Thursday, October 22, 2009

Just finished listening to this lecture, and I cannot recommend it enough. It is a fascinating look at research on the effects of music on the brain. While some of the studies may seem obvious, others will definitely make you think twice about exposing your children to certain rhythm patterns. Pudewa (of the Institute for Excellence in Writing) discusses the actual physical changes our body goes through in reaction to syncopated beats which act on the body and heart as an attack, going against the natural rhythms of heart and blood flow. When you hear of the studies in which mice exposed to syncopated and disharmonious music resulted in the mice becoming so violent they actually began killing each other, it certainly makes one think about the violence that occurs among children in the news every day.

2 comments:

DebD said...

very interesting.

Sarah Hodges said...

Reminds me of Eugene O'Neil's The Emperor Jones. The drums start at heart beat rate then increase driving the victim insane.