Music Literacy and the Brain
Dr. John Medina states in Brain Rules that the brain is a sequential processor and that multitasking is a myth. He suggests that what we think multitasking may be is actually simply task-switching. He produces research results to support this theory: that forcing the mind to do multitasking invites stress, that multitasking usually invites four times more errors than uninterrupted single task activities. Dr. Medina believes that driving and talking on a cell phone is an example of multitasking which produces a 400% increase in the rate of collisions.
But is driving a single task? Is a conversation a single task? All activities are employing information from many sources. Eric Jensen's Brain Based Learning, suggests a very different model. He characterizes the brain as a highly connected organ in that events in one part of the brain affect those in other parts of the brain and that the process of learning involves the whole body.
How do these two opposing views relate to the experience of music? According to Jensen the role of physical activity and emotions are also factors in increased brain activity, learning and memory. Music that makes you want to dance, for example, might be a powerful elixir of experience because of the body/mind connection. Music can be an emotional experience also. The combination of physical activity and emotional sensitivity are key factors in understanding the power of music. Now, add meaningful lyrics to this mix - and the result can be a very memorable and personal connection to a song.
Is music listening a single or a multiple task activity? That depends on the musical listening acuity of the listener. The average listener might only discern the lyrics and something of the rhythm, and usually little or nothing about he harmonies or melody. Acute listeners can hear exact pitch and chord content, precise rhythmic relationships, tonal color, identify instrument combinations, acoustic space dimensions, microphone choices, the directional sources and distances to the sound sources. Meta-cognition also takes place during the first seconds of a song that exactly recognize style, form, repetition, phrase development, modulations and overall formal development. These discrete musical qualities identify mental objects and thus excite different parts of the brain, much like the eyes can differentiate separate objects, space, distance, color, contrast, luminance and size. Jensen claims that research finds that musicians process music to a greater degree in the left hemisphere, while non musicians process music in the right hemisphere. Acute musicians can analyze (scientifically) and enjoy a sophisticated experience of the music that the novice listener can't fathom. The novice listener experiences the music through an emotional response. The acute listener also experiences these emotional connections, but adds a well-developed scientific or craft dimension to listening, too.
This dichotomy of musical experience between the average listener and the sophisticated one has led to a Great Divide between musical art and musical commerce that has existed since music was first written down by monks in the early Medieval era. Written music allowed the musical experience to be pre-planned and later improved upon and it grew through creativity and experimentation. But, as it did so, it often became less loved by the masses. Musicians and composers who became familiar with the new musical tools could then appreciate musical expression in new ways. Even in the age of Mozart and Beethoven (around the time of US Independence) the gap between the commercial value of 'art music' (usually referred to as classical) and novice music (usually referred to as folk and popular) became so great that the profit engines only promoted the music that appealed to the masses. This has only become a wider gap through the 20th century by which time the two kinds of music lived in entirely different worlds and were supported by very different means.
Sources:
Medina, John.(n.d.) Brain Rules. Retrieved September 14, 2009 from http://www.brainrules.net/attention,
Jensen, E.(2008), Brain Based Learning: The New Paradigm of Teaching. Corwin Press
UCLA Psychologists Report. (2006). Multi-tasking adversely affects brain's learning. Retrieved from http://www.brightsurf.com/news/headlines/25557/Multi-
Lay, K., Gorney, M (2009) Music History, Full Sail Academic Publications
