Thursday, December 10, 2015

Your Brain on Music

 Great VIDEO piece at Scientific America!

By Benjamin Meyers, Diana Kwon on December 10, 2015

(excerpt).....While listening to music you might find yourself tapping your foot or bobbing your head to the beat. What you might not have expected is that as you listen to your favorite tune, the rhythms in your brain also follow along.

Brain rhythms arise when large groups of neurons fire together. Previous studies have shown that listening to someone talk can elicit such activity. Now research reveals that brain rhythms also synchronize with musical sequences. And musical training can enhance this ability. The study is in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences [Keith B. Doelling and David Poeppel, Cortical entrainment to music and its modulation by expertise]......




Tuesday, December 8, 2015

RUSH's Neil Peart Retiring from Music

"Canadian rock icon cites age, health issues for ending music career spanning 40 years." reads the headline.

Discussing his lengthy career with Drumhead Magazine, the Hamilton-born Peart mentioned that his young daughter Olivia, born in 2009, "has been introducing me to new friends at school as 'My dad — he's a retired drummer.' True to say — funny to hear. And it does not pain me to realize that, like all athletes, there comes a time to ... take yourself out of the game."

Read the whole story at CBC News.