Practical Apps for Learning to Play and Make Beautiful Music

by Stephanie Haywood Making music has various health benefits, from reducing stress and depression to improving memory and reading skills. If you are thinking of picking up a musical instrument, you are taking a smart step towards improved wellbeing. If you have kids who want to play an instrument, they can also benefit; studies have … Read more

“Music will get worse” – mind control thru music scale

Abstract “Pornography, violence and obscenity on TV and in movies will be deliberately increased. People will be desensitized to violence and porn and made to feel life is short, precarious and brutish. Music will be used for indoctrination and ‘will get worse.’”   Content listen from 7:00 in paraphrased — Emperor would not check writings … Read more

Death Metal and Music Criticism: Analysis at the Limits

Abstract Michelle Phillipov challenges the tendency of popular music studies to focus on questions of a political nature. The first half of the book is a thorough critique of ‘The Rise of Political Criticism’ in popular music studies with three individual chapters dedicated to case studies of punk, hip-hop, and electronic dance music (EDM). Although … Read more

The Long-Term Effects of Childhood Music Instruction on Intelligence and General Cognitive Abilities

Abstract This article reviews research on the effects of music instruction on general cognitive abilities. The review of more than 75 reports shows (1) the consistency in results pertaining to the short-term effects of music instruction on cognitive abilities and the lack of clear evidence on the long-term effects on intelligence; (2) the complex nature … Read more

Neurobiological Aspects of Neurologic Music Therapy

Abstract “…we present data on the potential of music making to support and facilitate neurorehabilitation. We focus on interventions such as melodic intonation therapy and music-supported motor rehabilitation to showcase the effects of neurologic music therapies and discuss their underlying neural mechanisms.” Content Neurobiological Aspects of Neurologic Music Therapy Eckart Altenmüller, MD, MA1ਪ*’ Gottfried Schlaug, … Read more

Affective constraints on acquisition of musical concepts: Children’s and adults’ development of the major-minor distinction

Abstract Across cultures and age groups music has a powerful impact on human affective states. We examined the effect of these affective responses on children’s and adults’ ability to label musical excerpts as major or minor. Content Affective constraints on acquisition of musical concepts: Children’s and adults’ development of the major-minor distinction Clarissa A. Thompson … Read more

Pitch Memory in Nonmusicians and Musicians: Revealing Functional Differences Using Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation

Abstract   For music and language processing, memory for relative pitches is highly important. Functional imaging studies have shown activation of a complex neural system for pitch memory. One region that has been shown to be causally involved in the process for nonmusicians is the supramarginal gyrus (SMG). The present study aims at replicating this … Read more

Bodily maps of emotions

Abstract   Emotions are often felt in the body, and somatosensory feedback has been proposed to trigger conscious emotional experiences. Here we reveal maps of bodily sensations associated with different emotions using a unique topographical self-report method. In five experiments, participants (n = 701) were shown two silhouettes of bodies alongside emotional words, stories, movies, … Read more