Music and the Brain

Studies in the Neurology of Music

Macdonald Critchley, R. A. Henson

• Publisher: Butterworth-Heinemann
• Year: 2014
• Print ISBN: 9780433067030
• eBook ISBN: 9781483192796
• Topic: Media & Performing Arts
• Subtopic: Music Theory & Appreciation

Music and the Brain: Studies in the Neurology of Music is a collaborative work that discusses musical perception in the context of medical science. The book is comprised of 24 chapters that are organized into two parts. The first part of the text details the various aspects of nervous function involved in musical activity, which include neural and mechanicals aspects of singing; neurophysiological interpretation of musical ability; and ecstatic and synesthetic experiences during musical perception. The second part deals with the effects of nervous disease on musical function, such as musicogenic epilepsy, the amusias, and occupational palsies. The book will be of great interest to students, researchers, and practitioners of disciplines that deal with the nervous system, such as psychology, neurology, and psychiatry.

PART I

Outline

Chapter 1: Neurological Aspects of Musical Experience

Chapter 2: The Inheritance of Musicality

Chapter 3: Psychological and Physiological Aspects of Hearing

Chapter 4: Brains and Hands

Chapter 5: Anatomy and Physiology of Voice Production: The Phenomenal Voice

Chapter 6: Some Neural and Mechanical Aspects of Singing

Chapter 7: Memory and Attention in Music

Chapter 8: The Timing and Time of Musicians

Chapter 9: Musical Faculty and Cerebral Dominance

Chapter 10: Musical Ability: a Neuropsychological Interpretation

Chapter 11: The Development of Early Musical Talent in Famous Composers: a Biographical Review

Chapter 12: Music, Emotion and Autonomic Function

Chapter 13: Ecstatic and Synaesthetic Experiences during Musical Perception

Chapter 14: The Language of Music

Chapter 15: The Search for a Morphological Substrate in the Brains of Eminent Persons including Musicians: a Historical Review

Chapter 16: Is there an Anatomical Localisation for Musical Faculties?

1

Neurological Aspects of Musical Experience

R.A. HENSON

Publisher Summary

This chapter discusses the neurological aspects of musical experience. The essential auditory requirements for rewarding expressive or receptive musical activity include the capacity to perceive tones and tonal relationships, and not simply the specific acoustic properties of a note, such as pitch, duration, timbre, and intensity, but the sounding of notes consecutively—melody—tones sounded simultaneously—harmony—and tones sounded in terms of time—rhythm. The musician must also be able to recognize the horizontal relationship of tones or counterpoint. Memory is essential for musical appreciation and performance, and an emotional response is necessary for full experience. It is found that while generalizations of this sort can be validly made, it is a truism to recall that the requirements differ according to the individual and that there are wide variations in any unselected group of persons. The majority is able to enjoy music in one form or another and is sufficiently equipped to sing a tune. Most musicians would surely agree that music has a meaning beyond perception of the structure and content of a composition. Musicality is a complex function involving the special senses, and intellectual and emotional functions.

The neurological literature on music is commonly dull and lacking in interest to the general reader. There is a wealth of distinguished writing by neurologists on philosophical and literary matters, and music has fared ill by comparison. The reasons are not too far to seek, they include inadequate musical knowledge and a proper apprehension of venturing into difficult fields where traditional scientific guidelines are often unavailable. Even Henry Head limited his work on music to observations on the effects of brain damage on musical functions, although he had a good knowledge of music and the intellect and imagination to make a major contribution. Brain (1959) made some brief, perceptive comments, but his main interests lay elsewhere and he never pursued the subject of music in any depth.

On the other hand, the literature of music is rich. From the great days of Greece up to the present time philosophers, theologians and musicians have provided a stream of theory and criticism. After the commentaries of Plato, Aristotle and other Greeks, the early Christian fathers recorded their views on music and its relationship to life and worship; St. Augustine (A.D. 354–430) provided a remarkable analysis of musical experience in the sixth volume of his De Musica. Inevitably the Christian Church remained dominant in writings on music until the Renaissance, but from this time onwards the literature enlarged widely. Interested persons have a notable collection of antique and contemporary literature of high quality at their disposal. Furthermore, musicians have rightly made their own studies in practical or applied neurology. Teachers have expounded their ideas on motor activity and voice production as they relate to performance, hitherto with little assistance from neurophysiologists. Others have recorded their views on memory, an area where neurological knowledge is enlarging and increasingly capable of helping the musician.

Music as we know it today is some eight centuries old, although its origins lie deep in history. The polyphonic style reached its first known flowering in the thirteenth century with the composition of the canon Summer is i-cumen in; the earliest extant complete setting of the Ordinary of the Mass by one composer is Machaut’s (c. 1300–c. 1372) Messe de Nostre Dame (Hughes, 1953). Development has proceeded at differing rates since this time and modern composers continue the exploratory process with new ideas on style and performance. In confining this study to serious Western music only a segment of musical history is covered, but the neurological substrate of musical experience does not change, and it is hoped that the ideas and conclusions contained will prove capable of wider interpretation.

The Nature, Development and Prevalence of Musical Ability

Billroth, the Viennese surgeon, was one of the first to attempt definition of the substrate of musical ability or talent. His Wer ist musikalisch? was published in 1894. Later, many psychologists have explored the subject in depth, devising tests of musical aptitude and studying the development of talent. Notable among early workers was Seashore, the fruit of whose long experience is contained in his The Psychology of Musical Talent (1919) and Psychology of Music (1938). Many other important contributions have been made in more recent years and Shuter (1968) has provided a valuable review of these.

The essential auditory requirements for rewarding expressive or receptive musical activity include the capacity to perceive tones and tonal relationships, not simply the specific acoustic properties of a note, such as pitch, duration, timbre and intensity, but the sounding of notes consecutively, melody, tones sounded simultaneously, harmony, and tones sounded in terms of time, rhythm (Hanson, 1942). The musician must also be able to recognise the horizontal relationship of tones or counterpoint. Memory is essential for musical appreciation and performance, and an emotional response is necessary for full experience. While generalisations of this sort can be validly made, it is a truism to recall that the requirements differ according to the individual and that there are wide variations in any unselected group of persons. The majority are able to enjoy music in one form or another and are sufficiently equipped to sing a tune. For the composer, professional performer, amateur executant and serious listener other attributes are needed. The professional performer must possess exceptional motor skills and motivation and persistence in practice, while the composer must have a deep understanding of musical form and structure and the imagination or inspiration to energise his professional expertise.

Musical aptitude and talent declare their presence early in life (Chapter 11), and professional executive potential is usually evident in the first decade. According to Révész (1953) almost one half of the children he tested showed musical aptitude by the age of five. Shuter (1968) traced the development of musical ability from infancy to maturity. A favourable home or educational environment naturally encourages the process, while absence of such stimulus can delay the appearance and recognition of unusual talent. Musical capacity continues to enlarge during the third decade. Middle and old age form no barrier to new experience or creative ability if the mental faculties are preserved.

The prevalence of musical talent and interest is a matter of social and neurological concern. Serious musical enjoyment was the prerogative of the few until comparatively recent times. Though the common people of the Middle Ages had their folk music and dance, with entertainment from wandering minstrels of different types, and material deriving from these sources played an important part in musical development, it was the Church, royal courts and establishments of other rich and powerful people which were the main repositors of good music. Later the area of performance widened with the emergence of a wealthy merchant class ready to dispense patronage and the spread of private music-making. The first public concerts, in the modern sense of the term, were arranged by the violinist John Banister in London in 1672. When this series ceased in 1678 Thomas Britton, a Clerkenwell charcoal hawker, inaugurated his concerts which continued for thirty-six years. For the first time performances of serious music by outstanding musicians, such as Purcell and Handel, were open to the public. However, Purcell was probably best known by the public from his theatre music and Handel from his oratorios and music performed in the Pleasure Gardens. Music by leading composers was played to large audiences at Gardens like Vauxhall, particularly in the eighteenth century when Glee clubs and other private music groups flourished.

There was a rapid expansion of musical societies and educational facilities in the Victorian Age, but the advent of gramophone and radio in particular has awakened latent interest and increased knowledge and enjoyment among the population at large. On the educational side improved facilities for instrumental training and enthusiastic teachers in schools have shown that there is a large reservoir of musical skills among the young. The proliferation and enlargement of school choirs and orchestras has been a remarkable phenomenon over the past twenty-five years, and standards of performance are often high.

A B.B.C. Audience Research Report (1964) investigated the public for serious music. The final sample of 1250 persons over fifteen was explored by lengthy interview and questionnaire. It was concluded that the serious music public had been successfully sampled, but the remainder of the population may have been less accurately represented. Forty per cent. claimed to have been taught to play an instrument in childhood, but only four per cent. still did so in adult life. Musical knowledge was scanty in the majority; fifty-four per cent. had little or no contact with music in childhood and denied knowing anything about it as adults, while a further twenty-one per cent. were ill-informed. A small best-informed group of 7·5 per cent. was largely drawn from the middle class, but the ill-informed or ignorant constituted a proportionate cross section of the population. Persons professing little interest were shown to make up about a quarter of concert audiences, and there were few in the sample who did not state a liking for music in general. Sadly, serious contemporary music ranked lowest in terms of music liked in all groups of the sample.

The Early Medical Literature

References to music and medicine are common in the Greek and Latin literature, but as one would expect th...

Table of contents

• Cover image
• Title page
• Table of Contents
• Inside Front Cover
• Copyright
• Contributors
• Acknowledgments
• Preface
• Foreword
• PART I
• PART II
• Index