Is Brain Research Relevant for Music Education?

Extract

During the past several years Dr Harvey has presented seminars on ‘Music and the Brain’ throughout the United States and Canada. In the course of a weekend seminar in 1985 he was, once again, particularly impressed with the power of music to affect individuals in many different ways; musical performances (live and taped) evoked responses as diverse as excitement, tears, loneliness, increases in pulse rate, changes in breathing rate, spontaneous body movement, memory recall and imagery experiences. To understand just how the brain produces both biophysical and psychological responses to music requires a basic understanding of the human brain, the areas of the human personality affected through brain processes, and an awareness of the interactions of musical elements affecting us. In this article Dr Harvey outlines some of the directions of recent research.