Music and the Brain
What do we know about Music and the Brain? How does the brain show the effects of musical intervention? Can the frequencies and emotions produced by music create new synapses?
If you want to dig a little bit, here is a crazy example of what our brains do when we hear music.
Why is music an inherent human element? Archaeological digs have unearthed skulls that indicate early man used music to communicate, long before writing and language. No wonder music goes to the heart of all matters, speaking a universal truth, tapping into untouched cranial areas, causing cascading of behavioral patterns and capturing an emotional moment that can trigger new understandings.
Research shows that music helps language development. And with a scanning mechanism called functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI), we now understand that the whole brain is a music center. Neuroscientist Robert Zatorre states that “there isn’t a cognitive function that doesn’t somehow pertain to music. People have realized that music really does serve as a gateway into understanding human cognition.” (The Power of Music, Elena Mannes, 2011).