Doublereed Archive - Posting 000048.txt from 2006/10

From: "Miriam Williams" <mwquacker@-----.net>
Subj: [DR-L] How Your Brian Listens to Music
Date: Mon, 09 Oct 2006 12:28:37 -0400

http://www.hno.harvard.edu/gazette/1997/11.13/HowYourBrainLis.html

Harvard University Gazette
Your inner ear contains a spiral sheet that the sounds of music pluck like a
guitar string. This plucking triggers the firing of brain cells that make up
the hearing parts of your brain. At the highest station, the auditory
cortex, just above your ears, these firing cells generate the conscious
experience of music. Different patterns of firing excite other ensembles of
cells, and these associate the sound of music with feelings, thoughts, and
past experiences.

That's a sketch of how the brain listens to music -- just a short ditty to
outline the complex symphony of activity that governs our perception of
everything from Bach to U2. It's also a lot more than was known until
recently.

"We know much more about how we see than how we hear," says Mark Tramo,
assistant professor of neurology at the Medical School, Ph.D. student, and
published songwriter. "What happens in hearing is harder to understand
intuitively."

snip

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