Good News

jhatpro · Posted: Fri Jan 28, 2022 10:51 am Post subject: Good News

https://www.inc.com/john-rampton/the-benefits-of-playing-music-help-your-brain-more.html
_________________
Jim Hatfield

"The notes are there - find them.” Mingus

2021 Martinus Geelan Custom
2005 Bach 180-72R
1965 Getzen Eterna Severinsen
1946 Conn Victor
1998 Scodwell flugel
1986 Bach 181 cornet
1954 Conn 80A cornet
2002 Getzen bugle

Seymor B Fudd · Posted: Sat Jan 29, 2022 4:27 am Post subject:

I have, since long been suspecting this.

So all of us are brain cell mates!
_________________
Cornets: mp 143D3/ DW Ultra 1,5 C
Getzen 300 series
Yamaha YCRD2330II
Yamaha YCR6330II
Getzen Eterna Eb
Trumpets:
Yamaha 6335 RC Schilke 14B
King Super 20 Symphony DB (1970)
Selmer Eb/D trumpet (1974)

Brassnose · Posted: Sat Jan 29, 2022 4:44 am Post subject:

As always in science there are other studies that say playing music has no effect

(sorry, in German only): https://www.mdr.de/wissen/macht-musik-fit-und-schlau-100.html

It probably is one of those chicken and egg problems: does your brain work (better, differently, …) because you play music or do you play music because your brain works (better, differently, …)?

I am inclined to think that certain things attract certain characters (character defined on a very loose perception: personality, intelligence, family background, genetics, maybe even physical abilities, etc. …). You can quite often see this in sports clubs or in undergrad programs: certain general traits show up in certain fields - (usually!) people going to boxing events are quite different from people going to arts galleries. So people playing music may just have a general inclination towards some things that are not so evident in, say people who go to race tracks.

Disclaimer: I have no clue about psychology or brain science or neurobiology.
_________________
2019 Martin Schmidt eXcellence
1992 Bach 43GH/43
1989 Kühnl & Hoyer Model 15 flugel
1980/2023 Custom Blessing Scholastic C 😎
1977 Conn 6B
1951 Buescher 400 Lightweight
AR Resonance, Frate, Klier

Seymor B Fudd · Posted: Sat Jan 29, 2022 9:52 am Post subject:

I´ve read your links (yes I´m familiar with German

). Quite an impressive amount of work put down by the researchers. The meta-analysís does not support the idea that musical traning makes us smarter or more inclined to achieve acadamic success. If anything some results point to the fact that musicians already from the beginning seem to be a tad smarter than the average guy (always been knowing that

).
However the mean age of the population, if I have read the paper correctly was 6,45 years of age. Children in other words.

However I do not think that this is the crux of the matter. Whenever you play, regardless of this being sitting in front of your Clarke trying to make sounds come out of the front end or sitting in a big band/concert band/small combo this means that your conscious awareness of the stimuli around is diminishing (of course they don´t disappear but you will pay them less and less attention). This means that you are entering an Altered State of Conciousness (ASC) - in reality opening up the pathways of the right half of your brain. You are entering a hypnagogic state!
Which might become deeper - depending on your ability to become engulfed by the music.

Brain research points to the existence of a special system, the Mirror Neuron System (MNS) by which we communicate, are able to share feelings, facilitating the understanding of the other one´s body language etc etc. (i.e see "The empathic brain" by C. Keysers) . This seems to be crucial when it comes to playing together. (ps: "Warum Ich fühle was Du fühlst - J Bauer)

This is not the place for a longer rant about these discoveries; suffice it here to say that thus engaging in music, more so if playing might activate parts of our brain otherwise not that active. Furthermore bloodflow in the brain might become enhanced. This is crucical!

So playing makes our brain active in special ways which should benefit keeping the smartness we developed during our childhood (we arrive to this world with a certain talent/intelligence but it must become taken care of so as to eventually bloom), as well as enhance learning (learning while in a trance state) preserving our connection to the world through our senses - for a longer time.

Of course - this is only a very very superficial hint at what neurological factors might be at work. There is so much more research to be done.

Perhaps you could say that, playing does not make us smarter, but helps us staying smarter...Or?
Sure helps me to go on playing!
_________________
Cornets: mp 143D3/ DW Ultra 1,5 C
Getzen 300 series
Yamaha YCRD2330II
Yamaha YCR6330II
Getzen Eterna Eb
Trumpets:
Yamaha 6335 RC Schilke 14B
King Super 20 Symphony DB (1970)
Selmer Eb/D trumpet (1974)

jhatpro · Posted: Sat Jan 29, 2022 10:04 am Post subject:

I have zero expertise in this matter. All I know is that listening to music makes me feel good and playing it makes me feel great.
_________________
Jim Hatfield

"The notes are there - find them.” Mingus

2021 Martinus Geelan Custom
2005 Bach 180-72R
1965 Getzen Eterna Severinsen
1946 Conn Victor
1998 Scodwell flugel
1986 Bach 181 cornet
1954 Conn 80A cornet
2002 Getzen bugle

JensenW · Posted: Sat Jan 29, 2022 2:37 pm Post subject:

Jim, very interesting.

I suspect the truth lies in between the two studies. Anything done as a regular practice will make changes to the brain. For example, people who frequently meditate on a particular thing such as praying the rosary will alter the brain, which can be seen as difference in brain scans between those who do and don't. The brain turns out to be highly malleable, so the idea that playing music might change your brain does not surprise me. That it helps with other areas of life also does not seem all that surprising either.

I have not ever found an evolutionary reason for music, and yet everyone can make music, and even those who don't make it can still appreciate it. We are the only species to make music. To me, it is evidence for the existence of God. YMMV.
_________________
Wade
Yamaha YTR 737

The goal is to be a better trumpeter today than I was yesterday.

Andy Cooper · Posted: Sat Jan 29, 2022 2:59 pm Post subject:

We now have scientific proof ...

spitvalve · Posted: Sat Jan 29, 2022 3:30 pm Post subject:

When my late mother-in-law was in the final stages of Alzheimer's, the only thing she would respond to was music. We could put an old musical like "My Fair Lady" on the TV and she'd start humming along. And she was never a musician.
_________________
Bryan Fields
----------------
1991 Bach LR180 ML 37S
1999 Getzen Eterna 700S
1977 Getzen Eterna 895S Flugelhorn
1969 Getzen Capri cornet
1995 UMI Benge 4PSP piccolo trumpet
Warburton and Stomvi Flex mouthpieces

Brassnose · Posted: Sat Jan 29, 2022 10:10 pm Post subject:

I won’t delve into all the neuro stuff - even though I brought it up. What I meant to say is just that the whole matter may be more complicated and that it may not be a simple music = smarter connection (yes, I a m a scientist

but in a very different field).

The thing that I completely agree upon is the fact that music will free up the mind and clear out the brain for me. I only concentrate on the music and enjoy the sound of music. It’s a little bit like a reset of the brain and maybe just doing that helps you also concentrate on other things. We may just be more focused again and not necessarily smarter. Rather, music provides a higher degree of relaxation into the brain’s ground state than other things?
_________________
2019 Martin Schmidt eXcellence
1992 Bach 43GH/43
1989 Kühnl & Hoyer Model 15 flugel
1980/2023 Custom Blessing Scholastic C 😎
1977 Conn 6B
1951 Buescher 400 Lightweight
AR Resonance, Frate, Klier

Seymor B Fudd · Posted: Sun Jan 30, 2022 2:39 am Post subject:

GeorgeB · Posted: Sun Jan 30, 2022 3:29 am Post subject:

Croquethed · Posted: Sun Jan 30, 2022 4:46 am Post subject:

Another anecdotal anecdote:

For a long time, I would occasionally break out in a German phrase (probably good with the vocab but not so grammatically correct), and tell my wife it was an effort to break the routine processing and help keep the cerebral synapses firing well.

About a year after I started my comeback, I made the decision to abandon nearly all sheet music and do all my practice by ear. A lot of that is I-IV-V blues progressions, some is improv off arpeggios, some is just running scales.

While I maintain this new focus on creating cogent musical constructions probably helps me in things like puzzle pattern recognition, my wife has observed more than once that because I spend so much time in my head creating music, I hardly ever break out in German speech anymore. Maybe I have limited room in the domepiece.

JensenW · Posted: Sun Jan 30, 2022 5:05 am Post subject:

gstump · Heavyweight Member Joined: 14 Nov 2006 Posts: 934

Well playing high notes made my head hurt. And playing lead trumpet for 40 years made me stupid so......
_________________
Schilke B5
Couesnon Flug (1967)
Funk Brothers Horn Section/Caruso Student

Seymor B Fudd · Posted: Sun Jan 30, 2022 8:26 am Post subject:

Might have something to do with the intermittent lack of oxygen supply you might experience when playing in the high register.
Has happened to me back in the day that right after nailing some note above high Eb that I almost fainted. But then I´m an amateur

But - as long as you are aware of this there´s enough brain cells left...
And, as some signs indicate that musicians are a tad smarter than the rest nothing to worry about. Still on top

_________________
Cornets: mp 143D3/ DW Ultra 1,5 C
Getzen 300 series
Yamaha YCRD2330II
Yamaha YCR6330II
Getzen Eterna Eb
Trumpets:
Yamaha 6335 RC Schilke 14B
King Super 20 Symphony DB (1970)
Selmer Eb/D trumpet (1974)