Topic > Music and the Brain - 1322

But as long as the note is in the right context, it sounds good. As humans, we have grown to develop a sort of musical grammar for spotting a wrong note. We develop an awareness of knowing the rules of how certain sequences are made, much like grammar with linguistics. Now, musical grammar can be much more complex than a simple false note, and can differ greatly depending on the culture in which you grew up. And just like with language, this grammar must be learned. The evidence is that children do not appear to be sensitive to this (21). And as for grammar, there is a mental disorder known as aphasia, which causes the brain to lose the ability to understand or express speech; therefore, have a core problem understanding words and connecting them into sentences. One of the most common types of victims suffering from aphasia are stroke patients (21). However, there is also a parallel disorder involving music known as Amusia (less studied), which is the loss of musical abilities due to brain damage. This disorder cannot be confused with tonal deafness (which many people suffer from); however, if you are out of tune, you are still somewhat able to carry a melody forward, differentiate basic melodies, and generally appreciate music. With amusia this is impossible. One amusia patient said that whenever she went to concerts, what she heard as music sounded like a bunch of pots and pans constantly banging together. It didn't make sense; it was simply noise. In most cases, cases of amusia occur due to brain injury, and some people are born with it. This type of disorder is neither a hearing problem nor a lack of intelligence (21). A research specialist in Amusia has found that this type of brain damage can only be reversed. to acquire new knowledge or memories), attention, motor control, perception of patterns, images and many others (21, 26). When Albert Einstein was a young boy, his teachers believed he was "too stupid to learn." They suggested that his mother skip school and start manual labor early because he was a hopeless case. Despite this, his mother continued to make him go to school; furthermore he also bought him a violin (24). The violin soon became one of his greatest passions and he even claimed that playing the violin was what made him smart. His friend, GJ Withrow, had said that whenever Einstein had difficulty understanding an equation he would improvise on the violin (24). “If I wasn't a physicist, I would probably be a musician. I often think about music. I live my daydreams in music. I see my life in terms of music.”― Albert Einstein