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Musicophilia - music & relationship to the brain

I am listening to Science Friday today. There is very interesting interview with Oliver Sacks.
http://www.sciencefriday.com/
Intro on the site for the interview:
Join Ira in this segment for a conversation with neurologist and author Oliver Sacks about 'Musicophilia,' his latest book. In this book, Sacks, the author of over a dozen books including 'Awakenings' and 'The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat,' looks at the way music and the brain interact. Why can music sometimes remain in the brain long after other memories fade? Why can a person with limited language abilities still be able to sing unimpaired?

This show will be available to listen to online at this link (once it's archived).
http://www.sciencefriday.com/program/archives/200711095

Here's the book and links to some videos that are interesting.
http://www.amazon.com/o/ASIN/1400040817/sciencefriday/

I gotta get back to work but wanted to post before I forget... more later...
meanwhile...
Thoughts?

Angela
angela100
mrtennis
3,295 posts
 
the complexity of a composition is irrelevant as far as minimizing timbral errors. if i am listening to a symphony orchestra or a solo harpsichord i am aware of how erroneous a stereo system reproduces the sound of an instrument.

if i am in an anlytic mode, i aam mentallly assessing how natural an instrument sounds in relation to the real thing.

i had an interesting experience when i recorded a cymbal and compared the playback to the sound of the cymbal.

our stereo systems are inaccurate compared to the real thing.
Ag insider logo xs@2x
dbphd
1,628 posts
 
I agree with Newbee, and hope Mrtennis is exaggerating his listening experiences. From the posts on Audiogon, I might conclude that most audiophiles don't listen to music, rather they listen to systems. They talk about reproducing audio as a hobby, not a means to an end.

I confess to enjoying well reproduced music, but not to the extent that I listen to music I don't care about just because it's well reproduced. I find classical, baroque, and jazz music the perfect background for reading and internet surfing, but I'm pretty sure that's not what this "hobby" is about. Listen to any good power cords lately?

db
angela100 OP
435 posts
 
"Listen to any good power cords lately?"

now THAT was funny!

ang
jafant's avatar
jafant
19,296 posts
 
Great thread-
I think music therapy has a bright future.
mrtennis
3,295 posts
 
there have been many articles written about the salutary effects of music therapy. it seems that sound quality is not a factor in the efficacy of the music to produce a beneficial result.

as for listening experiences, if a stereo system cannot provide a modicum of realism as far as timbre is concerned why bother listening to it ?

dbphd, i surmise that a good table radio would satisfy you when listening to music in the background.
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