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Are we hardwired for music?
Music has usually been studied as a cultural product – specific to a certain time and place. We associate different kinds of music, tuning systems, qualities of the sound and kinds of instruments with different ethnic groups or different cultural societies. And we attribute different structural forms, harmonic systems and (again) instruments to various time…
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What music triggers YOUR brain’s emotional center?
There is no question that music affects us emotionally. Most of us listen to music for at least some amount of time every day because it makes us feel good. When we go to a movie, we may or may not be aware of the soundtrack, but it is there to heighten the emotional impact…
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Dance, sing, draw
A few years ago one of my students, who usually played with a great deal of musicality, found herself struggling with a Chopin Mazurka that just didn’t seem to “click.” All of the notes and rhythms were there, but it sounded stodgy – not at all like a dance. One day, I suggested that we…