Author Archives: PJ Ottenritter

Your brain’s music circuit has been discovered…

via Nautilus

Before Josh McDermott was a neuroscientist, he was a club DJ in Boston and Minneapolis. He saw first-hand how music could unite people in sound, rhythm, and emotion. “One of the reasons it was so fun to DJ is that, by playing different pieces of music, you can transform the vibe in a roomful of people,” he says.

With his club days behind him, McDermott now ventures into the effects of sound and music in his lab at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he is an assistant professor in the Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences. In 2015, he and a post-doctoral colleague, Sam Norman-Haignere, and Nancy Kanwisher, a professor of cognitive neuroscience at MIT, made news by locating a neural pathway activated by music and music alone. McDermott and his colleagues played a total of 165 commonly heard natural sounds to ten subjects willing to be rolled into an fMRI machine to listen to the piped-in sounds. The sounds included a man speaking, a songbird, a car horn, a flushing toilet, and a dog barking. None sparked the same population of neurons as music.

Their discovery that certain neurons have “music selectivity” stirs questions about the role of music in human life. Why do our brains contain music-selective neurons? Could some evolutionary purpose have led to neurons devoted to music? McDermott says the study can’t answer such questions. But he is excited by the fact that it shows music has a unique biological effect. “We presume those neurons are doing something in relation to the analysis of music that allows you to extract structure, following melodies or rhythms, or maybe extract emotion,” he says.

When it comes to understanding subtle neurological activity, brain scans are more like magnifying glasses than microscopes. fMRI scans highlight activity in specific regions of the brain, but each data point corresponds to hundreds of thousands of brain cells. Until recently, scientists didn’t have a way to disentangle the behavior of smaller groups of neurons. Even if music and language seemed to activate the same regions of the brain, no one knew if they activated the same cells.

The results challenge a persistent claim that the brain processes music and language in the same way.

The MIT team adopted a new technique to break down the fMRI data. They tried to explain the response to each of the distinct sounds at each point in the brain as a sum of a small number of canonical responses, each potentially corresponding to a different population of neurons. It was a little like zooming in on a photograph until pixels appear, and then finding a way to separate each pixel into even smaller components.

The results challenge a persistent claim that the brain processes music and language in the same way. “You have different neural circuitry that’s involved in music and language,” says McDermott. “There doesn’t seem to be a whole lot of overlap.” Could music be its own form of communication? “To the extent that music functions for communication, it’s quite different from language in that it doesn’t denote specific, concrete things in the world, like something you would say,” he says. “But it obviously expresses something, typically something emotional.”

Intriguing research by Istvan Molnar-Szakacs, Ph.D., a research neuroscientist at the Semel Institute for Neuroscience at the University of California, Los Angeles, suggests that listening to music activates the brain’s mirror-neuron system, a hub in the brain, Molnar-Szakacs says, that includes the limbic system, associated with emotion, that stirs a sense of human agency and “social belonging.”

McDermott says his research “doesn’t really speak to any kind of social activity.” It locates music-selective neurons in an area anterior to the primary auditory cortex. “Beyond the anatomical location,” he adds, “we don’t really know anything more.” Yet McDermott, whose field of study is hearing, and not necessarily music, would love to know the role and purpose of musical circuitry in the brain.
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Music taste linked to personality traits. Take the quiz!

via the Independent,
by Jess Staufenberg

A test designed to work out whether musical taste is a reflection of someone’s personality has been developed by Cambridge University psychologists.

Fans of James Blunt, cheesy club music and heavy metal have long been stereotyped, but the researchers believe there is a link between the type of music people like and their general characteristics.

So far the researchers have found that those described as “empathisers”, who have a good ability to understand the feelings and thoughts of others, appear to prefer music that is romantic, relaxing, unaggressive, sad or slow such as soft rock and some R&B.

“Systemisers”, who tend to lean towards jobs in maths and science, are less stimulated by how the music makes them feel than by its structural qualities. They tend to prefer more “sophisticated” music such as from the avant-garde, world beat, traditional jazz and classical genres.

“Systemisers” are less stimulated by how the music makes them feel than by its structural qualities (Getty Images)

Empathisers may get a higher dose of a soothing hormone when listening to sad music than another the systemisers, explaining why they enjoy listening to that type of music more.

David Greenberg, one of the Cambridge psychologists who has questioned thousands of people about their musical tastes, told CNN: “People who are high on empathy may be preferring a certain type of music compared to people who are more systematic.

“[Systemisers] are focusing more on the instrumental elements, seeing how the music is mixing together. It’s almost like a musical puzzle that they’re putting together.”

As part of their research, the team created a “Musical Universe” quiz, which is available online here.

The test asks each individual to rate 25 musical excerpts and answer questions relating to the five key personality traits – extraversion, agreeableness, openness to experience, conscientiousness and emotional stability.

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Piano floats above London

Piano floats above London in spectacular crane delivery

via the Daily Mail

It may be an expensive way to move a piano, but it will certainly save you from a bad back.

A large black instrument was spotted dangling from a crane outside a Docklands apartment in east London because it was too large to fit up the stairs of the building.

Workmen were seen guiding the behemoth down on to the balcony of the flat it was being loaded into while what appeared to be fellow residents enjoyed the sight from the rooftops, taking videos for good measure.

This huge crane was spotted hoisting a piano high above buildings in Docklands, east London, pictured, for delivery to a flat.
Workmen can be seen on the balcony of the apartment helping to guide the instrument down while others take videos of the strange sight.

But the practice is actually quite common with several piano moving firms offering the use of everything from mini-cranes to 150-tonne machines depending on the size and weight of the instrument.

There are several factors movers have to consider when using a crane, including how close a vehicle can get to the delivery building, whether a piano has ton be lifted over a roof and whether there are any trees, cables or other obstacles in the way.

Firms are legally required to complete a pre-approved lifting plan and all jobs have to pass health and safety inspections.

Most firms also specialise in window removal in case the building does not have a balcony, with crews of workers on hand to fix everything after the delivery is complete.

Read more here

Or to see pianos that don’t need a crane for delivery, visit here…

Yamaha piano in Disneyland is one of world’s most played pianos

Strolling up Main Street U.S.A. at Disneyland, one can’t help but hear the sounds of ragtime music drifting from the Refreshment Corner where there sits a pianist tinkling the ivories on one of the most played pianos in the world.

The Yamaha model YUS1 upright the pianist plays has been faithfully making those melodic sounds since it was placed there more than five years ago, the latest in a long line of pianos at that spot for decades.

“These pianos will get played hours a day,” said David Durben, a piano service specialist with Yamaha Corporation of America.

Yamaha supplies all the musical instruments at the Disneyland Resort, and that includes pianos of all kinds, from grand pianos in settings like the Grand Califonian Hotel, to the one at the Refreshment Corner, where it sits, most days, outside — meaning the weather is a major factor in how the piano sounds.

“There’s a great deal of wool felt used in the piano’s moving parts, like its hammers. That wool felt swells and shrinks with the heat and especially with the humidity,” Durben said.

That humidity makes the felt heavier, and the piano harder to play, but the show must go on; the pianists know that on those days, they just have to play the keys harder.

While Disneyland specialists constantly maintain the piano, keeping it in tune, sometimes something, like the shank for a particular note’s hammer, will break. But that doesn’t put the piano out of action for very long.

“We provide Disney with spare parts. They can change out whole key sets in a matter of minutes,” Durben said.

Then the whole key set can go back to a shop for more extensive repairs while the pianist starts playing again.

The music they play ranges from ragtime, with the most requested song being “The Maple Leaf Rag,” according to “Ragtime” Robert Gillum, one of the regular pianists.

Besides ragtime, they also play many Disney songs, and when those are played, many visitors will start singing along and even make requests for specific Disney songs.

“‘Part of Your World’ from ‘The Little Mermaid’ is one of the most popular, and usually the girls who want to sing that, can sing, as they’re theater majors,” he said.

The ragtime pianists Disneyland employs are not the only ones to play the piano. Sometimes a guest will ask to play the piano, as 11-year-old Lacey Fuller of Plumas Lake, Ca., recently did when she stepped up to ask Gillum if she could try her hand at playing it.

He stepped out of the way as she sat down and started to play a ragtime tune. She did so well that she earned herself some applause from Gillum and the crowd around the piano. Gillum gave her a card with her name on it congratulating her on being an authentic ragtime pianist at Refreshment Corner.

Read more here at the Orange County Register…

Maryland Classic Youth Orchestra

See the Maryland Classic Youth Orchestras of Strathmore, Sunday March 20th

See our friends in the Maryland Classic Youth Orchestras of Strathmore, Sunday, March 20th at 3pm and 7pm.

Tickets from $15 can be reserved by calling (301) 581-5100 or by visiting www.strathmore.org

See and hear the works of Back, Telemann, Haydn, Brahms, Mahler, Corelli, Dvorak and more.

For more information on the Maryland Classic Youth Orchestras of Strathmore, visit www.mcyo.org

Congressional medal of honor Bosendorfer

Jordan Kitt’s supplies Bösendorfer to Congressional Gold Medal Ceremony

Jordan Kitt’s Music was the proud supplier of the Bösendorfer concert grand to the Congressional Gold Medal Ceremony for 1965 Voting Rights Marches Foot Soldiers. 2015 marked the 50th anniversary of the 1965 Civil Rights Selma marches that motivated the Voting Rights Act of 1965. In commemoration of the protestors, or “foot soldiers,” the Office of the Speaker of the House of Representatives held a Congressional Gold Medal Ceremony to congratulate Civil Rights Activist Frederick D. Reese. The Congressional Gold Medal is the highest honor for civilians.

Skip to the 27 minute mark to see the performance.

Alexey Romanov

Teen plays piano without hands

Via the telegraph…

 

A Russian teenager who was born without hands has been recorded playing River Flows in You by South Korean pianist Yiruma.

In the video shot last month, Alexey Romanov plays the entire song despite having no fingers to press the keys.

Alexey, who is from Zelenodolsk, Russia, taught himself how to play the piano by simply listening to how the chords should sound.

Watch his remarkable piano playing in the video above.

Read more here…

Elton John performs to London commuters on a Yamaha piano

via CBS news

How would you feel about an impromptu piano performance to brighten up your dreary commute?

Not so enthused? What if that performance was by Elton John?

That’s exactly what happened to London commuters traveling through St. Pancras International station. John sat in front of a piano in the middle of the station and played a brand new Yamaha piano that he donated to the station.

He wrote on Instagram, “Surprise!! I popped into St Pancras International to christen the Yamaha piano which I donated to the station. Now everyone can have a play.”

He also wrote on top of the piano, “Enjoy this piano. It’s a gift. Love, Elton John.”

He captioned a photo of the piano on Instagram: “My gift is my song and this piano’s for you,” a reference to lyrics from “Your Song” that say, “My gift is my song and this one’s for you.”

A witness told the Guardian that John did not sing and only played for about five minutes before leaving. He was also seen greeting a British transport police employee, and giving the man a kiss on the cheek and an autograph.

John will appear on James Corden’s “Late Late Show” on Super Bowl Sunday for what’s sure to be a legendary edition of “Carpool Karaoke.”

Read more here