Prime Time Replay:
Don Campbell
on How Music Can Alter the Biology of the Brain
MsgId: *brain_storm(3)
Date: Fri Sep 12 22:05:59 EDT 1997
From: Rob_Killheffer At: 205.198.117.115
At any rate, good evening and welcome to another edition of Brainstorms. I'm your host, Rob Killheffer, and with me tonight is Don Campbell, founder of the Institute of Music, Health, and Education, and author of a new book, "THE MOZART EFFECT," which discusses, among other things, the way that music can alter the biology of the brain. Welcome, Don!
MsgId: *brain_storm(4)
Date: Fri Sep 12 22:07:36 EDT 1997
From: Don_Campbell At: 207.172.75.76
Good evening to everyone in the Inner Brain world! I'm a musician who's searched for the meaning of music in mind, body, and spirit for 30 years.
MsgId: *brain_storm(5)
Date: Fri Sep 12 22:10:10 EDT 1997
From: Rob_Killheffer At: 205.198.117.115
As you can tell from the title of our show, we focus mainly on issues of the brain and mind, as opposed to other parts of the body. I'd like to talk about some of the incredible effects of music in terms of healing and such a little later in the show, but first why don't we start with the brain: What are some of the demonstrable effects that music can have on things like memory, learning, concentration, etc.?
MsgId: *brain_storm(10)
Date: Fri Sep 12 22:16:00 EDT 1997
From: Don_Campbell At: 207.172.104.62
As we study auditory tracking, and the function of the ear, sound and music effect us and affect us in a variety of ways. Remember, the primary function of the ear and the oldest part of the ear, is the inner ear, which regulates balance and the timing of movement. The right and left ear are each independent with the right ear being the quickest way to the left brain, where most of the speech and language centers are located. Music affects movement, the emotional midbrain, and the language and meaning centers in the neocortex.
MsgId: *brain_storm(11)
Date: Fri Sep 12 22:17:10 EDT 1997
From: Rob_Killheffer At: 205.198.117.115
Can you give us a specific example of music enhancing cognitive skills?
MsgId: *brain_storm(12)
Date: Fri Sep 12 22:20:15 EDT 1997
From: Don_Campbell At: 207.172.104.62
The high frequencies of Mozart, especially in the violin concertos, when they stimulate the right ear, often improve language skills with people suffering from ADD (Attention Deficit Disorder), dyslexia, and often autism. This is the work of the French scientist Dr. Alfred Tomatis. In Bulgaria, Dr. Georgi Lozanif has discovered that the playing of slow Baroque music (Bach, Handel, Vivaldi) highly improved concentration and allow the mind to relax in the midst of learning new information or foreign languages.
MsgId: *brain_storm(13)
Date: Fri Sep 12 22:21:04 EDT 1997
From: Rob_Killheffer At: 205.198.117.115
Is it just classical music that has these effects?
MsgId: *brain_storm(14)
Date: Fri Sep 12 22:22:49 EDT 1997
From: Don_Campbell At: 207.172.104.62
I believe all music has a variety of effects depending on the age, the culture, and the ability for each individual ear to clearly hear frequencies. I believe the pacing and the unclutteredness of slow Baroque music may be optimal.
MsgId: *brain_storm(15)
Date: Fri Sep 12 22:24:09 EDT 1997
From: Rob_Killheffer At: 205.198.117.115
Is it just the presence of music during a task, such as learning, or is there some way in which the person has to prepare themselves or focus in order to experience noticeable effects?
MsgId: *brain_storm(16)
Date: Fri Sep 12 22:26:24 EDT 1997
From: Don_Campbell At: 207.172.104.62
This is an excellent question. While researching Chapter Two of my new book, "THE MOZART EFFECT," I found that half of the power of music and sound is in the ear of the beholder. It depends on the time of day, the posture, how near a meal, and the health of the ear. Training listeners is as essential as selecting the music and sounds. In other words, the orchestra needs a conductor and a composer.
MsgId: *brain_storm(17)
Date: Fri Sep 12 22:28:31 EDT 1997
From: Rob_Killheffer At: 205.198.117.115
Do you think the effects of music extend beyond humans to other animals? I recall reading about a study in which dairy cows were kept in barns listening to different kinds of music, and their milk output measured. Cows hearing classical produced more milk; cows hearing muzak produced about average; and cows listening to heavy metal produced markedly less milk.
MsgId: *brain_storm(18)
Date: Fri Sep 12 22:31:50 EDT 1997
From: Don_Campbell At: 207.172.104.62
That's true. I know that in the monasteries in Brittany, France, they found that cows serenaded with Mozart gave more milk and that at a bakery in Nagoya, Japan, that all of their pastries and bread set to rise to Beethoven's Symphony No. 6 sell quicker to it's patrons. The most bizarre story I've heard is also from Japan -- the Ohara Brewery finds that Mozart makes the best sake. The density of yeast used for brewing this traditional rice wine increases by a factor of 10 (in other words, the measure of quality) in their research. I personally have never tasted this sake and cannot back up this research, and yet I'm willing to try.
MsgId: *brain_storm(19)
Date: Fri Sep 12 22:33:08 EDT 1997
From: Rob_Killheffer At: 205.198.117.115
That's fascinating. Following up on the heavy metal data, have you found that any particular kinds of music have a deleterious effect, cognitively or even in healing?(I've opened the room so viewers may ask questions if they like.)
MsgId: *brain_storm(21)
Date: Fri Sep 12 22:36:22 EDT 1997
From: Don_Campbell At: 207.172.104.62
Music that is highly dense or "cluttered" with vast and loud low sounds, even when it's slightly out of tune, can cause the body to reduce it's feeling. I believe it can mask pain and shut down individualized thought. I personally believe the greatest danger in music is the extreme loudness that causes hearing disabilities in many people. It's also essential to remember if you exercise or jog in headphones, that the volume should be fairly low because of the oxygenation in the ear. That makes the small hairs in the cochlea more sensitive to sound than when not exercising.
MsgId: *brain_storm(23)
Date: Fri Sep 12 22:39:17 EDT 1997
From: Rob_Killheffer At: 205.198.117.115
Are these effects limited to "music," specifically -- that is, things like Mozart or Joplin -- or can similar effects be seen with other kinds of organized sound -- "white noise" or the sounds of rolling waves? And, on the down side, can the kinds of disorganized noise such as that found here in my home city of New York have the same kinds of negative impact?
MsgId: *brain_storm(24)
Date: Fri Sep 12 22:43:10 EDT 1997
From: Don_Campbell At: 207.172.104.62
Half of the ear's function is learning to discriminate sounds. Its ability to discriminate is called selectivity. Music, when we are actively listening (not when it's played passively in the background), stimulates multiple parts of the brain simultaneously. Noise, on the other hand, whether it be pink, with low and mid-range sounds like the ocean, or white noise like the sound of your modem connecting, is extremely complex because of the vast range of frequencies simultaneously produced. There has been research on the effects of different sound ranges to show that high frequencies like the chirping of the birds, actually is similar to what the fetus hears in utero during the two months before birth.
MsgId: *brain_storm(25)
Date: Fri Sep 12 22:45:02 EDT 1997
From: Rob_Killheffer At: 205.198.117.115
Before moving on to the healing aspects of music, I'd like to ask about the effects of "learning" music, particularly at a young age. I've seen research that shows how certain parts of the brain develop much more densely and complexly in children who learn to play an instrument. What are your thoughts on that?
MsgId: *brain_storm(26)
Date: Fri Sep 12 22:49:22 EDT 1997
From: Don_Campbell At: 207.172.104.62
Music insists on multiple patterning in conscious awareness. In other words, rhythm deals with movement, motor skills, and extremely high-function responses. Melodies are like long sentences where sense of phrasing, interpretation, and meaning are developed. When a child is playing even the simplest of instruments and singing a melody with words, there is multiple stimulation in both the sensory and the motor cortexes. It is believed that early exposure to music listening, movement, dancing, and playing helps sophisticate the brain for complex thinking skills such as math later in a child's life.
MsgId: *brain_storm(27)
Date: Fri Sep 12 22:50:50 EDT 1997
From: Rob_Killheffer At: 205.198.117.115
Time's getting short, and I'd like to ask you a couple more things. For one, can you tell us a bit about the (rather amazing) healing powers music seems to have -- and which you've actually experienced first-hand?
MsgId: *brain_storm(28)
Date: Fri Sep 12 22:54:11 EDT 1997
From: Don_Campbell At: 207.172.104.62
I became interested in this field seriously about 15 years ago when I became ill with a large lump in my left lung. I used my own voice to "sound" inside my body -- in other words, I found a tone, a humming tone, that seemed to really vibrate the part of my body where there was pain and where this lump was located. After many hours of this humming, the pain went away. I believe our voice is the greatest of all healing instruments because it releases stress, anger, and pain from the body in a very natural way. Since that time, I have discovered through the research of many music therapists that music can literally be used with medicine to create a more natural and efficient use of medicine.Music may never replace good medicine, but it is an important complementary tool that we can learn how to use ourselves during illness, stress, or disease. My earlier book "MUSIC: PHYSICIAN FOR TIMES TO COME" gives a wide view of both the research and different strategies. For more information, contact my web site: http://www.mozarteffect.com.
MsgId: *brain_storm(30)
Date: Fri Sep 12 22:58:03 EDT 1997
From: Rob_Killheffer At: 205.198.117.115
We're just about out of time, and that seems like a good note on which to stop. But let me ask as we close if you could offer a tidbit of advice to our viewers about how they can begin training themselves in using music this way?
MsgId: *brain_storm(31)
Date: Fri Sep 12 23:01:59 EDT 1997
From: Don_Campbell At: 207.172.104.62
Give yourself ten minutes a day for undivided listening for five days. Select one of your favorite pieces of music that does not have vocals -- perhaps a symphony or a soundtrack from a great movie like "THE SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION" or "OUT OF AFRICA." The first day, lay down and close your eyes and listen. The second day, wash dishes or surf the web. The third day, conduct the music as if you were Leonard Bernstein. The fourth day, listen to it during a meal. And then lie down and listen to it once again. You will notice it's quite a journey to discover the powers of music through your powers of listening. Then begin to try a variety of new music like the Brandenburg Concertos, Balinese Gamelan, or some other unusual music. You, as listener, can create your own research and put "THE MOZART EFFECT" to work in your life. There are dozens of good exercises in length in my book.
MsgId: *brain_storm(33)
Date: Fri Sep 12 23:04:47 EDT 1997
From: Rob_Killheffer At: 205.198.117.115
Thank you, Don -- it sounds like no only good therapy, but fun, too. I think our time's up, so let me thank you again for being my guest here tonight, and to our viewers, let me say that if you found the show interesting, there's a hundred times more in Don Campbell's book, "THE MOZART EFFECT," so pick yourself up a copy. For now, this is Rob Killheffer, signing off for Brainstorms. Goodnight!
MsgId: *brain_storm(34)
Date: Fri Sep 12 23:05:51 EDT 1997
From: Don_Campbell At: 207.172.104.62
Goodnight! Sleep well! And viva Mozart!
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