Music and the Brain article- Scientific American

Good topic and article.

I?m glad there are people who try to figure these things out cause it?s confusing. After reading the article I realized how amazing and wonderful it is that we are understanding these things but I still wonder if we will ever know why?

It?s easy to reason that music is just part of basic human nature. Music draws us together
in huge masses. Music evokes an emotion and creates a yearning. Music is a powerful
universal force that rivals sexuality in it?s persuasive, influential and addictive nature.
But there is a twist when we talk about rhythm...

I used to teach drums to little kids and one of the first things I noticed was they would
have (zone out syndrome) when learning to be repetitive. After a few minutes of repeating something and getting it going correctly they would begin to zone out mentally and gaze off into space while still executing the exercise. This (zoned out) space is what I consider a link to the metaphysical and a whole other subject. Well, since we are on the subject, here?s a little.

We all know early humans used rhythm to communicate with each other but they also
used it to communicate with the spirit world.. The reason they used rhythm was because
it?s simple repetitive nature (with 10 days of nonstop repeating) induced a trance. This
trance or alpha state of mind has long been considered the doorway to the spirit.
Throughout history, shamans, gurus, astralists and psychics of all sorts have used these
repetitive vibrations to seek out spiritual awareness. To a milder form, religion and music
have always been associated because they both abet this awareness. The universe, the
stars and the planets are all in perfect harmony (and time) as they expand on a consistent
and repeating spinning disc and we humans exist because the steady unrelenting
assiduous pulse of our heart propels us to repeat from day to day. Yet, can we ever
comprehend the ?spark? of existence? Sure, having perfect pitch or good meter or being
an accomplished musician isn?t easy for everybody but your average person can enjoy,
relate and comprehend a simple repetitive rhythm or melody.

So anyway, it?s always good to have the pinheads look into things but I think music is
simply a gift and whether you believe we come from a slimy piece of goo of from a
devine creator, it doesn?t matter, we are all attached to the rhythms and melodies of life
because these things are good and naturally bring us together.

Any SP?ers out there?

Quote:

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Originally posted by WecklsMechanic:
"Drumming (along with reading and writing) is relatively new to mankind and so we have no inbuilt mechanism to learn to drum. We therefore need outside influences(ie. Positive AND negative motivation) and I believe it is motivation that is the key to music education."

I kinda disagree with that a little. Only on the basis of saying we have no "inbuilt mechanisms".

In Africa, drumming was used to communicate from tribe to tribe, same in North America with Indians, and all throughout man's existance.

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<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Andy specifically used the word "relatively" new. You are correct, but in evolutionary terms this is all still very, very recent. The timescales required for mechanisms to become innate are enormous.

I was specifically talking about our ability to LEARN drumming which I believe we have no genetic base for. A child only needs to hear langauge at a certain, critical stage of development and they will naturally develop the ability to talk. It is believed we have an in built knowledge of phonemes. We haven't got any such apparatus for learning to read or write because these activities have not been around long enough to affect our genetic development.

This is not say that we don't have a inate ability to drum (ie talent) I believe whole heartedly that we do and that those who adhere to Blank Slate theory are a bit misguided...