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Table of Contents By: The Team By: Bruno Morales By: Davis Burns By: Leo Kim By: Cadalyn Burris
06 Table of Contents 08
Letters from the editors
10 Cut the Mic 14 Music during the Pandemic
16 Wait, Those are Kids Playing That? 20 Letters from the editors
22 Wiz Wiz, Chop Chop 26 The Art of Music 28 Notes and Neurons 32 Music in the Brain
Letters From Leo Kim is a freshman at LASA High School. He was born in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and moved to Austin when he was in second grade. Leo started playing the cello in sixth grade with the Kealing Middle School orchestra, and has been playing cello ever since. He doesn’t have a favorite type of music.
Leo Kim Cadalyn Burris is a freshman at LASA High School. She was born in Austin and began playing the cello in sixth grade with the Kealing Middle School orchestra. She has gotten involved musically in other ways too, having played piano since first grade, and she has been in choir since second grade.
Cadalyn Burris
The Editors Bruno Morales is a freshman at LASA High School. He was born in Austin, and started playing cello in sixth grade with the Gorzycki Middle School Orchestra, and continues to play cello in the LASA Orchestra. He has also been playing piano since second grade. He likes to listen to all kinds of music.
Bruno Morales Davis Burns is a freshman at LASA High School. He was born in Austin, and started playing the cello in sixth grade with the Lamar Middle School Orchestra, and continues playing cello in the LASA Orchestra. He has also been involved in choir which, he started in second grade. He likes to listen to all types of music.
Davis Burns We hope you enjoy!
-Leo, Cadalyn, Bruno, & Davis
"Instrumental Music" by Newman University is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0 “Instrument Petting Zoo” by eddie.welker is licensed under CC BY 2.0 “Musical Instruments” by Miguel Virkkunen Carvalho is licensed under CC BY 2.0 “Cello” by kruemi is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0 “Cello” by Mathew Bajoras is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0 “Cello - 13:365” by susivinh is licensed under CC BY-ND 2.0 Image is licensed under CC BY 2.0 “Sing along with me (10/365)” by LifeSupercharg
er is licensed under CC BY 2.0 “Silhouette at a Sigur Ros Concert” by Tom Olliver is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0 “The Crowd in the Concert” by BockBilbo is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0 “guitars” by victor.lavrentev is marked with CC PDM 1.0 “Music Note Bokeh” by all that improbable blue is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0 “Sheet music.” by jonisanowl is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0 “cello” by Martin A. Lester is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0
By Bruno Morales
Cut the Mic
The Pandemic was Rough on the Music Industry. Here’s how it’s Changed
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ou are in your music class, playing your favorite piece with the entire class, feeling the beat, hitting every note perfectly. You are a conductor, hearing all the melodies line up and flowing with the music. A tutor, helping your student learn a difficult piece of music. Or a performer, at a show, playing your heart out in front of your fans. You fall asleep, and when you wake up the next morning you want to do it all over again. The recent Covid-19 cases are the least of your worries; they are all far, far away, too far to ever affect you. It’s on the other side of the world, you think, how can that affect me? The next day the country is under quarantine, and you have to stay home to stop the spread of the virus. You can’t do what you love most, play music. This is what happened to many people when the COVID-19 pandemic started. Many people’s jobs or hobbies are in music, and all that stopped when you went into quarantine. The problem with working in the music industry is that most of your work is in person, to capture the flow of
music from different voices, so the pandemic threw a wrench in the system. People who work in the music industry have had to adapt. Dr. Carlos Quesada, a pianist who performs in places such as The Kennedy Center, Steinway Hall, Casa Elizalde’s Auditorium, and Rossini’s Theater in Gioia del Colle, Italy. He also teaches at the Texas Lutheran University and holds private lessons at his home. Dr. Quesada had never teached online and didn’t really know what to do when the pandemic hit. He tried many programs like Zoom, Skype and Google meets to try to teach online. He had to find one that had the best sound quality because pianos have many notes playing at the same time which some programs combine into one strange noise. “Teaching online is very difficult,” he says,“You can [only] talk when teaching an instrument online, so I had to adjust [when I went] completely online.” Dr. Quesada also encountered another problem he didn’t expect. Students left. The pandemic made
Dr. Carlos Quesada a lot of students lose motivation or love for music. Some students also didn’t like online learning. Dr. Quesada says, “I had had more students before the pandemic then I have currently, but maybe about five I would say that dropped piano lessons because of not wanting to do it.” Music teachers have had to change their entire strategy with online learning. It is a lot harder to try to teach a kid how to play an instrument when you aren’t in the room with them. Julie Alevato, a teacher in Katy ISD, Houston, explains the struggle with teaching online. “I’m sure you can only imagine what it’s like trying to teach beginners how to hold an instrument. I’d be like, no, put the cello in
cello in your left hand. That’s not your left hand, put it in your left hand. It’s just so difficult.” Ms. Allevato went on to explain that it is so much easier to teach a student in person. If they make a mistake, all you have to do is correct them quickly or just remind them they are out of position. Online though, you can’t touch the student to correct their posture. It can be very difficult to try to explain to someone who has never held an instrument, how to hold an instrument. Another problem with online school is that sometimes the students aren’t even there! You can easily turn off your camera and walk away.
Julie Allevato
During the pandemic, schools had to change how they did concerts. Many fine arts directors had to find a way to make an online concert, but they didn’t work well. It was a struggle to get students to submit recordings. Even in person, concerts were hard. Everything had to be sanitized after each group, and parents could only see the group with their child. The lockdown also affected students. After posting a forum, I learned that about 60 percent
“Between every concert, my orchestra officers would go and they would wipe and sanitize down all the chairs.”
Julie Allevato of LASA students play an instrument, and almost all of them prefer playing in a group. Many students ended up becoming unmotivated because they could not play with their peers, and didn’t find joy in playing their instrument. Once the restrictions started being lifted, many students found their passion in music again once they started playing in groups again. The educational part of the music industry isn’t the only part that was hit hard by the pandemic, the performance industry was also devastated. The problem with performances is that they are usually in person for events like concerts, shows, or weddings. Samantha Stewart,
owner of a quartet group called SiennaStrings that plays gigs at weddings, says it was a struggle. “We had a lot of gigs cancelled or rescheduled and right now we are actually still playing some of the rescheduled gigs.” They also couldn’t practice for the first few months of quarantine. “It is hard trying to practice music when you can’t hear the other people at the same time,” says Stewart. When the pandemic hit, virtually all concerts or gigs had to be cancelled or rescheduled. People who rely on concerts or gigs to make money stopped making anything. Some people had to start posting on social media, which barely gains money compared to concerts. Big music festivals such as Austin City Limits (ACL) were cancelled, depriving both rising and well-established musicians of a huge source of income. But hope is on the rise. The restrictions for lockdown have lessened. people can meet in person again. Teachers can interact with students in real-life, not over a screen. When asked, Ms. Allevato went on and on about how much better it was once she could conduct and teach in person again. “If I have to do [online] again, I don’t think I’m going to be an orchestra teacher anymore. And you know, I love my job. So the fact that I was even considering not doing it anymore was really sad. [Once we were back in person I was like] oh, yeah, that’s why I love this job.” People who rely on gigs are also happy to be in person again. Mrs. Stewart was astonished at the amount of requests
person again. Mrs. Stewart was astonished at the amount of requests they were getting for gigs when the Covid restrictions started getting lifted. “We have a lot of gigs constantly being requested. I am heading toward one right now! All in all though [requests] have definitely greatly gone up this year.” Mrs. Stewart also explained how amazing it was to see her peers again in person. “Oh my goodness, when I saw my group again I was overjoyed. It was so fun to play with them again.” When Covid struck, income dropped, performances dropped, people stopped playing in groups, but now that we are starting to come out of lockdown, and people can go in person again, the industry is booming. Gig companies have had an explosion in requests, more than before the pandemic. People that didn’t go to concerts before the pandemic are now trying them out. And many, many more students are getting into music. Schools are having a rush of students wanting to learn instruments. Ms. Allevato actually has a class the same size as a middle school with triple the students. “We’ve tried to do the best we can and survive. I’m glad that things are starting to get back to normal.” - Dr. Quesada You are back, being a conductor, musician or tutor, playing that one favorite piece of yours again. You hit that last note, moving your arms in a dramatic flare, letting the note ring on and on, and you remember how much you missed this. You had forgotten the warmth
Samantha Stewart (second from the left) and some musicians of SiennaStrings of the notes flowing through the air. You are glad that music survived the pandemic. It may have been hard in the beginning, but things are starting to go back to normal. School is in person again, tutors can allow students to come into their houses, and concerts are back. People are making more money, and having so much more fun. The music industry has survived the pandemic and is booming again, and you smile to yourself, that you can play again.
“We’ve tried to do the best we can and survive. I’m glad that things are starting to get back to normal.”
Dr. Carlos Quesada
Pandemic The music industry has shown a trend over the last two decades. Physical music like, disks and concerts, is decreasing. Since the start of social medea, the streaming industry has been rising. Also, in 2004, music downloads started to become popular, and then they started dropping in 2014. Performance rights have slowly but steadily rose.
Physical
Streaming
Downloads
Performance rights
20
15
10
5
0
(US$ Billions)
2001
2011
2020
During the pandemic, most people had to use video calling apps like Zoom to meet up with music groups. At the start of the pandemic poeple had to use zoom to be able to play music wth others.
Assistant Director Andrew Corral conducts one of the orchestras at LASA High School in AISD. Masks are required for in-class rehearsals. (photo taken by Davis Burns)
Wait, Those Are Kids Playing That? What Happens Behind the Scenes in Music Education, Inside and Outside the Classroom By Davis Burns
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s the orchestra tunes up and the choir gets on stage, an audience composed of parents, grandparents, relatives, and friends, watches as the director walks onto the stage. They welcome you to the performance and talk about how the musicians have worked very hard to perform this music for you. You feel a rush of adrenaline as the director takes to the podium, raises their baton, and strikes up the performance with the first piece of the evening. Only one thing is different from this performance to a professional one. This ensemble is composed only of students Troughout the United States, both public and private schools cherish their arts programs. Districts from coast to coast invest millions of dollars collectively each year to keep these programs alive for the benefit of their students. However, these programs would not be possible without the time and effort of individual directors, such as Jeni Berecek, Director of Orchestras at Hill Country Middle School in Eanes ISD. “I started playing cello when I was eight years old in my public schools.” Berecek said. Berecek was the orchestra director at Kealing Middle School and Lamar Middle School before taking the position as head orchestra director at Hill Country Middle School. She talked more about her own musical adventure as well as how she landed upon music education as a career. “I stuck with music through
elementary school, middle school and high school. When I was about 17 years old, I was thinking about what I wanted to do in college, what I wanted to do as a career because I was starting to look at colleges. And I was deciding between a few different things. I remember one day asking myself, instead of like, what did I want to do with my life? I thought of it like what could I not live without.” Music in the classroom
Jeni Berecek Conducting at the Austin ISD Performing Arts Center has taken many forms over the years, but in most places it works like this; middle and high schools have a choir, band, and an orchestra, composed of different groups of instruments and vocal parts. Some directors of these groups have other jobs, like playing or singing with other organizations outside the classroom. “I think most music teachers will tell you that they do a little bit of everything,” Berecek said. “If you’re going to be a musician, in general, you will teach. Even if you’re a professional musician in a symphony orchestra, you will
still teach. So musicians do both, performing and teaching.” Teaching music to students can be a challenging endeavour. Music educators put a lot of their time and energy into making the choir room, orchestra room, band hall, or other classroom a great place for every student. Educators in general have a very difficult job, and with music, a lot of what happens in your personal life you can channel into the music your ensemble is playing. “As a musician, and as a music teacher, what happens in your life personally, really informs you know, your career, your relationship to music,” said Berecek. “Playing music and being a musician, you have to emulate and play all sorts of different emotions. So if you’re playing a song that’s really sad, you can tap into that, or a song that’s really exciting and happy, you can tap into that.” But you can’t have a fine arts program with only an orchestra. Many schools also have bands and choirs among other things. Megan Starkey is the Director of Choirs at Lamar Middle School and has been for the past 13 years. “I feel like Texas, over other states, puts a lot of value in music education and arts education in general,” Starkey said. She went on to explain how over the years, marching bands were expected to perform well because of how central football is to Texas middle schools, but mostly high schools. The
pressure was on for the other ensambles to do well to match the greatness of the marching band, which caused competitiveness across the state in the field of fine arts education. This pattern eventually evolved into the high value Texas schools place on their arts programs. Contests are another part of the fine arts curriculum, the most popular of which is UIL or University Interscholastic League. Students of a choir, orchestra, band, or other musical ensemble perform prepared music for a panel of three judges. They then go and sight-read music, which is when they are given a brand new piece of music and after some minutes of silent practice, they perform it for another panel of three judges. The group is scored on a scale of 1-5, 1 being “superior” rating, and 5 being “poor” rating.
“Getting the Legendary UIL Trapezoid [superior ratings trophy] is nice, but it’s not all about The Trapezoid, it’s about the journey to The Trapezoid”
Jeni Berecek
“Other states in the country look to Texas for resources and music repertoire. They look at our PML or ‘Prescribed Music List’ that we use for you while they pick their music from our PML.” Starkey Described. While directors handle most of the work inside the classroom, private tutors can help with the part that happens outside of the classroom, Practicing. One such private tutor is Frank Jenkins, a cello instructor, and cellist for the Austin Symphony. “I think that access to the arts is important to everyone,” Jenkins explained. “Having the opportunity for creative expression is invaluable for our society as a whole; like that is something that is part of, I think, being a well rounded human.” The pandemic has certainly brought radical change to the fine arts education system. Changes range from being as simple as wearing a mask during rehearsals and performances, to as extreme as not having a performance or rehearsal at all. These changes have rocked the way that teachers do things, and have both closed and opened doors. While the pandemic may have hit ensambles hard, it opened up a world of opportunities for one-on-one lessons. “A lot of groups tried to do virtual performances, and it never really amounted to that much, because it’s just, you miss too many of the important aspects of performance, you know, the social aspects and the physical space aspects, you just can’t recreate those virtually,” Jenkins expressed. Jenkins used
to work with students one-onone in person, but now does it virtually. While it might not be optimal, it certainly eliminates some challenges people have like transportation needs or scheduling conflicts. “[If] they have a computer, they can hop on a zoom call, and we can have a lesson. I’d say that lessons over zoom aren’t as effective as when they’re in person, but there’s still value to it. So I think that that has kind of created a positive opportunity for musicians to be able to explore that.” Jenkins stated. Over the pandemic many people have started learning an instrument, not just in the United States, but around the world. For example, a study done by Yamaha reports that about 75% of people in the United Kingdom turned to music and learning an instrument to help wash away the pandemic blues. Others continued their studies, perhaps with more time to focus when other activities became unavailable. Starkey remarked that over the pandemic, “the use of technology to teach different music theory concepts or sight reading concepts that other teachers have made and put out there for anybody to use.” Many aspects of music education have changed with the pandemic and with time. However, through the ages, one thing remains constant. Just like any other activity, fine arts and performing in an ensemble is a way for students to connect and build relationships, something that is invaluable later in life. Jenkins is the school programs manager at Soundwaves Austin, which as
he describes it is “[A] nonprofit group in Austin that provides music lessons, sectionals, private lessons, and other types of support to School programs all around the city.” As he mentioned before, in his mind, access to the arts is important, and Soundwaves works to try and spread that experience to students from all walks of life. Across the country, there have been propositions for cutting funding to public schools’ arts programs because of the amount of money they take up for the little tangible reward they give the school, district, or state. Funding is certainly a concern for many school districts in low-income areas that
can’t support large programs with hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of instruments, directors to teach students, and a place for them to perform. So, next time you go to a school concert, in support of a student or just because, think about the hard work that the students and the directors put in. Think about the amount of time that is spent behind the scenes and all of the moving parts that have to fall into place to provide this experience for the audience. As the conductor cuts off the ensemble, turns around, bows and acknowledges all of the students, remember that there are so many things that go on off stage that you don’t get to see,
but that all add to the rewarding experience of music education, inside and outside the classroom.
“Teaching is something that I have found - and continue to find enjoyment in.”
Frank Jenkins
The main hall at the Austin ISD Performing Arts Center (PAC for short). This 1,200 seat auditorium was finished in 2015. Photo by Thomas McConnell, courtesy of Austin ISD
Fine Arts
By Davis Burns
Students across America are in fine arts programs in their school. This infographic aims to inform you about the involvement broken down by school type, socioeconomic status, and the breakdown of students at LASA High School in AISD here is Austin, TX
Student Involvement by School Type
96%
Of elementary school students are in fine arts
89%
Of middle school students are in fine arts
50%
Of high school students are in fine arts
90% of schools in rural or economically challenged areas have fine arts in the school system
96% of schools in metropolitan or richer areas have fine arts in the school system
Education What Musical activities are LASA students involved in? (35 Random Students Surveyed)
34.3% (12/35) Not Involved In Fine Arts
17.1 (6/35) Other
8.6% (3/35) Visual Art
22.9% (8/35) Orchestra
17.1% (6/30) Band
Wiz Wiz Chop Chop The Instrument Maker is Hard at Work Leo Kim
U
pon arriving at the Austin Performing Arts Center, you check in with your ticket and quickly navigate your way into the main hall. You seat yourself into your respective spot and notice that there aren’t any musicians on the stage. ‘Strange’ you think to yourself. As you put your phone on silent and put your apple watch in theater mode, the conductor and musicians start to get into position. The lights dim down, and you applaud along with the crowd as the concertmaster walks into the room. Right before the concert starts, you wonder, ‘How did this all happen?’ Music is an arrangement and combination of different sounds (called notes) that create a melody, whether that is vocal or instrumental. This has existed among humans for tens of thousands of years and has become a universal trait for humanity. That being
said, music is a great way of expressing your emotions, and is considered as a form of art. Much like other forms of art, music has changed over time and modernized to what it is today. “Music composition is writing original music for voices or instruments, orchestras, ensembles, any kind of performing organization, and even electronic, synthetic music, computer music.” Donald Grantham explains. Grantham has been “teaching [composition] at UT, the Butler School of Music since 1975.” He is also a well-known composer and has received many awards for his work. “I primarily write instrumental and vocal music. I’ve written a lot of music for wind ensemble, 50 pieces or more, and I’ve also written music for chorus and orchestra and chamber music.” Grantham started composing when he was 13, when he knew how to play
Picture of Donald Grantham (Courtesy of Grantham)
the trumpet and piano. “It’s something I’ve always had a great interest in… I started out writing music for my own instruments and playing that.” He expanded on his interest onto other instruments, “writing for his friends who were also brass players, and wrote music for his high school band, high school choir, church choir, and just continued it from that point.” As long as you have the interest and the time for music composition, you can be a
Image of the Region 18 Orchestra Concert
brilliant composer regardless of to a composition teacher and talent. According to Grantham, receive lessons. “I take a look at “It’s just like what they do, and every person Do not compare make suggestions learns how to about how they yourself to othwrite an essay, could make some er students, because every person improvements… learns how and also give that’s just almost to be able to them musical pointless. You have write.” If this literature that is a hobby that one person that you’re they can listen you would to and study going to compete like to have, that will help against is yourself. then you can them,” Grantham teach yourself says. I also how to write recommended music through that you know a trial and error little about music and practice. theory. “I was just able to start off by Once you have enough trial and error, and come up experience, you can start with some pretty primitive going to competitions and elementary pieces.” And if you submit your work. “The have the passion to enhance Austin Symphony sponsors your composition, you can go a competition every year for
-Jason Kwak
young composers of high school age… the young composers who won in the previous year are going to have their pieces performed.” Grantham said. These pieces that are created by composers go to musicians, like Jason Kwak (gwak), to be performed in a concert or performance. This leads to the second component. Instrument playing is the act of playing a musical instrument in which you produce a series of notes to create a rhythm and melody. “I have been playing the piano for 46 years,” Kwak said, the professor of piano at Texas State University of San Marcos. “I teach piano majors, the students that come to Texas state that want to be a piano major, those are the students that I teach.” Jason Kwak has devoted his life
to music because “that’s just who [he is], all of us have an identity.”
Picture of Jason Kwak. (Courtesy of Kwak)
practice], but the third thing that is much more important is they have to have a passion for it.” This means that if you would like to learn an instrument, then you should go for it. You can start off by finding an instructor near you to start receiving lessons. For those that have some experience, practice as much as you can, as having the passion will always out-weigh the talent. This misconception can also bring bad news. If you have the talent for an instrument, but don’t have the passion for it, then it is recommended that you quit. “It sounds like a very harsh thing that I’m calling somebody, but it’s actually not.” Kwak says. “What I’m trying to do is save them from years and years of real difficult life.” The instruments that musicians use to produce music
At a very young age, Kwak started learning piano and was receiving lessons from his school and his mother. “Growing up in Korea, everybody played the piano at [3]... My mother happened to be my first piano teacher.” When Kwak was in second grade, his family moved to the United the pinnacle States.” Kwak mentioned that “[he] realized not everybody of woodworking is played the piano.” He was musical instruments. even told that he was very good. Soon, he took part in a competition “for the entire state of Georgia,” and from here on out, Kwak has continued on his interest and became a piano major. “The fact that I can keep playing the piano that could actually didn’t come from nowhere. be a part of my life as a main They have been created by thing was incredibly interesting others who have spent many to me, so that’s when I decided hours practicing how to create to become a piano major, and I these intricate pieces of work. have never looked back since.” Mark Lea is one of those people. Although it seems like “So I started with just general being a good musician requires woodworking like I built that TV talent, this is just a myth, stand [in his living room], like as anyone can be a skilled just furniture stuff.” Said Lea, a musician. According to Kwak, part-time luthier. “It comes from [talent and Lea started woodworking
-Mark Lea
Picture of Mark Lea. (Courtesy of Lea)
when he was in high school, “I’d actually started when I was in high school building skateboard ramps, so that’s how the whole thing started. Then next thing you know... you’re just doing stuff around the house, like remodeling stuff, and then making furniture and then just graduating musical instruments.” Lea was told to start off by building a ukulele, so he bought a book and built one. “I built it, and he’s impressed… then I learned to play it after I built it. It was pretty cool, and I soon graduated to the guitars and acoustic basses” If you want to have a hobby of making string instruments, you can start by learning basic woodworking skills. “You just need a table saw and Sander to get started.” Lea says. ”You can actually buy wood that’s already bent.” Once you have the material, you can search up instructions on how to put it together. Once you graduate high school, you have the choice to go to a luthier school. “Go from high school to luthier school. They apprentice for a couple
Instrument making is also in a very similar situation. Once graduated from a luthier school, “they go to a Gibson or Fender shop. And then it takes them a long, long time to build those skills. And then they open up their own brand,” Mark Lea’s progress on making a guitar. Lea says. “It’s (Image by Leonard Kim) something years,” Lea said. Of course, if that you have you decide to become a luthier, to work nonstop at.” After doing you must have the passion to do all of that, you “have to find the so because becoming a luthier right clientele that want to pay can be time-consuming. $10,000 per guitar. That’s the In the modern world, only way you can make money.” we seek innovative ideas and As for being a musician, solutions because of this, “there you will mostly “make a living aren’t any really well-defined with a combination of teaching career paths for artists these and performing,” Kwak says. days.” says Grantham, “One of “I am a full professor at Texas my teachers told me that being State, and I perform 20 to 30 a composer is really three jobs, times a year, which all includes you’ve got to write your music, an honorarium.” In short, you you’ve got to sell your music graduate from college, then in the sense of what I was just you find a job, whether that is talking about, convincing people private lessons or teaching at to be interested in it, and deploy a school, and start performing it. And then you’ve got to do in concerts that includes an something to make a living.” honorarium (a payment given It is very difficult for modern for professional services that composers to make a living are rendered nominally without now. It is very common that charge.) “[composers] have to teach or Although it seems like a perform or conduct or do some very difficult career path to go other activity that will help through in the modern world, underwrite their creative work,” it doesn’t matter. As long as Grantham explains. you are doing what you love,
you will be happy. People like Donald Grantham and Jason Kwak have spent their entire lives in the music department because it is their identity, passion, and interest. Of course, you can also have this as a hobby, Mark Lea is a great example. In conclusion, if you dream to become something, then you should alway strive for passion and never give up.
you’re never gonna work a day in your life if you have fun with what you’re doing
-Jason Kwak
The Art of Music Music Composition Music composition is the act of vocals creating original music for vocal and instrumentals (orchestra, band, and such). These people are called composers. After they finish their creation, the newly created music can be published or played by the composer or a musician.
If one of these conponents disappears, then music wouldn’t exist!
Instrument Making Instrument making is the art of creating instruments. This includes string, brass, percussion, and woodwind. For now, we will focus on string instruments. Makers of string instruments are called Luthiers and they can either sell their creations to musicians or use it for hemselves themselves
Instrument Playing
Instrument playing is the art of, well, playing instruments. It creates a series of sounds that makes music. For instruments, music is generally called a piece that is either created by musicians or composers.
Notes and Neurons
How Music and the Human Brain Can Interact and Influence One Another By Cadalyn Burris
Y
ou watch the cellist’s fingers move along the fingerboard of the instrument. Their right hand gently holds a bow, bending flexibly, arm flowing along with the fingers, masking the strength behind the movement. Their left hand creates a beautiful vibrato, rotating with a quiet precision and bringing a subtle warmth to each carefully crafted note. The cellist’s head bows towards their instrument, eyes closed in concentration. You feel your eyes fill with unspilled tears of emotion. How, you ask, can music affect me so profoundly? Music is an experience that most people enjoy. In middle and high school, there are many students in band, orchestra, choir, or who are taking music lessons outside of school. Music is playing at all hours of the day on the radio, and there is al-
Diagram of a human ear. Image courtesy of MIT OpenCourseWare
ways seasonal music to listen to. However, the secrets of hearing music are not always residing in the quality of headphones or the tone of a note, but in the human brain. First, someone may play music on their instrument, creating sound waves. These sound waves travel through the air to the ear canal, where they cause the eardrum to vibrate. This then causes tiny bones in the middle ear most commonly called the hammer, anvil, and stirrup to be displaced. This vibration is sent to the inner ear, or the cochlea, through the ossicles in the middle ear. The vibrations are then dissected by the cochlea. Spencer B. Smith, an Assistant Professor in the Department of Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences at the University of Texas at Austin, as well as the director of the Texas Auditory Neuroscience Lab, says, “There is a place in the cochlea that best represents every single frequency in music… if you’ve opened up the top of a grand piano, and if you’ve seen all of the strings for each piano key, it’s very similar to the orientation of what’s going on in the cochlea.” According to Smith, there are certain parts of the spiral of the inner ear that are tuned to the
different frequencies in sound, and these parts will vibrate. Electrical impulses are then sent to the brain conveying the information of which parts of the cochlea are vibrating. The brain receives the first wave of information within the first 50 milliseconds of a sound occurring. “The auditory system is one of our fastest senses,” Smith said, “and that’s because it has evolved really well to convert mechanical vibration energy into electrical impulses, and that’s a very fast way of relaying information.” After this information is delivered, the brain may recognize the type of instrument being played from the combination of different frequencies. The information may be relayed to other parts of the brain. Music is actually one of the few experiences that can activate all parts of the brain. “Our respiration rate, our blood pressure, our heart rate, our galvanic skin response, all of that is influenced by music, not only because of the features of music itself, not only because of music’s sound and tempo and contour…, but also because we form associations with music that we hear,” says Robert A. Duke, [insert credentials here]. If a song has emotional signif-
icance, areas of the brain that have to do with memory may be activated. Emotional parts of the brain can be affected by music as well. Music at a school pep rally will be uplifting to get the students excited, but music sung to help children sleep will be soft and slow. A masterpiece performed by an expert musician can even drive people to tears. And most people have a song that reminds them of their childhood, an event, or their friends. “[music] actually engages parts of the brain that are involved in social bonding, in emotion, and that’s probably why our
“It’s an amazing thing that I can have a thought in my mind, and I can speak that thought, and... you hear what I’m saying, and I’m able to convey information from my brain to your brain through sound.”
- Spencer Smith ancestors evolved to… engage in music is because it’s a very simple way of socially bonding people together and it forms a sense of community, and it’s all because all these other brain areas, in addition to the auditory system, are being activated,” Smith explained. When you think about it, music is a highly social experience. You go to a concert with your
friends and jump up and down to the beat of the rhythm. You go to the movies with your family and are affected by the emotion the music brings to the story even if you don’t realize it. If you’re in an orchestra, A colorful brain full of music notes. band, or another musical group, a community is formed brain is not exposed to sound, that can even transcend making even temporarily, that part music together. of the brain falls into disuse. Professor Bob Duke, the Head There have been studies that of Music and Human Learning the area of the brain that holds at The University of Texas at the visual system can expand Austin, agrees. “I would always into the parts of the brain where say that the greatest benefit [of the auditory system is located learning music] is just the joy of in the brains of people who are being able to make music either deaf. Everything you do shapes alone or with other people… it’s your brain and its functions, something that, we’ve known whether you train your brain for a long time, provides a kind through playing music, walking of human connection to make your dog, or spending time on music together with other peosocial media. Your experiences ple that a lot of other activities change your brain, your actions don’t provide. It’s really quite a change your brain, and even remarkable thing.” your thoughts change your Smith believes that the most brain, either for the better or for important thing for everyone to the worse. This is why one must know about how the brain func- practice an instrument to betions is how malleable it is. come an ‘expert’ at it. “The nervous system in general “... when we repeat things over is highly influenced by expeand over again, that signals our rience. That means that if you brain that this is something that become an expert in something, it should keep and retain over if you become an expert musitime,” Duke said. cian, or even a musician who The memories that form are practices a lot you’re technicalstrengthened over time. If one ly an expert. That has positive learns music at an age where the influences on how your brain brain is rapidly developing, this processes sound,” Smith said. knowledge can slightly change However, this also means that the brain structure. This is the opposite is also true. If one’s mainly observed in children, as Image courtesy of GDJ, modified by Cadalyn Burris
their brains are especially malleable. However, the brain is plastic throughout one’s life, and one can become an exceptional performer regardless of whether they started learning the cello as a child, the tuba as a teen, or the accordion as an adult. A good teacher can be extremely impactful when one is learning music. “... everyone who’s a thoughtful teacher recognizes how powerful potentially they are, in ‘turning somebody on’ or ‘turn-
ing somebody off’ to poetry or music making,” Duke said. A teacher who is aware of this can make a student feel good at their instrument or engage them in the wonders of music. “[students have] been listening to music, probably for a lot of their lives. And what music teachers can do is exploit all of that experience people have in their memories already, and say, ‘Okay, so how can I take all this good experience that people have, and help them apply that to now learning this… skill that’s related to their music making,” Duke explained. Although music can spark all kinds of connections in the brain, it will not solve all your problems or make you smarter. A common misconception people have is that studying music will make a child better at school. Research has shown that musicians had good per-
The piano is one of the instruments commonly used in music therapy. Credit to antony griffiths
formance in school before they started learning an instrument, and the good grades in other areas of study were not a result of learning an instrument. “The rewards that come from doing this [music] won’t necessarily make you smarter or make you a better person. It might make you happier because you have these goals that you shoot for, in learning to play and developing your skills and not only do you reach the goals occasionally, but the goals actually involve doing something that’s really potentially quite beautiful and expressive, which is a lovely thing to be able to do.” But why, you might ask, do we need to know this? How can we use this knowledge to do something? Claire Kendrick, a music therapist at the Center for Music Therapy in Austin, works to help people with brain disorders - using music. Music is one of the only things human experience that can activate all the parts of the brain, which is how Kendrick and other music therapists can work to address some of the symptoms of their clients using different techniques. Since different people need something different from music therapy, different exercises are practiced with certain people. “...that’s why music therapy is effective is making it very personalized. So we can bring in different instruments, we can bring in different songs that are their favorite songs in order to personalize the experience,” Kendrick said. An example would be to interpret music and help people put what they feel and think of
the music into words. Kendrick might also ask a person to play an instrument such as maracas, drums, and xylophones. Most music therapists play the guitar, piano, and sing. Playing instruments can help with practicing precise body movements and spatial awareness. Although many people have not heard of music therapy, it is scientifically proven to be beneficial to patients. Kendrick detailed how a music therapist named Jane Stanley conducted research that proved that music had an incredible effect on newborns. “[Stanley] took infants that were having difficulties feeding, which is an important skill that they need in order to leave the hospital, and when the music
“We know [music therapy is] effective, it’s enjoyable, and it’s something that can be used and adapted for basically everyone. It’s a really important part of healthcare.”
- Claire Kendrick therapist would play a lullaby for the baby when it would start to drink milk, the baby would learn… ‘I get a reward when I’m drinking, and the reward stops when I stopped
drinking’,” Kendrick said. In addition to this phenomenon, newborns who had been receiving music therapy were released from the NICU 2.5 days sooner than a newborn who hadn’t been, according to Kendrick. Music can normalize breathing as well. Music therapy has even helped people who sustained damage to the part of the brain that works with speech talk. Music can work wonders in places one couldn’t have dreamed were related. Kendrick says some of her favorite moments as a music therapist have been when she can see she’s helped someone. “When I was an undergrad student, I was working with a child with autism. And we were working on correct pronouns because he was getting ‘you’ and ‘I’ mixed up… and we had written a song about when you use ‘you’, when you use ‘I’, and ‘he’ and ‘she’, and in the session I couldn’t really pick up on whether he was internalizing what we were working on. And then his mom, I think maybe a month into him receiving services, told me that he’s started to use pronouns correctly at home. And then his mom, I think maybe a month into him receiving services, told me that he’s started to use
pronouns correctly at home. And that was like a lightbulb moment for me because I was like, Oh my God, I’m actually doing something,” Kendrick exclaimed. It is so impactful to see that you’re making a difference, that you’re helping someone else and it’s positively influencing them. Even the smallest things, like saying ‘hello’ or ‘please’ can have an incredible impact. From understanding the brain to music therapy, it is important to understand how music can interact with the brain and how we can use this knowledge to the best of our abilities. After all, it’s amazing how a person can have an emotion in their mind and be able to convey that to the people around them through music. Maybe they can even change the listener’s worldview, or give them a temporary peace between the notes.
Amygdala
Hippocampus
holds memories, among other things. Music may help improve memory by increasing the production of neurons here if one hears a song with emotional value.
works with emotions and the ‘fight, flight, or freeze’ danger response. This is where one feels emotion when listening to music.
contains Wernicke’s Area, which analyzes and helps one to understand speech. This is where one analyzes music.
Frontal Lobe
By Cadalyn Burris
How Your Brain Works With Music
Music in the Brain
Parietal Lobe
thinks, plans, makes decisions, and holds one’s personality. Listening to music can strenthing these functions.
Temporal Lobe
holds short-term memory, speech, and one’s sense of rhythm. It processes words, wordless sounds, and music.
Putamen
is where one understands rhythm and can work with the movement of the body. The putamen is activated to evaluate Hypothalamus rhythm. maintains hormonal balance in the body. This function is the reason one may experience physical effects of music, like a change in heart rate.
Cerebellum
coordinates the movement of the body. The muscle memory of how to play an instrument is stored here.
Occipital Lobe
works with vision. Experienced musicians may Brain Stem transports messages use this part of the brain to and from the brain. to visualize the written music of what they This includes signals are playing. from the ears that indicate sound.
Tuned
In
