2012 Keynote Speaker: Kansas State Music Teacher Symposium

Music On The Brain:

Insights and Implications from Neuroscience Research for Music Educators

Richard Edwards

Ohio Wesleyan University

Preface

The effect of music processing on brain development has been an area of growing interest to both neuroscientists and music educators for more than twenty years (Edwards & Hodges, 2007) and our sessions this week are designed to answer two overarching questions about this research:

1. “What’s going on in the brain while my students and I engage in different musical activities?"

2. “How might neuromusical research be helpful to me in the ways I teach my students?”

Overview

The human brain is capable of infinite possibilities. Based on an extensive review of peer-reviewed brain imaging musical studies as well as extant research from other fields, we will explore three research areas underlying human musicality:

I. How being musical is natural (inherent musical abilities that almost all humans possess)

II. How the brain learns to be musical (turning inherent abilities into acquired skills)

III. How music changes us (what’s different about the musically trained brain?)

A Neuromusical Model of Musical Intelligence

Except for rare cases of amusia (i.e., the inability to understand musical information), there is consistent evidence supporting a Neuromusical Model of Music Learning based on the following characteristics of musicality and music learning:

· Lifelong Learning: Musical experiences occur throughout one’s life with or without musical training, yet there are optimal learning periods

· Quantity and Quality of Music Specialization: The quantity and quality of one’s musical experiences affect morphological changes in the brain

o Plasticity

o Neural Efficiency

o Widespread brain activations

· Creativity: Original musical performance (improvisation) is a totally different brain activity than note reading or memorized performance

· Shared, Parallel, or Proximal Neural Networks (Relationships between music and other cognitive domains): Although the extent of non-musical domain neural networks that are shared or proximal is still under investigation, there appear to be some musical processes that interact or have parallels with other brain systems, including

o Audiomotor networks (musical movement, dance)

o Language, syntax, and semantics

o Spatial Intelligence

o Verbal and Mathematical IQ

· Steadfast Memory: Subjectively meaningful musical experiences produce resilient long-term memories

· Imagery and Modeling: Music learning is enhanced through musical imagery (i.e., audiation) and the observation of musical behaviors in others (i.e., mirror neuron networks)

· Emotional Responses: Musical experiences elicit powerful emotional responses

· Uniquely Ubiquitous: Musical intelligence is unique to each person AND ubiquitous throughout human culture

Background

The review of studies supporting a Neuromusical Model of Musical Intelligence (NMMI) originated from the Musical Brain Imaging Research Database (MusicBIRD), a project to provide a resource for music education and neuromusical research. The guiding principles of this project are to compile and review the current state of neuromusical research, and to explore how this research provides insights into how humans learn to be musical.

Related Models

Prior models and theories of human musical processes have been proposed in various fields of study, including anthropology, psychology, and education. The following models have been particularly influential in the formation of the NMMI:

1. Functions of Human Musicality: Alan Merriam (1964) investigated cultures throughout the world and identified ten ways that humans consistently engage in musical activities.

2. Theory of Multiple Intelligences: Howard Gardner (1983) studied the diversity of human intelligence and described at least eight different ways of knowing that humans possess in varying degrees of aptitude (e.g.,interpersonal, intra-personal, kinesthetic, linguistic, mathematical-logical, musical, naturalistic, and visual-spatial).

3. A Musical Brain Model: Donald Hodges (1996) proposed the consistent ways in which musical processes occur in the brain and more recently, the unique forms of musical intelligence (2005).

Potential Outcomes

The implications of this model may yield practical applications and insights for music teaching, and be of assistance to future research directions in multiple fields, including neuroscience, music education, music therapy, and developmental psychology. Additionally, sharing the neuroscientific basis for music learning processes may expand the comprehension students and teachers have for the components of music learning experiences.

References

Edwards, R., & Hodges, D. (2007). Neuromusical research: An overview of the literature. In W. Gruhn & F. H. Rauscher (Eds.), Neurosciences in Music Pedagogy. New York: Nova Science Publishers.

Gardner, H. (1983). Frames of mind: The theory of multiple intelligences. New York: BasicBooks.

Hodges, D. A. (1996). Human musicality. In D. Hodges (Ed.), Handbook of music psychology (2 ed., pp. 29-68). San Antonio: IMR Press.

Hodges, D.A. (2005). Why Study Music? International Journal of Music Education. 23(2), 111-115.

Merriam, A. (1964). The anthropology of music. Chicago: Northwestern University Press.

The Musical Brain Imaging Research Database (MusicBIRD) is an ongoing research project through Ohio Wesleyan University and the UNC Greensboro Music Research Institute. For further references on any of the topics in this presentation just follow the links to the MusicBIRD website and conduct an abstract field search for your topic of interest. To learn more, please visit sites.google.com/a/owu.edu/musicbird