Music and the brain …

Posted on | July 7, 2010 | No Comments

Your brain can change! And that is good news. I have been doing a little light reading over the holidays about the brain and music. I have two books – “This is Your Brain on Music” by Daniel J. Levitin and “The Brain that Changes Itself” by Norman Doidge, M.D. I haven’t finished either book yet, because I am so excited by both of them, that I find I just keep dipping into on and then the other.

I love that in “This is Your Brain on Music” right in the introduction Levitin comments that “Many people who love music profess to know nothing about it.” These are highly intelligent people who are intimidated by the jargon the music experts use to discuss music, yet they know what music they like and do not like. I find that this is true of learner singers who walk into my studio and say “I can’t sing” or “I have been told that I will never be able to sing” and yet I can play some scales which they then sing along to in tune and in time. This happened with a returning student only two days ago.

He had been told he was “no good.” Yet he proceeded to sing in tune and time and with a lovely natural tone in his voice. Musicians and educators must be careful with their language, as it was only a burning desire to express himself through singing that brought this brave soul back into the studio.

In “The Brain that Changes Itself”, a book about neuroplasticity, I learnt that when certain parts of the brain do not respond to instructions, other parts of the brain take on the role and that we can learn new motor and language skills. Much about teaching singing is about learning new muscle patterns to support and strengthen a singing tone. I watched a TV show about the findings of this book (which prompted the purchase!) where they demonstrated that people who practiced a piano scale showed an increase in the part of the brain function in the area which controlled finger movement. They then proceeded to demonstrate that they got exactly the same results (an increase in brain function) with another control group who only IMAGINED that they were practicing the scale.

Often singing students sing without focusing on perhaps the one thing (a muscle movement, or an emotion, for example) which I may have asked them to consider whilst repeating a phrase and the results are frustrating. However, focused attention DOES get results. Thinking about HOW they want a note to sound, imagining they are singing it with this sensation, or emotion, or tonal quality, or sense of freedom, or whatever it is that works for them, and then singing it often moves the student closer to where they want to be with their voice.

This can be harder than it sounds. How often do you sing and judge yourself while you are singing? Because thoughts and judgements can be distracting. Mental multitasking is not always useful, especially when the mind is thinking “that was awful”, or “I am under-prepared”, or “I sound terrible”, or “will she know how little practice I have done?” or “I HAVE to get this right.” All this while trying to produce beautiful sound! I know about this first hand. I had a person once comment on my voice, that it should sound “more like …”, and because they were in a position of authority, I didn’t question this. I spent lots of time trying to make that sound, or what I understood at the time this sound to be. I lost all confidence in my basic ability to sing and perform and the result was something that was a joy in my life became a nightmare. I sounded worse than ever. Why? Because I was trying to multitask in my mind. When I resumed studies and learnt again to do one thing at a time, I noticed my voice was actually responding. The sound was improving and so was my confidence. With small steps over time, we can achieve our goals!

Anyway, back to reading, and I am inspired to improve my skills, so more daily practice for this teacher!

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