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I’m part of an online support group for LGBT+ Parkies, and the program includes forays into the worlds of music, writing, Rock Steady Boxing, and fine arts. For music, one suggested activity was to draw up three playlists:
- Songs that you can sing along with
- Music that promotes your cognition
- Music that inspires hope and resilience
I discovered that watching YouTube videos of musicians playing their instruments gives you a double dose of “music that promotes your cognition.” On the one hand, you hear the highs and the lows, the fasts and the slows, of the music you’re listening to. On the other hand, you get to watch the performers’ body language, often with the help of excellent camera work, which supplements your experience, especially when you have many people making music together.
I chose the above video of Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto #3 in G, which has been a favorite of mine for at least 50 years, as an example of music that promotes cognition. I particularly like this version that popped up on my YouTube feed. The video is so amazing for me that it also satisfies the list’s third item, music that inspires hope and resilience.
I like the Brandenburg Concerto #3 because it’s fast-moving in Parts 1 (allegro) and 3 (also allegro). The slow-moving Part 2 (the adagio) lasts about 5 seconds, just enough time to catch your breath before moving into Part 3’s whirlwind. I’ve often referred this concerto as “party music” because of its galloping, breakneck speed. During some parts of the third movement I can’t help but shimmy my shoulders.
And here’s what happens when you watch the video: You frequently get to see the first violin, on the far left, start the latest melody line, which is then picked up by the second violin standing beside her, and eventually works its way around to the bass instruments on the far right, which rumble like thunder. Throughout the two allegros, you see the main melody line work its way from the instruments on the left to those on the right.
And there are thrilling points everywhere. In Part 1, all the instruments come together and rise to a peak in unison, before going their separate ways again. Even the musicians physically rise at this point. And at the end of the two allegros, everyone’s bow floats up in the air and freezes, drawing a sharp distinction between the overwhelming tidal wave of sound you just heard and the utter silence when the music fades away.
The current issue of Brain and Life published the following paragraphs on its “From the Editor” page. Bolding is mine:
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Music may engage memories in a part of the brain untouched by stroke or dementia.
When I was an intern, I treated a patient in the emergency department who’d had a stroke and was unable to speak. The patient’s family had shared with us his love of baseball, so one of my colleagues, also a fan, started singing “Take Me Out to the Ball Game” to him. My patient joined right in and sang every word with so much gusto that I remember the incident to this day.
Such quirks of the brain have inspired many neurologists. Best-selling author and neurologist Oliver Sacks, who wrote Musicophilia: Tales of Music and the Brain in 2007, described the phenomenon in an interview for this publication the following year: “With music, there’s something very special because of its intense coherence. Every bar of a piece naturally follows a previous bar and leads to the next, and the music is held together by a sense of expectancy. So even if one doesn’t know a piece, one feels where it is going.
“I like to imagine a sort of storage box, a treasure house deep in the brain,” Sacks told us, “in the basal ganglia, the cerebellum—parts of the brain which are not usually affected by stroke or brain damage.”
Music can reengage people with a variety of brain disorders, including dementia, as depicted in this issue’s cover story about Tony Bennett, the legendary singer whose career has spanned more than 70 years. As you will read, the performer transforms onstage; he understands what he is singing and totally connects with his audience. Bennett demonstrates that music is therapeutic and can be used strategically, according to our experts, who describe how music affects memory and how to take advantage of its power to calm and soothe.
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But enough with my lollygagging. I hope you enjoy the video. Post your responses and opinions below!
