Musician

A German cellist who can’t remember a single river or chancellor still recognises music

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Title of paper under discussion Preservation of musical memory in an amnesic professional cellist Authors Carsten Finke, Nazli E. Esfahani and Christoph J. Ploner Journal Current Biology, Volume 22, Issue 15, 7 August 2012, Pages R591-R592 Link to paper (free access) Overview Is musical memory housed in the same brain region(s) as other types of memory? …

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Pit or stage – how a musician’s environment affects their wellbeing

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Title of paper under discussion Is Playing in the Pit Really the Pits?: Pain, Strength, Music Performance Anxiety, and Workplace Satisfaction in Professional Musicians in Stage, Pit, and Combined Stage/Pit Orchestras Authors Dianna T. Kenny, Timothy R. Driscoll, Bronwen J. Ackermann Journal Medical Problems of Performing Artists 31(1):1-7, March 2016 Link to paper (free access) Overview …

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A stronger triceps might improve pianistic virtuosity

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Title of paper under discussion Secrets of virtuoso: neuromuscular attributes of motor virtuosity in expert musicians Authors Shinichi Furuya, Takanori Oku, Fumio Miyazaki & Hiroshi Kinoshita Journal Nature, Scientific Reports 5, 15750 (2015) Link to paper (free access) Overview Numerous studies have investigated the ‘superior motor skill’ of musicians compared with non-musicians. But how about musicians as a …

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Expert violinists have learnt to ‘freeze’ certain actions

2 Comments / Learning, Music Education, Musician / By

Title of paper under discussion Learning to Play the Violin: Motor Control by Freezing, Not Freeing Degrees of Freedom Authors Jürgen Konczak, Heidi van der Velden, Lukas Jaeger Journal Journal of Motor Behavior, 2009, Vol. 41, No. 3, pp243–252 Link to paper (free access) Overview Do beginner violinists start with restricted movement in all aspects …

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Clarinettists heighten emotion and extend phrases with their gestures

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Title of paper under discussion Performance Gestures of Musicians: What Structural and Emotional Information Do They Convey? Authors Bradley W. Vines, Marcelo M. Wanderley, Carol L. Krumhansl, Regina L. Nuzzo and Daniel J. Levitin Journal 5th International Gesture Workshop, GW 2003, Genova, Italy, April 15-17, 2003 Gesture-Based Communication in Human-Computer Interaction, pp 468-478 Link to …

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‘Blind’ orchestral auditions increase a woman’s chances severalfold

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Title of paper under discussion Orchestrating Impartiality: The Impact of “Blind” Auditions on Female Musicians Authors Claudia Goldin and Cecilia Rouse Journal National Bureau of Economic Research, Working Paper 5903, January 1997 Link to paper (free access) Overview Carried out in the mid-Nineties by two economists now of international repute, this piece of research lighted …

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Mozart, but not Brahms, helps the brain solve puzzles

2 Comments / Learning, Musician / By

Title of paper under discussion The influence of Mozart’s music on brain activity in the process of learning Authors Norbert Jaušovec, Ksenija Jaušovec and Ivan Gerlič Journal Clinical Neurophysiology, Dec 2006: Volume 117, Issue 12, pp 2703-14 Link to paper (free access) Overview Listening to Mozart improves your ability to solve mental rotation puzzles, or …

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Can a musician’s superior maths ability be explained by superior timing ability?

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Title of paper under discussion Musicians outperform nonmusicians in magnitude estimation: evidence of a common processing mechanism for time, space and numbers Authors Christian Agrillo and Laura Piffer Journal The Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, vol 65, issue 12, pp 2321-2332 Link to paper (free access) Overview Could it be that the human brain uses the same …

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Conductors’ brains ‘flash positive’ on hearing a deviant noise in their periphery

2 Comments / Attention, Musician, Neuroplasticity / By

Title of paper under discussion The fate of sounds in conductors’ brains: an ERP study Authors Wido Nager, Christine Kohlmetz, Eckart Altenmüller, Antoni Rodriguez-Fornells and Thomas F. Münte Journal Cognitive Brain Research, 17 (2003) pp 83–93 Link to paper (free access) Overview Based in Hannover, Germany, this research team set out to test the hypothesis …

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