Music\auditory stimulus and the Epileptic brain

[speber]

I will keep my eye open for your mentions Zoe! Yeah, I know some good can come of this.
If you think of others, please add them!

[POSITIVEPERSON]

Inspiring story !!!!!!!

Riva

[Shelley]

I wish I could remember where I got this...

Music training boosts the brain

Music lessons can improve memory and learning ability in young children by encouraging different patterns of brain development, research shows.

Canadian scientists compared children aged four to six who took music lessons for a year with those who did not.

They found the musical group performed better on a memory test also designed to assess general intelligence skills such as literacy and maths ability.

The study, by McMaster University, is published online by the journal Brain.

The researchers also measured changes in the children's brain responses to sounds during the year.

They found changes developed in the musical group in as little as four months.

Previous studies have shown that older children given music lessons recorded greater improvements in IQ scores than children given drama lessons.

But lead researcher Professor Laurel Trainor said: "This is the first study to show that brain responses in young, musically trained and untrained children change differently over the course of a year."

[speber]

I wish I could remember where I got this...

Music Training Boosts the Brain

Good Stuff!!!

[Birdbomb]

The phrase was coined by William Congreve, in The mourning bride, 1697:

Musick has Charms to sooth a savage Breast,
To soften Rocks, or bend a knotted Oak.
I've read, that things inanimate have mov'd,
And, as with living Souls, have been inform'd,
By Magick Numbers and persuasive Sound.
What then am I? Am I more senseless grown
Than Trees, or Flint? O force of constant Woe!
'Tis not in Harmony to calm my Griefs.
Anselmo sleeps, and is at Peace; last Night
The silent Tomb receiv'd the good Old King;
He and his Sorrows now are safely lodg'd
Within its cold, but hospitable Bosom.
Why am not I at Peace?



ANY music by Devo makes me angry!

[speber]

Hmmmm?.......maybe the combination of un-natural 'electronic' quality and very fast meter is un-nerving or aggravating?.....I can definitely see it, and they are not my favorites by any stretch.

But I still applaud their efforts...they were part of a major 'evolution' in pop music.........it's been a fun ride! Besides that, I think the dog bowl manufacturers were going out of business until they hit the scene...then they had a new angle with the whole 'hat' thing!

[Bernard]

Here's a direct link to the study mentioned by Shelley (.PDF file): One year of musical training affects development of auditory cortical-evoked fields in young children

Also, I merged one of Zoe's threads into this one so see the first post on page two (above) if you haven't already.

[Bernard]

Look what's in the news today:

Dr. Oliver Sacks, played by Robin Williams in the movie "Awakenings," tried using music to arouse the catatonic victims of a rare brain disease.

The movie was based on a book and documentary about Sack's patients in the 1960s.

"These were people who couldn't generate any movement or any speech for themselves, sometimes until or unless they heard music," Dr. Sacks told Sunday Morning host Charles Osgood "And then suddenly they'd be able to flow, to dance, to sing. It was miraculous to see them, amazing."

A pianist himself, Dr. Sacks has spent years exploring the effects of music on the brain, chronicled in his latest book, "Musicophilia."

"I see patients with all sorts of neurological conditions who could be greatly helped by music," Dr. Sacks said. "People with Parkinson's disease who can't generate a sense of rhythm of their own, who can't flow, who can't move, but you give them rhythmical music and they can discover their own lost rhythm."

...

Music's Mending Powers

[speber]

Awesome Bernard!....just awesome. The videos you can watch if you click on the link to Dr Oliver Sack's book on that site are good too!

http://www.amazon.com/Musicophilia-T...2463234&sr=8-1

...tell me if the link doesn't work!

Member contribution related addition 12/07/07:
Anyone want to buy a book? - forum member renee97 has a copy for sale



Keep it comin guys!...this thread is becoming one of the best I've seen for music and the brain!

[speber]

You are so right! For me it would be several things, Carlos Nakai, Native American Flute; Julian Bream, his Spanish music; Chopin's Muzurkas, and Chinese string [pipa] music. Music can so direct, or redirect my mental and emotional states. What great discoveries are you making in those LPs? I am trying to find a recording, "The Art of Julian Bream," should you come across one. It is one of his earlier works. And I already mentioned Paul Horn, and Tony Scott.
A combination [music to soothe brain waves] is like a great idea!

Downloaded 'First Voices' by R. Carlos Nakai off 'Ancestral Voices' last night because of your suggestion and the fact I really like Native American music (my mother turned me on to it long time ago!)...very nice!

I picked it because of the LOW TONES in the sparse drumming and the stringed bass instrument being used. Unfortunately, Puretracks.com didn't share instrumentation information but it was still really cool!

No flute in that track...but I heard some I was tempted to try later!

[Zoe]

His "Canyon Trilogy" and "Earth Spirit" CDs really captures me-much flute. A long time ago I made recordings of themon hour long tapes and played them very quietly in the background during the day and near my bed when going to sleep. It provoked vivid and peaceful visions of the southwest, soothing to the nervous system.
Another recording I found extremely helpful is "Inner Journey", put out by the Monroe Institute. It is one of the early hemi-sync recordings. It was so soothing to me I contacted the institute. They were concerned it might trigger seizures, but that was not at all the case for me. With music or with relaxation techniques I think there is a risk initially of triggering a seizure and this did happen to me when I first tried acupuncture. For myself, it seemed to be that a profound state of relaxation was so unusual, that when I fell into it startled me and that's what set off the seizure. After I got used to feeling my nervous system go calm relaxing didn't startle me anymore.

[Zoe]

A search of PubMed turned up over a hundred abstracts related to music and epilepsy. Two of them and the link are below:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez

And Liszt is another one that’s good for my brain!

1: Funct Neurol. 2006 Oct-Dec;21(4):187-91.

Neurophysiology and neurobiology of the musical experience.

Boso M, Politi P, Barale F, Enzo E.

Department of Applied and Psychobehavioural Health Sciences, Section of
Psychiatry, University of Pavia, Italy. m_boso@yahoo.it

Music, a universal art form that exists in every culture around the world, is
integral to a number of social and courtship activities, and is closely
associated with other creative behaviours such as dancing. Recently, neuroimaging
studies have allowed researchers to investigate the neural correlates of music
processing and perception in the brain. Notably, musical stimuli have been shown
to activate specific pathways in several brain areas associated with emotional
behaviours, such as the insular and cingulate cortex, hypothalamus, hippocampus,
amygdala, and prefrontal cortex. In addition, neurochemical studies have
suggested that several biochemical mediators, such as endorphins,
endocannabinoids, dopamine and nitric oxide, may play a role in the musical
experience. A growing body of evidence also indicates that music therapy could be
useful in the clinical management of numerous neurological and psychiatric
disorders. Indeed, music therapy could be effective in patients with
neurodegenerative disorders, such as Alzheimer's dementia and Parkinson?s
disease, as well as in psychiatric illnesses, such as schizophrenia, depression,
anxiety and autism spectrum disorders. Unfortunately, there is still a shortage
of rigorous scientific data supporting the clinical application of music therapy,
and there is thus a need to confirm and expand the preliminary findings regarding
the potential and actual effectiveness of music therapy. This need should be
addressed through prospective, randomized, controlled, single-blinded
investigations of the short- and long-term effects of music therapy in diverse
clinical conditions.

PMID: 17367577 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
1: Epilepsy Behav. 2002 Apr;3(2):182-184.

The Mozart Effect: Additional Data.

Hughes JR.

After the review of the Mozart effect was published in this journal (Hughes JR.
Epilepsy Behav 2001;2:369-417), additional data from the music of Haydn and Liszt
have been analyzed that may account for the decrease in seizure activity
originally reported during Mozart music. Even with these added data Mozart music
continued to score significantly higher than the selections from the other six
composers in one of the important characteristics of this music, namely, the
repetition of the melody. However Haydn's values were second highest among
Mozart, J. S. Bach, Wagner, Beethoven, Chopin, and Liszt.

PMID: 12609420 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]

[renee97]

Bernard, et al
Does it surprise you that so many people have responded, that so many diverse types of music suggested? I have been staying away. Since I started music lessons at the age of eight (1958), I am familiar witha great deal of what has appeared in this section of the forum. "Yea, I knew that!"
Besides I have been battling with "external" (non-epilepsy related) problems for four days!
Lisa Renee

[Zoe]

Hi Lisa,
What music do you use to soothe, psyche and soma? There's the lounge for when you want to vent on things not epilepsy too.

[speber]

Zoe---again, awesome. I'll try and compare some works by the composers for a 'lay-person's' comparison if I can get a chance!

Yeah, the deep relaxation scares the hell out of me since the last time I got a massage I had a GTC! Luckily, it was a friend-of-a-friend who was the massage therapist so they were quite aware of the possibility before they took the job anyway. Glad to hear someone found a way to 'get past it'!

[Bernard]

Stacy had the digital cable tuned to a Soundscapes digital music channel the other day. It's one of those stations that plays slow, "relaxing" music all day.

I was about ready to rip the TV out of the wall after a few hours. I guess that music just doesn't agree with me because I can only listen to it for short periods of time. I need more up tempo music to keep me going "in the zone".

[brain]

Bernard:

That's exactly what "glued" me to music. Classical.
If you can remember the photo of my Trek Bike,
that Magnavox Record Player (along with 8 track,
cassette converter, AM/FM Radio which I had my
Uncle installed later on as he had his own Biz -
an RCA) - I would listen to it for hours, it had a
headphone attachment so it wouldn't DRIVE my
family up the wall (maybe that would give you an
idea for a christmas pressie for Stacy ) ..



And can you believe it, while it was my grandma's,
they got a "new" one, and they gave me their
old one, and of course when I got married it was
in my room, then my sister took it, and now I have
it back but one problem ... I can't hear!



While my ex took and/or destroyed tons of records
I still have PILES of them left. And YEAH, I still have
some 8 tracks ... but it's not all Classical, I have
some Oldbies, Country, Classic Rock, and so on.

I've been collecting DIAMOND NEEDLES like crazy
(NO they are not for sale ~ I'm sorry) - because
they're scarce!

One thing about this record player is, it's hooked
up for surround sound, but boy baby, you can
crank this up for the ultimate "Theater Sound"
and my son was trying to find MOVIE Records:
IE: Independence Day, Star Wars, etc - so we
can crank it up full blast - no worries, it won't
blow the speakers out - we already tried that,
won't work - those speakers are solid, although
I do have a REAL FREAKY and EERIE and SPOOKY
RECORD ...



Kids LOVE IT! Even the little ones ...

The name of the Album is getting to be scarce:

SOUNDS IN SPACE LP

NOTE: image below is taken from eBay is not my album
my LP album is in MINT condition:



The first 10-15 minutes of it is wild! We taped it
to preserve the record, but we will have to retape
it but I want to put it on CD instead so we can use
DIGITAL SOUND to really pervert it via a MIXER!

[speber]

Brain that a cool lp! In fact the pic you posted sparked something.....was that in that monstrous pile my sister gave me? I'm gonna have to look again because it sure looked familiar. It is a REALLY DIVERSE collection.

Bernard---I hear ya loud and clear...I have to be 'in the mood' for the 'Soundscape'-flavor myself...or at least ready to really relax. I'm currently finding myself checking out the old stuff from the 60's again like the Byrds (Gene Clark's stuff in particular), Skip Spence, etc.......it's fun.

I really enjoy the fact my taste in music covers a REALLY WIDE SPECTRUM....maybe I can find the 'common threads' that make some of them find their way into my 'Medicinal Musak' cabinet??????

[Zoe]

Yea, it spooked me when it happened. Made me realize how traumatized my nervous system was by the chronic seizures. From that point, I just took things very slowly getting progressively more relaxed over time until I could tolerate getting deeply relaxed. It's like kindling in reverse, desensitizing. What music is working best for you at this time, what are you discovering in your collection?

[speber]

Generally speaking....slower tempo with modulating mid to lower frequency....or in other words, slower songs or pieces with more melody and low end.

There is, however, a 'target frequency' or 'band' in the audio spectrum that is friendly to me I feel because it is not limited to just the low end. I think octaves and other complementary notes to the 'target' are friendlier than others as well...it's just a feeling....call me crazy.

Specifically speaking, I could list many if I had a good memory...but I try to stick to the ones that really differentiate themselves for some 'unknown' reason (which I hazard a guess will someday be scientifically proven) and put them on the list at the beginning of this thread for neatness sake.