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THE MUSIC MIND LAB
the music mind lab BLOG
New post BIWEEKLY
UPDATED EVERY OTHER MONDAY
Read to see detailed advice from young musicians about practicing efficiently, managing anxiety and stress, joining and finding success in music ensembles, improving the quality of your performances, and more!
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Stimulating Speech with Music
By Caileen W. An estimated 1 in 31 children in the United States have autism. [1] Of that population, 25-30% are nonverbal, meaning they don’t communicate with spoken language. But for these children, music may offer an alternative pathway to communicate. To begin, what is autism? Autism is a neurodevelopmental disorder, meaning it affects the development of the brain, most commonly during the early years of childhood. Common symptoms include challenges with social and commu
Oct 192 min read
Music Therapy for Parkinson’s: Restoring Movement Patterns
By Caileen W. Rhythmic tremors. Shaky steps. Facial paralysis. Sound familiar? If you thought of Parkinson’s disease, you’d be correct. As the second most common neurodegenerative disease, Parkinson’s affects an estimated 7-10 million people worldwide each year, primarily by inhibiting movement and mood. [1] But what causes the symptoms of Parkinson’s, and how can it be remedied with music therapy? Put simply, the symptoms of Parkinson’s disease are caused by the death of d
Oct 132 min read
Episode 3: The Value of Variety: Charie Chang
About the Episode: Musicianship is more than just practicing scales daily and entering competitions. In fact, an excessive focus on technique and competition repertoire can cause later difficulties expressing oneself musically and learning new styles of repertoire. In this episode, pianist and violinist Charie Chang speaks about the value of learning a wide variety of repertoire, the fundamentals of Baroque and Classical pieces, and how to build a healthy and sustainable rela
Sep 2818 min read
Blanking Onstage — What Happens in the Brain?
By Caileen W. The performance is going well. You’ve hit your last three runs, your vibrato is smoother than you expected, and you’re more than confident approaching the next section. But when you reach it, your fingers freeze. Your bow skids on the strings. Your accompanist stops, confused. But why? You’ve nailed that section every time in the practice room, and there’s nothing particularly difficult about it compared to the rest of the piece. Why did you blank? In 2019, th
Sep 212 min read
Music Mind Lab Episode 2: The Technique of Confidence: Sydney Li-Jenkins
About the Episode: What goes behind a good performance? According to many musicians, confidence is a major factor. Yet for young students surrounded by constant comparison and feedback, true confidence seems impossible to obtain. In this episode, violinist Sydney Li-Jenkins shares her tips for performing with confidence, practicing pieces effectively, and balancing her musical studies with her academics. Listen along to learn from her rich summer program, competition, and cha
Sep 716 min read
Myelination: The Secret to Learning
Have you ever wondered what happens in your brain when you learn? In previous articles, we covered neuroplasticity, which is the gradual strengthening of synapses as you solidify a memory or skill. This process is widely understood to be the result of two changes: first, neurons begin firing more neurotransmitters, and second, neurons gain more receptors to receive the increased amount of neurotransmitters. However, neuroplasticity isn’t limited to these two changes. Just as
Aug 313 min read
Music Mind Lab Episode 1: Learning Music with Passion: Oliver Tan
About the Episode: Despite the early age that many musicians begin learning their instrument, burnout and lost passion are overwhelmingly common. Many musicians struggle with tedious practice, parental pressure, and competition, and eventually lose the love for their instrument. In this episode, violinist Oliver Tan speaks about starting his studies motivated by his love for music, his challenges and highlights while navigating various musical communities, and his advice for
Aug 2617 min read
Music: A Pain Reliever?
By Caileen W. You may have heard of music as being an effective outlet for emotional or mental stress. But have you heard of music relieving physical pain? Shockingly, music may have the same effects as many physical medicines used to treat pain, anxiety, and stress. Distracting From Painful Stimuli To begin, in a study by the University of Utah Pain Research Center, 143 subjects were prompted to actively listen to music and complete various tasks while being shocked by fing
Jun 222 min read
What Causes Tone Deafness?
By Caileen W. You may have heard of people being referred to as tone deaf. Maybe it’s in the car, with one of your friends poking fun at your off-key singing. Or maybe it’s in a music ensemble, where one of your group members just can’t seem to match everyone else’s pitch. But what does tone deafness really mean? And what causes it? To begin, the scientific name for tone deafness is amusia. Specifically, this term refers to the inability to accurately perceive or produce musi
Jun 83 min read
How Music Changes the Brain: What Happens After Years of Musical Training
By Caileen W. Why do musicians frequently seem to have exceptional memory, coordination, listening skills, and emotional sensitivity? Modern neuroscience suggests that years of musical training can physically and functionally reshape the brain through a process called neuroplasticity — the brain’s ability to reorganize itself in response to experience. Music Training and Neuroplasticity Learning music is an incredibly complex process. It involves many brain systems at once: h
May 183 min read
Hearing Music in Color: Exploring the Wonders of Synesthesia
By Caileen W. You’ve likely heard the word “color” being used when describing a piece of music. Your teacher might’ve asked you to make a “color change” at a specific section, or you might’ve heard a peer comment on the “dark color” of a specific piece. For most people, the concept of colored music is an abstract way to characterize different types of sound. But for others, music truly does produce colors. But how? Synesthesia. Constructed from the prefix “syn” — meaning t
May 43 min read
A Musician's Guide to Fine Motor Control
By Caileen W. We use a variety of movements when playing our instruments. Some movements are large, such as bringing your forearm closer to your body to shift to a higher position on the violin or leaning your torso as you play a long scale on the piano. In the last blog post, we explored how these movements can be categorized into fast-twitch and slow-twitch, as well as how they are facilitated by the brain. On the other hand, many movements are small, such as shifting your
Apr 132 min read
A Musician's Guide to Fast and Slow Twitch Muscle Fibers
By Caileen W. If you’ve ever watched a recording of a professional musician, you’ve probably had the same thought as I have — how do their fingers move like that? The answer you’ve most likely heard is a lifetime of practice, a good bit of talent, and plenty of performance experience. But in this post, we’ll be briefly exploring how the brain facilitates movement. INTRODUCTION The type of muscle we’ll be focusing on in this post is skeletal muscle. As its name suggests, the
Mar 302 min read
Gift or Gained? The Neuroscience of Perfect Pitch
By Special Guest Writer Angela W. For musicians, the ability to understand and manipulate pitch is fundamental to their playing. Without a strong grasp of pitch-based concepts such as melody, harmony, or variation, performances would fall apart. A knowledge of pitch is absolutely essential, possibly the most important skill to master for any musician. As such, great prestige is assigned to perfect pitch, also called absolute pitch (AP). Broadly, AP is the “ability to identif
Mar 162 min read
Maximizing Musical Memory with Priming
By Caileen W. PART 1: WHAT IS NONDECLARATIVE MEMORY? We use nondeclarative memory every day. Also known as implicit memory, nondeclarative memory is characterized by the lack of active recall. For example, an advanced musician can easily play a scale with very little thought. They don’t have to remember where to place their fingers, how to hold their instrument, or what notes are in the scale. Their memories are retrieved unconsciously, and are relatively stronger than declar
Feb 234 min read
Maximizing Musical Memory with Notetaking
By Caileen W. PART 1: WHAT IS DECLARATIVE MEMORY? The basis of memory is the synapse (Queensland Brain Institute 2016). Synapses are connections between neurons, the cells that make up our brain. When you form new thoughts or connections, new synapses are created. When you repeatedly recall a topic, related synapses are strengthened. When you don’t think about an event for a long time, related synapses are weakened and can eventually be eliminated, which is why you forget thi
Feb 24 min read
C.A.L.M.: What Psychology Taught Me About Performing on Stage
By Special Guest Writer Eidee T. Why Practicing Isn’t Enough to Perform Under Pressure I’ve practiced pieces until they felt effortless—until my fingers moved without thought and my bow knew exactly where to go. But the moment I stepped onstage, everything changed. My hand shook. My mind zoomed in on details I’d never thought about before. Suddenly I was trying to play instead of just playing. For a long time, I thought this meant I wasn’t prepared enough. So I practiced more
Jan 193 min read
In Defense of the Viola
By Special Guest Writer Jer-Shyan C. The viola was always presented to me as something akin to an evil version of a violin. Mechanically, it is the same difficulty; although the violin’s highest E string is replaced by a C string on a viola, every technique — string crossings, basic left hand and right hand coordination, bow hold, vibrato — are virtually identical to their counterpart in the violin's learning process. For the most part, viola just seemed to be the lesser-know
Jan 53 min read
Overcoming Nerves: Why Do You Get Stage Fright?
By Caileen W. Introduction The lights are too bright. Your palms are sticky. Your heart seems to be beating way faster than usual. Backstage, you’re filled with dread—what if you mess up that one spot? What if you trip? What will everyone think? For some, the time before they go onstage is the most nerve-wracking part of performing. For others, it’s the time they spend onstage. Yet for nearly all musicians, some form of stage fright accompanies most public performances. Unfo
Dec 22, 20253 min read
Effective Scales Practice: What, Why, and How
Disclaimer: a few aspects of this article are specific to the violin, but the majority of this article is applicable to all string instruments! :) Introduction: Why should I practice my scales? Practicing technique can often feel like the most boring part of your practice session, but as every teacher will tell you, it’s truly the most effective and essential tool to improve your playing. Techniques like shifting, vibrato, double stops are the building blocks of playing, and
Dec 9, 20257 min read
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