RE: OT: Interesting research on brain activities of improvisers

[stevenguerrero <mesquamacus@yahoo.com>]

I'm reading that right now as well!

--- cpr@musetrap.com wrote:

> Coincidentally, I am currently reading "This is You
> Brain on Music" by Daniel J
> Levitin, who runs the Laboratory for Musical
> Perception, Cognition and
> Expertise at McGill University. I just started it a
> few days ago, but I am
> enjoying it thus far.. :)
> 
> peace
> -cpr
> 
> Quoting "Sowonja, Tomson"
> <tomson.sowonja@cba.com.au>:
> 
> > Yeah Per - I'm a long time lurker/occasional
> poster and I always find
> > your posts incredibly interesting/helpful and
> informative.
> > 
> > I sent this link through to my Keyboardist in The
> Soldiers Of Fortune
> > who is also doing his PhD in Psychology -
> something to do with pattern
> > recognition/memory and music. 
> > 
> > He found it very interesting and had a few
> comments which I've pasted
> > below as some of you on the list may find them
> interesting as well:
> > 
> > "Ah yes, I've heard about this. I haven't read the
> study, I'll have to
> > find it and be more informed about exactly what
> was happening - lots of
> > times media coverage of these  things misses the
> point or gets things
> > wrong, etc.
> > 
> > However, it does seem more or less intuitively
> right to me, with some
> > disclaimers: 
> > 
> > Firstly, improvisation isn't really as improvised
> as people like to
> > believe - most improvisers have a bunch of licks
> they play, which they
> > know more or less well. Often it's things they
> know intuitively rather
> > than consciously, but they're there. 
> > 
> > [I have themes and things that I tend to use in
> Sliced Bread in
> > particular songs - I don't have solos
> planned...though with the Soldiers
> > of Fortune in improvisations and jams I really
> would make it up as I
> > went along, feed off others - maybe that's
> something the study missed -
> > the fact that improvisation happens in a group,
> and that would alter the
> > way things work.]
> > 
> > Secondly, the other thing is that brain imaging
> studies like the one I
> > presume they used are temporally pretty poor in
> resolution, but
> > spatially pretty good - it's hard to figure out at
> which points in the
> > improvisation bits of the brain were being used,
> etc etc. e.g., you
> > might find that someone inhibits the monitoring
> process at the start of
> > a phrase, but doesn't at the end of a phrase.
> > 
> > Tim."
> > 
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: Emile Tobenfeld (a.k.a Dr. T)
> [mailto:emile@foryourhead.com] 
> > Sent: Tuesday, 4 March 2008 8:51 AM
> > To: Loopers-Delight@loopers-delight.com
> > Subject: Re: OT: Interesting research on brain
> activities of improvisers
> > 
> > Thanks for the great link.
> > 
> > At 12:44 PM +0100 3/1/08, Per Boysen wrote:
> > >I found this rather interesting: 
> > >
> > >Scientists funded by the National Institute on
> Deafness and Other 
> > >Communication Disorders (NIDCD) have found that,
> when jazz musicians 
> > >are engaged in the highly creative and
> spontaneous activity known as 
> > >improvisation, a large region of the brain
> involved in monitoring one's
> > 
> > >performance is shut down, while a small region
> involved in organizing 
> > >self-initiated thoughts and behaviors is highly
> activated.
> > >
> > >
> > >Link to read more:
> >
>
><http://createdigitalmusic.com/2008/02/29/the-real-ai-jazz-factor-think
> >
>
>-different/>http://createdigitalmusic.com/2008/02/29/the-real-ai-jazz-f
> > >actor-think-different/
> > >
> > >I've always also filed meditation into the same
> type of brain 
> > >activities. Particularly disciplines where you
> practice to stay relaxed
> > 
> > >and focused at the same time - without falling
> asleep, lose 
> > >concentration or wander astray along
> associational thoughts. But this 
> > >article doesn't mention meditation.
> > >
> > >--
> > >Greetings from Sweden
> > >
> > >Per Boysen
> > ><http://www.boysen.se>www.boysen.se (Swedish) 
> > ><http://www.looproom.com>www.looproom.com
> (international)
> > 
> > 
> > -- 
> > 
> > "The test of a first-rate intelligence is the
> ability to hold two
> > opposed ideas in the mind at the same time, and
> still retain the ability
> > to function."
> > 
> > F. Scott Fitzgerald
> > 
> > 
> >             Emile Tobenfeld, Ph. D.
> > Video Producer and Digital Photographer     Image
> Processing Specialist
> > Video for your HEAD!                        Boris FX
> > http://www.foryourhead.com          http://www.borisfx.com
> > 
> > My photography can be viewed at
> >
>
http://www.flickr.com/photos/22231918@N06/collections/72157603627170351/
> > 
> > 
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