guiding the heart rate with the rhythm created.

3. Reflections:

First of all, I found this video and article very interesting. In further reading about Dr. Loewy, it seems that she has done quite a bit of research in this field, and is currently the Director of the Louis Armstrong Center for Music and Medicine in New York City.

As I mentioned above, the idea of influencing physical movement with sound is so interesting to me, and to think that this can be used as such an effective tool with an individual at such a young age is truly amazing. I loved the parallel made about going to the gym, as that is something that I can identify with, and the use of rhythm in that case is quite an important tool in both keeping my focus, and my speed within the body. It was interesting to see not only how quickly the baby responded to this rhythmic pulse, but also how effective it was in serving several purposes: helping the baby do a necessary task (eating), transitioning, and finally moving into sleep.

I have a lot of friends who have babies, and it made me wonder if any of them have ever used a similar technique to help their own children eat, or sleep. As an adult, it made me think about times in my own day-to-day living where I find some kind of sound or rhythmic stimulus helpful in performing a task. For example, I tend to prefer to sleep with a fan on. I am not sure what it is about the frequency that the fan creates, or this "white noise" that aids me in sleeping, but I am definitely more interested to know why this is the case (which may or may not be completely related to this idea of entrainment).

Overall, it was an interesting video, and interesting to think about the many research possibilities in such an interesting field of Music and Science.

Welcome to the new 2013 Academic Year! This blog has existed for several years now and is growing in the richness of the material reviewed here. At this point on Sept 5, 2013 there have been 49,287 visitors to the blog from the US, Canada, UK, Russia, Germany, France, Australia, Netherlands, Ukraine, and Brasil. I look forward to the contributions of the University of Toronto graduate students this year, and wish you happy and thoughtful reading! Prof. Lee Bartel

The Acquired Savant

Topical Reference:
"Ingenious Minds: Derek Amato" by Discovery Communications
(Full Episode shared on YouTube)


Review
This video documents the case of Derek Amato, who had a Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) on the left side due to diving into the shallow end of a pool. He self-reports seeing small floating black and white blocks move from the left to the right side in his mind. He describes this experience as an incessant and uncontrolled internal representation that is calmed and relieved by piano performance. The blocks represent musical sounds that he can translate onto the piano. He and his family claim that he had absolutely no experience with piano playing before his injury. However, after his injury, he gained the ability to improvise entire pieces of music with seemingly well-practiced technique. Thus, he is described as an "Acquired Savant," since his ability was not innate through birth, had no incipient stage and appeared later in life.

Later in the episode, a brain scan reveals that he seems to have some damage in his cortex tissues. The neuroscientist describes his internal perception of moving blocks and their association to sound as synesthesia. Derek then reports that the blocks and the compulsive need to translate their information to piano is inhibited when he has strong headaches, which have afflicted him since before his TBI.


Reflection
Synesthesia has been shown to exist in the general population to a small degree, as demonstrated by experiments such as those on the "Bouba-Kiki" paradigm (Ramachandran, 2001). "Bouba" and "Kiki" were described to participants as the names of 2 separate letters in an alien alphabet. One letter was a curvy-rounded shape, while the other was a pointy-spiked object (see Figure 1). Researchers simply asked the participants to label one of the symbols "Bouba" and one of the symbols "Kiki." Ninety-five percent of participants named the curvy object, "Bouba" and the pointy object, "Kiki." This is evidence that most people seem to have a slight associative synesthesia between visual shapes and speech sounds.

Figure 1. Experiments show people tend to name the object on the left "Kiki" and the object on the right "Bouba," when asked to guess which of the two labels is associated with each shape.

One of the key things to remember about the "Bouba-Kiki" paradigm is that this kind of synesthesia does not necessarily invasively change the standard orientation of cross-modal sensory systems. Thus, despite associative pathways existing between shapes and sounds, 'normal' brains do not automatically process specific words when these shapes are seen, and vice versa. Put simply, the association between visual shapes and syllabic sounds is hardwired and softwired into the brain in a common way at the level of perception or abstraction but not necessarily sensation. Derek claims that his mind automatically and involuntarily associates imagined black and white shapes to specific pitches and rhythms. Further, he claims to be able to predictably and consistently decode these associations into musical sounds through the piano. This should be tested because the types of skills that Derek displays are not conventionally those associated to musical savants or professional musicians.

Measurability here becomes critical. While Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) showed evidence of neural trauma, there was no real evidence that his brain has an innate organizing capability for conventional harmonic systems or a powerful memory for even his own music. He did not seem to be able to rapidly encode new musical materials and learn pieces by ear instantly. Arguably, these critiques of his abilities have to do with the question of whether Derek qualifies as a 'Savant'. That being said, it is not known whether Derek even has synesthesia. So what does the scientific literature have to say about this case? Firstly, a variety of musical synesthedes are known to exist (Beeli et al., 2005). They do not necessarily qualify as musical savants. The term savant derives from "Idiot-Savant," which is defined as "a person who is considered to be mentally handicapped but displays brilliance in a specific area, esp. one involving memory" by Apple's dictionary. As far as definitions go, it seems this case would not apply.

Clearly, as a professionally trained musician I am skeptical of Derek's claims. While his skills appear to have been acquired without previous experience on the piano, for which he has witnesses to attest to, they do not necessarily represent the extremely organized memory for hierarchical pitch structures that are demonstrated by savants who have autism and blindness, or mental retardation (Heaton, 2003; Miller, 1989). He displays the ability to do some fairly complicated motor skills related to technique, such as arpeggio and open-spaced harmonies. However, the harmonies he uses are 'modern' in approach and do not necessarily fall into conventional harmonic structures, by which to say that tonality is not adhered to in a form that demands an obviously strong intentionality. After an improvisation, Derek stated that it was "just like I heard it in my head," yet there is no real way for him to prove that this is true. This begs the question, is he lying about his ability? Had he been practicing his piano arpeggios in secret? Let's assume he is being truthful about these black and white blocks being able to internally represent known pitch and rhythmic values. Let's also assume that he can predictably translate this internal representation into a piano performance and had no piano experience before his TBI. Does this skill qualify as a case of an acquired musical savant? Certainly, it would be synesthesia but of course, his acquisition of the piano skills is still to be answered. These motor-skills are the most convincing of his abilities.

Derek does not seem like a savant in the conventional sense but if he is in fact telling the truth, it implies that there maybe musical capabilities deep within all people that are inhibited, unless certain parts of the inhibitory system are shutdown. In the case of damaged inhibitory system, the downside would be that certain information could be made to process uncontrollably in the mind. This is would be true in Derek's case. To me, this processing also relates to the strong sensory overload and constant bombardment of stimulation that is associated with autism and musical savants. More poignantly, it reflects the itch and compulsion that leads to the necessity for self-expression in all artists.


References
Beeli, G., Esslen, M. & Jäncke, L. (2003). Synaesthesia: When coloured sounds taste sweet. Nature, 434, 38.

Miller, P. (2003). Pitch memory, labeling and disembedding in autism. The Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 44, 543-551.

Miller, L. K. (1989). Musical savants: Exceptional skill in the mentally retarded. Hillsdale, England: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates Inc.

Ramachandran, V. S. (2001). Synaesthesia – A Window Into Perception, Thought and Language. Journal of Consciousness Studies, 8, 3-34.

Improvisation and the Brain

Topical Reference:
"Your Brain on Improv" by Charles Limb (Full Version available on TED)


Review
This video features a talk about musical improvisation and begins by presuming that creativity is a product of the brain and therefore able to be studied scientifically. In this case, functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI), which is capable of detecting deoxygenated hemoglobin was employed to examine which areas of the brain increase and decrease in neural activity during spontaneously generated playing vs. over-learned playing. Essentially, musicians were asked to improvise music and then play similar music that was memorized.

First, jazz piano players were tested. Participants played via a midi keyboard that was modified to be able to be played while lying in the fMRI machine. They heard the music through headphones, which included prerecorded accompaniment. Differences in activity were found in multifunctional locations throughout the brain that are associated to introspection, self-reflection and short-term memory. Specifically, areas responsible for self-monitoring shut down during improvisation, while regions responsible for autobiographical thinking and self-expressivity lit up. This was seen by the activation of an area known as the medial prefrontal cortex and deactivation of a broader area called the lateral prefrontal cortex. Limb hypothesized that "to be creative you have to have this weird disassociation in the frontal lobe. One area turns on and a big area shuts off so that you're not inhibited, so that you're willing to make a mistake, so that you're not constantly shutting down all of these new generative impulses."

He then repeated the test while having participants "trade 4s," which is when 2 jazz musicians improvise solos in response to each other in a musical call and response. Since Limb is a jazz musician himself, he simply played with the participants using a keyboard that was heard through headphones, which facilitated the call and response. The musicians were asked to memorize a melody then alternate between playing the melody and "trading 4s" on cue.

Broca's region, which is implicated in speech, language and expressive communication, was activated while musically responding to another musician during musical improvisation. It was not active during the memorized playing. Limb then states that a possible neurological basis for the idea that music is a language might be implicated by these results.

Finally, he tested freestyle rapping. The same memorized vs. improvised comparison was done. Interestingly, despite the rappers' eyes being closed, the visual areas lit up. At the same time, the cerebellum was activated, which is strange since this area is responsible for motor coordination and the subjects were lying still.


Reflection
The question of how the brain innovates and generates novel conceptions is fascinating in light of the tremendous creative capacity of human beings. With the strong caveat that this data is from a miniscule data set, what is presented is still remarkable. Oddly, musical improvisation seemed to occur in brain regions that were somewhat surprising.

For example, the activation of visual systems while the eyes are closed is peculiar. During routine electroencephalogram testing, bright lights are flashed at the patients to activate the visual cortex and yet, freestyle rap seems to activate it without the aid of the vision! The motor-control region activation was also interesting. The cerebellum can be associated to conditioned and automated movements, which makes sense in light of the fact that motor-control of the vocal areas may need to be available for quick real time adjustments as verbalizations formulate meanings and vice versa.

The language region known as Broca's area was lit up during instrumental improvisation where the musician was musically interacting and responding to another musician. It should be noted that a homologous region was activated in the right hemisphere. This might imply that linguistic and musical communication coevolved. In any case, it seems that language specialization areas on the left hemisphere of brain may be involved in contextual musical meaning comprehension.

Improvisation and the ability to spontaneously generate ideas are highly related to creativity. The findings revealed in this video seem to shed some light onto what is happening in our brains when we are being creative. Changes in the balance between inhibition and excitation seem to logically explain how improvisers reach moments of peak creativity. Though many new questions are brought up by this research, a stepping-stone to a scientific understanding of creativity seems to be in the making. Personally, I am enthralled to witness neuroscience accepting the challenge of solving the mystery of human ingenuity and our potentially infinite creative capacities. 

Musicality in Children

Topical Reference:
 "Music and Your Child" by TVO (Full Episode available on YouTube)
 

Review
This made for television panel interview features Wayne Strongman, Lorell Trainor and Lee Bartel. They discuss a variety of topics on music during child development, beginning with music and general measures of intelligence.

Trainor mentions that a very minor 3- or 4-point increase in I.Q. is seen in children who take formal music lessons. Physical and motor representations are developed in relation to an instrument that is being learned. Interestingly, children who take formal music lessons also show advanced cognitive skills in the domains of concentration and attention. Bartel adds that research shows attentional rehabilitation is more effective when using music in comparison to any other rehabilitation technique for adolescents who have traumatic brain injuries, which seems consistent with the facts mentioned by Trainor.

The so-called, "Mozart Effect" is then elucidated. Products that offer the promise of intelligence to infants through music listening are dismissed as gimmicks, since music listening and lessons affects intelligence very minutely. While stimulation through mobiles, music, etc. is known to be enjoyable to infants; the effects of music on intelligence are rather insignificant.

Strongman emphasizes that community and sheer enjoyment should be underscored as music's primary value, not how it can access other academic subjects, such as mathematics. This brings up sociological topics, beginning with the social and emotional function of music in the rites and rituals of society. Music seems to be embedding within these rituals cross-culturally. For example, funerals, weddings, parties and other collective gatherings that involve the coming together of a social group often involve music. The idea that music can make many people "feel something together" attests to how music facilitates social unification and bonding in human groups. This relates to how teenage social groups define and unify themselves using music preference, which shows that music not only plays a role in structuring social groups but also affects us at level of individual identity and self-expression.

The conversation then moves from the sociological to the social-psychological. The panel brings up the idea that music seems to communicate meanings that are difficult to codify with language. Bartel quotes that music may communicate that which is "too specific for words." That said, he adds the caveat that music does not need to be thought of as a language itself but instead "can communicate what we can't find the words for." Children communicate in sounds before they communicate using words, further indicating their inherent musicality.

Sadly, mothers of today anecdotally seem to sing less and know fewer songs when communicating with their infants than in the past. Further, as access to recordings increase, singing could be replaced even further. A mother holding her infant and singing involve the child moving, smelling, touching, etc. This vast array of associative experience enhances the impact of musical experience at young ages as well as deepens the mother-child bond.

The panel then talked about more practical issues, beginning with the question, how young should a child be when beginning music lessons? The consensus is infancy. Bartel explains that music consists of manipulable elements such as timbre, volume, pitch, etc. These can all be learned through making sounds, singing and bopping mallets onto instruments. Other practical concerns in education such as specialist culture, informal musical experience and the public school system are discussed with a special focus on how schools can become more inclusive and humane. The politics of keeping music alive in public schooling was tied to the need for inclusiveness and humaneness.
 

Reflection
I described Trainor's statement about a possible decrease in singing among mothers towards their children as sad. This issue is somewhat personal to me since my mother sings to children all the time. She is a jovial and extroverted individual who works in childcare and sings to the toddlers and infants she is responsible for during their snack time. The songs are generally improvised, highly repetitive, quick in tempo, sung in Hindi and seem to be rather silly. They often involve a mix of baby talk and gibberish. Despite their ridiculous nature, the children cry out, "mo! mo!" once she is finished, similarly to how they ask for more chocolate pudding. The babies genuinely enjoy it and she seems to know exactly what to deliver to the fans. I found this not only incredibly entertaining but also puzzling because for some reason babies never responded to my singing voice in the same way. At first, I assumed that babies must react to female voices differently. It is known that males process female voices differently than they do male voices. One author described this stating, "men hear women's melodies." Since there is more prosody in the female voice; men seem to have more trouble understanding it due to the greater information density (Epstein, 2005; Sokhi et al., 2005). However, this is a difference observed in adults. What about the infant brain and its relationship to the adult voice? In fact, many interesting discoveries on this topic have been made.

For example, it has been shown that babies respond to their mothers' voices in the womb (Kisilevsky, 2003). At the same time, the mother's voice activates the left-hemisphere, while stranger's voices activate the right. It seems that the mother's voice seems to preferentially activate parts of the brain responsible for language learning (Beauchemin, 2010). Finally, Mehler et al. (1978) showed that young infants prefer their own mother's voices to the voices of others. These facts demonstrate that a mother's voice has an incredibly powerful effect on their child. It is for these reasons that I consider it a sad fact, if true, that mothers are singing to their children less and less.

It would appear that music has tremendous impact on children. The strong connection between music, parent and child as well as the process of musical development in children is fascinating and seems to link to many aspects of cognition and the brain together. This discussion was intriguing and certainly enlightened me on the how music the lives of children and their parents.


References
Beauchemin, M., Gonzalez-Frankenberger, B, Tremblay, J. , Vannasing, P., Martinez Montes, E., Belin, P., Beland, R., Francoeur, D., Carceller, A. M., Wallois, F., Lassonde, M. (2010). Mother and Stranger: An Electrophysiological Study of Voice Processing in Newborns. Cerebral Cortex, 23, 728-733.

Epstein, D. (2005). Men Hear Women's Melodies. Discover, accessed on December 3, 2012. doi: http://discovermagazine.com/2005/nov/men-hear-womens#.UMq7fbamAQV

Mehler, J., Bertoncini, J., Barriére, M. & Jassik-Grenschenfeld, D. (1978). Infant recognition of mother's voice. Perception, 7, 491-497.

Kisilevsky, B. S., Hains, S. M. J., Lee, K., Xie, X. Huang, H., Ye, H.H., Zhang, K. & Wang, Z. (2003). Effects of Experience on Fetal Voice Recognition. Psychological Science, 3, 220-224).

Sokhi, D. S. at al. (2005). Male and Female Voices Activate Distinct Regions in the Male Brain. NeuroImage, 3, 572–578.