Music Of the Brain

Eavesdropping on the music of the brain - health - 06 July 2009 - New Scientist

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For me, this is an interesting concept: take images of active parts of the brain, then give it pitch. That pitch then will show you a different set of results. I've been trying to wrap my mind around this study for a while and am now getting a better understanding of it. Maybe this has been around for a while, but I think to be able to interpret results in a different format helps others to better understand brain activity.

For me, the brain scans are just colors and generally I say "Oh, that's interesting" and promptly forget what a healthy brain looks like.

Now, change that to sounds and I can better remember how the normal brain sounds (though, admittedly, I have heard it and I don't remember. If the sounds are what I remember, it freaked my cats out).

ALTHOUGH, if you change it to a composition (fill in the blanks with other musical notes) it becomes a catchy tune and you can't help but remember what a normal brain sounds like. (Ok, admittedly, I should have this stuff memorized because I have been around for the birth of this composition and have been around for part of the discussion between Lloyd and The Philosopher Musician...but I don't.)

The Philosopher Musician is partially involved in this study/project. He and Dan Lloyd somehow got to the idea that a composition should be made from these random bits of data, so The Philosopher Musician composed it and "ta da," a lovely piano piece that a really talented pianist may be able to play...with a partner.

For more information and a really cool six part lecture given at Trinity College (and featuring my lovely Philosopher Musician's work in part 6) visit Dan Lloyd's YouTube Channel.