When a person listens to music or practices music, their brain is activated in unique ways. For listeners, music activates the brain by setting off “fireworks”; quickly decoding each element of a piece (melody, rhythm, etc.) and combining it again to hear the song unified. But studies have shown that for music players, the activity in the brain when playing or practicing is much more intricate – equivalent to a full body workout.
Music has the power to motivate and soothe, no doubt about it. But how and why does it affect us? Why do certain songs trigger excitement or make us grin? Why do others bring relaxation, tears, or send shivers down our spines?
These are questions some scientists are asking in their laboratories. They are studying how our brains process music and learning why we respond in the ways we do. They are using new technologies to explore why music—whether it’s reggae, rap, rock, or Rachmaninoff—is celebrated in every human culture.
Exploring how our brains work is one of the most exciting areas of modern-day science. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and other high-tech scanners let researchers see which parts of our brains tackle different tasks. With MRIs, a person is slid inside a tube-shaped tank. Then the machine finds where his or her brain “lights up” when undertaking certain activities, such as reading or doing math problems. The scan can also spot what parts of the brain go to work as the person sees pictures, hears sounds, or feels sensations.
How the brain processes music is an exciting area of this research. Researchers have discovered that the brain does not have one special place to analyze music. Instead, different parts of the brain handle different aspects of a song, like rhythm (the beat) and tone (pitch and loudness). And one of the most mind-blowing discoveries is that the parts of the brain that deal with emotions also fire up in response to music. In other words, music is wired directly into our feelings.
The Brain
Once the nerves deliver musical signals inside the skull, the brain goes to work. Researchers now realize music is not just processed in one part of the brain. Performing and listening to music gives big chunks of your brain a workout.
Use the labeled images in the slide player (below) to locate the parts of the brain highlighted in the text. Once you've found them, see if you can locate them on the unlabeled images!
Rhythm
The belt and parabelt are located on the right side of the brain. They are mainly responsible for figuring out a song’s rhythm. When creating rhythm by tapping toes or beating a drum, the motor cortex and cerebellum get involved.
Pitch and Tone
The recognition and understanding of pitch and tone are mainly handled by the auditory cortex. This part of the brain also does a lot of the work to analyze a song’s melody and harmony. Some research shows that the cerebellum and prefrontal cortex contribute, too.
Anticipation
Research shows our brains create expectations when listening to a song. For example, it would figure out if a beat is steady or the melody makes sense. But we especially like it when songs surprise us with smart, quirky changes. This analysis takes place in the brain’s prefrontal cortex.
Memory
People have an amazing ability to remember music. Chances are you can recognize your favorite song after hearing just a fragment. These memories are stored in the hippocampus.
Performance
Musical acts like reading music, playing an instrument, and dancing fires up the cerebellum, motor cortex, sensory cortex, and visual cortex.
Emotion
Music has the power to trigger feelings in listeners. Three main areas of the brain are responsible for these emotional responses: nucleus accumbens, amygdala, and the cerebellum.
https://www.kennedy-center.org/
https://news.mit.edu/
Mhttps://www.creativesoulmusic.com/usic and feelings have always gone together.
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