Barry Bittman is a renowned neurologist and top researcher in the studies of sound, music and the brain. He is the president of the Yamaha Music and Wellness Institute. I once asked him whether there was a difference in the effects of listening to versus playing music. Statistically significant benefits, he said, extended exclusively to the group creating music, which requires a high level of engagement on many levels. Dr. Bittmans research on creative musical expression, even for people convinced that they were not musical, also recently proved that playing any kind of instrument—no matter how well or badly—enhances the brains ability to facilitate healing. This is confirmed in another program at Walter Reed called Musicorps, where, working with professional musicians, computer-based music workstations and actual instruments, patients learn, play, compose and record music. It is designed to help patients suffering from PTSD and traumatic brain injury. Learning, creating, and performing music involves so many aspects of brain function that it is believed to recruit uninjured parts of the brain to compensate for parts that have been injured, and help those parts that are injured recover, notes the hospital in its literature on the program.
Posted on: Sat, 08 Nov 2014 10:44:46 +0000
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