the music mind lab BLOG

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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