Klarinet Archive - Posting 000255.txt from 2000/09

From: Bilwright@-----.net (William Wright)
Subj: [kl] Music vs. language
Date: Thu, 7 Sep 2000 19:03:55 -0400

Quoted from "Brain, Mind and Behavior" (1985):

[NOTE: textbooks agree that language is primarily but not exclusively
a left hemisphere activity, and music is primarily but not exclusively a
right hemisphere activity. But my point is that this doesn't eliminate
the possibility that language and music -- both of them being aural and
communicative -- share or require a particular neurological structure(s)
in common in addition to their own left & right hemisphere areas of the
brain.]

First, concerning language: (chapter 8)

According to this model, the underlying structure of an utterance -- its
form and meaning -- arises in Wernicke's area. [The textbook goes on
to declare that this is the accepted model in modern medicine.]
Wernicke's area is also important in language comprehension [...]
the processed message must pass through the adjacent Wernicke's area if
the sound is to be understood as language.

Second, concerning music (also chapter 8):

At the age of 57, the French composer Maurice Ravel suffered severe
damage to his left hemisphere in an automobile accident. The report of
his subsequent condition stated that, although he could "still listen to
music, attend a concert, and express criticism on it or describe the
musical pleasure he felt, he never again was able to compose the pieces
he heard in his head" (Alajouanini, 1948). Ravel suffered from
Wernicke's aphasia and was unable to play the piano again or sing in
tune, and he could no longer read or write musical notation.

Ravel's case does not prove my hypothesis. I assume that
Wernicke's area is large enough to contain several structures (I'm not a
neurologist), and it sounds as if other parts of Ravel's left hemisphere
were damaged as well.
But certainly the paragraphs above offer reason not to reject my
hypothesis out of hand -- namely that music and language are both
fundamentally aural and communicative, and therefore they may share some
neural structure(s) in common in addition to their more specialized
areas of the brain.

Cheers,
Bill

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