“We are musical creatures. Let’s see what the science tells us and take advantage of it.”
What is neuromusic?
Simply put, this is the neurobiology of music. That is, the study of brain processes that, based on acoustic vibrations, make musical experience possible. HeyIt includes vibrational, physical, chemical, electrical and neural aspects.
Does it include emotions?
Yes, emotions, part powerboatcreativity, cognition, behavior… Emotions are physiological changes that our body experiences for certain incentives. Music conveys emotional states very well.
You are a telecommunications engineer, piano teacher, and MBA. How did you become interested in this field?
Many years ago I started reading about the brain. I started running while listening to music and started have an experience that I didn’t understand. A very interesting point, which I still haven’t quite explained to myself, is p.or what When I run (possibly because it improves oxygenation) and listen to music. I understand English better.
I also realized that I had more creativity, more ideas flowing. All of this motivated me to get a master’s degree in psychobiology and cognitive neuroscience to try to learn more and understand what was happening to me.
And I discovered the enormous potential of music. And not only in terms of health, but also also in other areas such as education. Why can such a seemingly simple thing affect a person so much? This is what I tried to study, analyze and explain.
What answer?
The answer lies in the brain. It is not the music that causes these effects, but reaction of our nervous systemmodulated by personality characteristics.
Training is of great importance here.our experiences, the environment we grew up in, family environment, whether we listened to a lot of music… These factors determine how we react to many things in life, and music has a big influence.
It also happens that when we listen to this or that music, the first effect is physiological: It’s nice to see that when we listen to a specific thing, our physiology changes.
Give me an example.
Well, for example, we listen to slow music and after ten minutes our heart rate slows down. That is, our physiology has connected with an external thing, which converted into nerve impulses and circulates To our nervous system makes changes.
What is the main idea you present in your book?
This is a two-part study. The first is devoted to the presentation of elementary knowledge of the physics of sound.brain, the functioning of the auditory system and the interaction of sound vibrations converted into impulses with the brain.
Knowing what they are and how they work, I’m going to analyze what happens when we singwe play an instrument, dance, or listen to music, explaining what has been observed in research, and trying to explain it to the best of our knowledge because we still have a lot to discover.
Do making music and listening to it have different effects on the brain?
The main difference lies in the motor part and other cognitive functions.because when we play an instrument, more areas of the brain are used than when we just listen.
For example, memory, which helps us remember what we have played and what we need to play next in order to understand the meaning of a musical phrase. Making music is a more complex exercise.. It is often said that music is the art that requires the most cognitive resources from the brain.
The study was conducted on 70-year-old people who had never studied or played music, who were asked to attend weekly classes. It has been proven that after three to four months the white and gray matter of the brain has increased and Their memory has improved.
So, do musicians with long careers have healthier brains, or do musicians with more potential?
Basically, they have a different brain structure. He discovers increase in cerebellar volumeauditory cortex, corpus callosum (connecting the two hemispheres), increased communication between the auditory parts and engines…
Additionally, since they have more white and gray matter, When neurodegeneration occurs, their quality of life may improve.because they take longer to break. But there are other variables that can come into play.
In addition to genetics, style and lifestyle. We have to think that there are a lot of musicians who have taken a lot of substances. undesirable, as they destroy the brain, and that matters too.
Has music been proven to have therapeutic properties?
There are examples of centers of excellence where music is used for therapeutic purposes. For example, American hospitals John Hopkins, That Louis Armstrong Center in music and medicine in Beth Israel Medical CenterMemorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center….
With us too, perhaps in a more secondary sense, in places like Hospital del Mar, Sant Joan de DéuOctober 12, La Paz, San Joan de Diez (Alicante) and others. Outside the country, these practices are better known. and specialist music therapists work alongside medical doctors.
In our country, I lack a center that analyzes the interaction between music and the brain. We have researchers who work in isolation, but it would be worth having place centered in exploring these possibilities.
At the famous Technological Institute. Massachusetts (Massachusetts Institute of Technology), which for me is one of the first world centers investigation, a positive effect is observed in Alzheimer’s disease, To visual and auditory stimulus with a frequency of 40 Hz.
Is it also known whether music promotes learning?
Most studies link music to language learning. In fact, music and language are still sounds and vibrations that are shared by many areas of the brain and therefore By improving one, you simultaneously improve the other..
In other areas, such as calculus, this is not as proven. But with language there is evidence. Studies have been done on people with dyslexia who have difficulty following rhythms. If you practice rhythmic perception, as you improve Their dyslexia also decreases..
So, when I argue with my son about him taking up music to study, am I in the wrong?
This is a typical question. If he tells you the truth, This may help you focus. Another thing is that he is deceiving you. Not long ago, a researcher from the Catalan Institute Investigation and in-depth research (ICREA), who specializes in quantum mechanics, explained in an interview that he listened to rock music to concentrate…
But all this too It depends on what kind of person, the moment and your mood. Music that may be helpful to you one day may not be helpful to you the next day and you will have to turn it off.
Music has a strange ability to comfort us, uplift us, activate us, and even make us cry. What mechanisms activate us?
These are basically biochemical changes that release neurotransmitters and hormones and affect our physiology. listen music can cause these changes.
It is known that There is a correlation between levels of certain neurotransmitters and mood.: if we lack serotonin, we become depressed, and if we get kick Dopamine fires up our energy. Listening to music can be kick dopamine, and this has been measured in brain studies.
It also has a great ability to evoke memories.
Yes, sometimes it’s like going through time. It’s interesting, but the musical works that we remember most in our lives related to adolescence, because that’s when the hormonal revolution and the fact of listening to a lot of music coincide. During this period of our lives, we are very hooked.
Is there music good for the brain?
No. The best music for you is your own. And today it might be blues, tomorrow it might be a sonata Mozart and the other is reggaeton. This is what everyone needs at any time. Unless we are talking about a therapeutic plan, of course.
And if we did, which one would be good?
Know, First we need to know the person’s musical history.What songs do you like? Because if we processed music that you didn’t like, the results wouldn’t be the best.
Next we need to evaluate what we want to achieve. If a person has trouble moving, make him listen to a certain rhythm that he likes. This can help you make an effort to do things that are good for you.
Knowing all this, what role should music play in our society?
I want to convey that we should neither overestimate this phenomenon nor underestimate it. We must take full advantage of this, taking into account scientific advances in this regard. I will never say that music is wonderful or that it solves everything, but I think that It has great potential that is not being used.
Despite this, this new vision of humanizing hospitals is already beginning to take hold. And in the field of education, music helps us improve our cognitive abilities. It can also promote teamwork, values work, or experimentation with emotions. We are musical creatures: let’s see what science tells us and take advantage of it.
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