How Singing Unlocks the Brain

Subject: BS: How Singing Unlocks the Brain
From: bobad
Date: 21 Nov 05 - 11:48 AM

Very interesting article http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/4448634.stm on the benefits singing has to persons with dementia.

Subject: RE: BS: How Singing Unlocks the Brain
From: TheBigPinkLad
Date: 21 Nov 05 - 12:58 PM

Interesting indeed. I'd like to see some concrete recognition (i.e. funding) from our education departments of the importance of music to learning.

Subject: RE: BS: How Singing Unlocks the Brain
From: GUEST,leeneia
Date: 21 Nov 05 - 06:53 PM

That was interesting. Thanks for posting it, bobad.

I remember reading once about a woman who had Alzheimer's and could not recognize songs by name. But if she was asked "Can you play this?" and a asker sang a few notes, then she could play it on the piano.

Clearly the music was stored somewhere else in memory than the title. No surprise there, I guess.

Subject: RE: BS: How Singing Unlocks the Brain
From: Kaleea
Date: 21 Nov 05 - 08:25 PM

My first job as an Activities Director was at an all alzheimer's & related dementia facility. With Alzheimer's, there is plenty of long term memory, just little or no short term. Many can recall incidents from their youth as well as song lyrics with great detail. It's yesterday that they can't recall. One can accomplish amazing things with Music.
I approached it the way I was taught to teach Music in the Special Ed envirionment-throw every form of "doing" music I can at them at once. We never know if one way, say, listening, will reach an individual. Therefore, if we have activities where we listen & sing & play & move to Music & use visual Musical stimuli, we have the best possible chance of reaching the individual. Granted, we may not be able to do all those things at once everytime all the time, but if there are opportunities to do a variety of things with a given song or tune, but we can do all these things over time. The key is continuing the Music persistently. The best progress with dementia is made when one actually is reading printed Music or some form of chart, & playing or singing. Because Music is normally considered fun, actively participating in Music causes our bodies to release chemicals which help our bodies.
Music not only makes us smarter as kids, it also helps us get our smarts back when we lose them!

Subject: RE: How Singing Unlocks the Brain
From: Pauline L
Date: 21 Nov 05 - 10:14 PM

The relationship between music and the brain is so interesting. Here are a few true stories.

I know a very musical family with three generations living in the same house. The oldest one, who had played violin for years, developed Alzheimer's. Sometimes someone else in the family would take out the violin for the old woman to play. They had to help her put it on her shoulder and under her chin because she would sometimes turn it upside down if she tried to do this herself. Once she held the violin and bow where they should be, she played the violin moderately well. It had a strong effect on her. For days afterward, her mood was better and she was more alert to things going on around her.

I once had the unpleasant experience of taking care of someone dear to me who had developed Alzheimer's at the relatively early age of 64. He had been a singer and music lover for most of his life. He had trouble sleeping because he got agitated at bedtime. One of the things I did for him was to play a CD of music to relax by, which   helped him calm down and get to sleep. However, he woke up briefly every night and asked, "What music is that?" when the CD was on the same track, Beethoven's Fur Elise, which he had known well. Every night I answered his question, and every night he asked it again.

One of my friends had a staph infection followed by a stroke in her junior year in college. She now says, "What a way to change your life." Shortly after the stroke, she lost the ability to speak. She could hear and understand her speech therapist perfectly well, and as far as she could tell, she was doing everything she needed to do to speak in return, but no sound came out of her. After a while, the therapaist sang "Mary Had A Little Lamb" to her, and she sang back. Ever since then she could talk. She says that she believes that something happened with a right brain / left brain crossover, and that's what enabled her to speak. Her stroke left her without fine motor control of the right side of her body. She was a music lover and she had played piano before her stroke. She trained herself to play piano again using only her left hand. She plays the melody with one finger and uses the other fingers to improvise cords. She now plays piano and organ in her church. I'm very proud of her.

Subject: RE: How Singing Unlocks the Brain
From: Pauline L
Date: 21 Nov 05 - 10:35 PM

The relationship of music to the right and left hemispheres of the brain has been studied extensively. The composer Ravel suffered brain damage in a car accident in 1933. I learned about it by reading this.
After his accident, Ravel developed Wernicke's aphasia, which gradually eroded his ability to write music. Still, he retained the ability to recognize notes and rhythmical patterns, choose his scores, even perceive that his doctor's piano had gone out of tune due to the damp winter weather. As he was to report near the end of his life, the music was trapped in his head. He could not translate his auditory imagery of a
piece of music into a visual form (by notating it) or into a motor form (by
playing by heart…Ravel commented poignantly, "I will never write my Jeanne d'Arc;
this opera is here, in my head, I hear it, but I will never write it. It's over,
I can no longer write my music." Ravel died in 1937 from complications of brain surgery.

Subject: RE: How Singing Unlocks the Brain
From: Tannywheeler
Date: 22 Nov 05 - 10:45 AM

In the after-New-Years school semester of 1966 I had the job of teacher's aide to the Music teacher in the Roma (Texas) elementary school. This is a school on the border with Mexico--just 1 or 2 blocks from THE river. They had a large percentage of migrant students which fluctuated in and out through the year. The migrant kids were all levels of learning: some almost as far along as the bright permanent residents; some unable to recognize English words and didn't care--but required by law to attend school, so they came with dead eyes and took up space.

The grade system was as follows: Students were put into the grade level that was usual for their ages. Each grade had a series of sections: Sect. 1 was the brightest, busiest, ahead-of-their-level, kids; Sect. 4 was the dead-eyed bunch who didn't seem to care and might have been asleep behind those dull, black orbs.

As each class entered the music room, the teacher stood by the door nodding to the students, smiling. As they left, same thing, but he'd mutter in my ear and indicate unobtrusively, "That one", or "Watch her".

The students in each class responded to the music, the Section 4s the slowest. Eyes would brighten, backs would straighten, teacher's movements around the room would be watched, participation would increase. They were tested weekly in their academic classes and progress was noted. I personally saw kids who went from, say, 5.4 to 5.1, and the Sect. 4 of each grade was almost empty by the end of the semester. Some of the teachers told me they held their breath every semester, because the Music teacher was way beyond retirement age, and noone seemed to be willing to bury themselves there to do the job, and they recognized how important the music class was to rescuing their poorest students.

As exciting as the job was, I learned that I don't have what it takes to be a teacher. Seeing the job from (sort of) the inside like that gave me much more respect--for teachers and music.    Tw

Subject: RE: How Singing Unlocks the Brain
From: Leadfingers
Date: 22 Nov 05 - 08:26 PM

Interesting that all the posts here are from our American friends ! I am VERY close to West Berkshire UK and have heard NOTHING about this !
Perhaps this is something the Folkies ought to look into !!

Subject: RE: How Singing Unlocks the Brain
From: psalterypsue
Date: 23 Nov 05 - 01:47 AM

Only slightly off topic. I worked as an Aide at a school for disturbed children for several years. I introduced my class to classical music and it had enough calming effect that they could sit and study quietly for about an hour every afternoon.

Subject: RE: How Singing Unlocks the Brain
From: Mooh
Date: 23 Nov 05 - 09:26 AM

After several mini strokes, my father was pretty much mute. Weeks would go by with hardly a word unless he was really(!) prodded. After a long stint in the hospital and at home, he was finally fit enough to be taken to church. He could barely walk, and really struggled to get to his feet from sitting down, but he followed Mum's directions and did his best. We knew he wanted to attend church by his non-verbal communication through head and eye motions, and finger pointing.

To everyone's surprise, when the first hymn was started, he opened his mouth and sang, remembering words and harmonies as he had always done, though with less power than he had enjoyed previously. When questioned about it, he responded with his usual mute stare. Speaking wasn't possible, but singing was. This condition lasted for the last couple of years of his life, though it did diminish even more.

All this was very emotional for the family, and we suppose for Dad. He had spent his whole life in service to the church and here he was able to make noise in the place where he had preached...but virtually nowhere else.

The brain is a weird and wondeful thing. I'm convinced music helps keep us alive.

Peace, Mooh.

Subject: RE: How Singing Unlocks the Brain
From: Donuel
Date: 23 Nov 05 - 10:15 AM

Fascinating stuff, especially the Ravel story that was new to me.

This summer I listened to an NPR documentary about the Alzhiemer striken mother of a contributing NPR journalist. I listened to the old lady, who had been an opera singer, sing Madame Butteryfly.
Her singing showed none of the confusion that she suffered in conversation.

It is heartening to know that music will be a great solace to us all no matter what our state of mind.

Subject: RE: How Singing Unlocks the Brain
From: TonyK
Date: 23 Nov 05 - 09:35 PM

This is great stuff. I've just gotten Juliette Alvin's book 'Music Therapy' from the library so as to look into it more.

Subject: RE: How Singing Unlocks the Brain
From: katlaughing
Date: 24 Nov 05 - 11:55 PM

Another type of music therapy, click here, on how music helps stroke patients to speak, again. The doctor is looking for more potential patients to take part in his study using what he calls Melodic Intonation Therapy.

Thanks to Night Owl for telling me about this!

kat

Subject: RE: How Singing Unlocks the Brain
From: Peace
Date: 25 Nov 05 - 12:45 AM

There a some people who stutter when they speak but do not when they sing.

Subject: RE: How Singing Unlocks the Brain
From: Peace
Date: 25 Nov 05 - 12:52 AM

'These new data also provide a theory to explain the mechanism of common fluency-inducing maneuvers like chorus reading, singing, and metronome reading that reduce stuttering instantaneously. All these procedures involve an external signal (i.e., other readers in chorus reading, the music in singing, and the metronome itself). All these external signals feed into the "speech production system" through the auditory cortex. It is thus possible that this external trigger signal reaches speech-producing central brain areas by circumventing the frontocentral disconnection and is able to resynchronize frontocentral decorrelated activity. In simple terms, these external cues can be seen as an external "pacemaker."'

The article this is from may be read here.