Music And The Brain

OLLI at MSU member

As we age, we get all kinds of advice about how to make it a more positive experience: keep our minds sharp with word puzzles; keep our brain and body in shape with walking, cycling and swimming; take jellyfish extract; make friends and socialize, etc., etc. In his book “This is Your Brain on Music,” Daniel Levitin describes how exposure to music benefits us mentally and physically. Many newer researchers also show a correlation between music and brain health. It doesn’t seem to matter if your taste in music is Bach or Beyonce, Grand Old Opry in Nashville or Grand Opera in New York, Chesney or Tchaikovsky, Golden Oldies or Top 40. I can appreciate almost any kind of music if it isn’t too loud! So here are some findings about the value of our favorite types of music in our lives. Sitting and listening to your choice of music turns on a complicated interconnected set of brain cells. It starts with the ear gathering the sound, then neurons transporting electrical signals to the auditory cortex in the front of the brain, where you perceive and analyze the tones. Two other brain parts— the nucleus accumbens and amygdala—give emotional responses to music. The nucleus accumbens produces dopamine, the “pleasure” neurotransmitter. Another region of the brain reacts if you don’t like the sound. If you are familiar with the music, the hippocampus regulates memory for its familiarity, experiences and

Sharon Eversman Osher Lifelong Learning Institute “OLLI” at MSU http://www.montana.edu/olli/ Tele: 406-994-6550 MSU Academic Technology and Outreach 128 Barnard Hall • P O Box 173860 Montana State University Bozeman, MT 59717-3860

and coordination. Playing an instrument turns on even more brain parts: the visual cortex for reading music and the sensory cortex, which gives feedback on our actions. Professional musicians also seem to have closer coordination between the two halves of the brain via the corpus callosum and more gray and white matter. Gray matter has neurons for information processing; white matter transmits information among brain parts. Nursing home studies have shown that musical experiences among older residents can increase white matter. Add other musical experiences and more brain parts are activated. Examples include social interactions at a concert with good friends, feeling inspired by a marching band in a parade or experiencing patriotism and loyalty at a pep band at the football game. In addition, if the music includes lyrics, the speech parts of the brain turn on. The music scene in Bozeman is prolific. The classical musicoriented folks have the Bozeman Symphony (including their free February family performance), the Symphonic Choir, Second String Orchestra, Montana Chamber Music Society, Baroque Music Montana, MSU groups, visiting soloists and the Intermountain Opera Bozeman. The Bozeman Daily Chronicle’s “Ruckus” insert publishes the many venues that feature a wide diversity of musical performances throughout the valley that occur almost every night of the week. The Senior Center offers dancing, concerts and a ukulele group. The public library has recordings to lend. A church choir is always an option for participating in making music. And OLLI at MSU offers music-related classes for folks 50 years of age and better. The Bozeman school system has an excellent music program that gives our students valuable music experiences starting at an early age. When my daughter and son were young, we sang a lot in the car and tried to teach them folk songs, children’s tunes, camp songs and patriotic songs. My daughter played violin through high school and my son played drums. They are both now appreciative audience members. That is good. Performers and audiences need each other for reciprocal energy. I started piano lessons at age five and violin at eight and played both instruments intensively through high school. I took a 10-year hiatus from playing after high school and have been playing since my late 20s. Piano solos were tolerable, but I have always preferred the teamwork of playing in orchestras, including the Bozeman Symphony for 55 years. Music has been a rewarding and life-long avocation complementary to my professional botany career. For more information on the value of music for all ages, especially us older folks, search “music, brain” on the internet. An abundance of recent research will show that the translation of little black dots on paper or iPads to musical tones by musicians does us all a lot of good. And for a diagram of the 12 brain parts involved in music processing, search “University of Central Florida research ‘Music and the Brain: What Happens When You’re Listening to Music.’”

Curiosity for Life.

Join us.

montana.edu/olli 406-994-6550