The AP published an interesting article recently describing the links found in the brain between music and words including the possiblity that intense therapy with music might improve speech in not only stroke patients, but in individuals with autism as well. It’s nice to know that what my wife and I have known instinctively for years….using music to help our autistic daughter process and understand language better….is now being backed up by science. This also adds more meaning to the work I do with music with nursing home residents, especially those experiencing memory loss such as Alzheimer’s disease and dementia. Add some music and suddenly non-responsive folks start smiling, or tapping a foot or finger or sometimes even singing.
The full article published on Yahoo News, titled, “Research finds brain link for words, music ability”, can be found here: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100220/ap_on_sc/us_sci_words_and_music
The Music and the Brain by Chris Hartzog, unless otherwise expressly stated, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 United States License.
I’m in search of a used classical guitar so that I can start learning how to play effectively with fingers and it’s pieces like this that really motivate me. Thanks for posting, I really enjoyed it. Your recording with Cakewalk is pretty good too – is that one of the newer Sonar versions?