Brain scans tune in to personal nature of improvising music

[MingusAmongUs]

Maybe of interest to jazz players and improvisers of all stripes:
http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/...s_N.htm?csp=34

At the same time, he and a colleague found, improvising musicians turn off the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, a portion of the brain linked to planning, careful actions and self-censoring.

...which explains a lot of the content here on TB.

[Francois Blais]

Originally Posted by MingusAmongUs

...which explains a lot of the content here on TB.

[Damon Rondeau]

I was just BS'ing about the topic in this thread yesterday. If you're into this stuff, you gotta check out Daniel Levitin's This Is Your Brain On Music.

[Marc Piane]

I'm reading a book called Musicophilia by Oliver Sacks. Doesn't speak directly to this topic but more generally about the effect of music on the brain.

[Damon Rondeau]

Yeah -- the Sacks and Levitin books are like sisters in a way, coming out at roughly the same time on the same topic area. As usual, Sacks goes waaaay deep on a sort of singular aspect of the topic, using case studies as a springboard for teaching and thinking and working towards the general. Levitin's purpose, on the other hand, is to give the lay reader an overview of all the stuff that's gone on in this field over the last few decades.

[MingusAmongUs]

there's another one, Music and the Mind, by Anthony Storrs. Can't say I recommend it though, as I have yet to make it through the whole thing. 3 tries so far. A little too cerebral.