How Does The Brain Processes Music?

At Angus Neil we create music that lifts you up, gets your feet moving, lifts your mood, and puts a a smile on your face, but what is really happening in your Brain?

Music has a great effect on our body particularly the brain. Since the brain is responsible for our emotions and physical reactions under different stimulations, neuroscientists have tried to study how the brain works extensively. Sometimes it may seem as if you are trying to communicate with an invisible alien or you are insane while you dance to music only you can hear with headphones or earphones. Unless other people hear the music you are dancing to, it looks ridiculous while you dance to the beats only you can feel. To them, you are moving to a rhythm that does not exist.

Neuroscientists have tried to get to the bottom of how the brain responds to music. Whether you are listening to the classics by Bach or the club bangers of the new age, you will always be overtaken by the rhythm.  There are many parts of the brain involved when one is listening to music. According to Dr. Travis Stork, in a video excerpt from the doctor's TV “A multitude of things are happening and different areas of the brain are responding to the music” This is the reason why you want to tap or sing along to the song you are listening to.

For the brain to make sense of the pitch, rhythm, tempo, timbre of the song, it all starts in the primary auditory cortex. The cortex activates the cerebellum which plays an important role in motor control once you hear the music. This is why exemplary dancers are able to dance rhythmically without missing a step.
 The brain is able to analyze and convert sound wave into music even in people with different kinds of brain damage as observed by Dr. Tramo in one of his patients, "The harmonic context in which he heard chords changed his sensory experience, just as it does in people without auditory cortex damage," says Tramo in the Harvard gazette.

The brain is surely one of the most amazing parts of the body according to the many functions it can perform. It can also process music to store memories or uplift your spirit when you are feeling blue. This explains why you listen to a certain song which takes you back to that happy or sad day in your past, as explained by Dr. Travis in a video from doctor’s TV.

The next time you see a person crying or dancing all over the room with their earphone plugged into their ears, do not be shocked. This behavior can only be explained in regards to how the brain processes music as seen above.
Reference:

(http://musicandmemory.org/about/brain-music-connection)
http://www.musicworksforyou.com/news-and-charts/news/177-how-our-brains-process-music
http://news.harvard.edu/gazette/1997/11.13/HowYourBrainLis.html

• August 2016
  • Aug 5, 2016 How Does The Brain Processes Music? Aug 5, 2016
  • Aug 2, 2016 The Latin Classical Guitar Masters - Agustin Barrios Aug 2, 2016
• July 2016
  • Jul 20, 2016 Recording El Porro Jul 20, 2016

The Latin Classical Guitar Masters - Agustin Barrios

Andres Segovia is touted as the father of the Classical Guitar, and he did great work in establishing the guitar as a serious concert instrument.  However the average person might not know about the great Latin American Classical Guitar composers.

This is the first in a series of articles on these great masters of the classical guitar.  What made them so exemplary was the combination of the European classical tradition and the local music of their countries.

It is said that music is the food of the soul and no one understood this better than Agustin Barrios. In the history of Latin music, Agustin Barrios is one of the most adored classical guitarists of all times. 

Agustín Barrios

Agustin Barrios, the Southern American maestro of classical guitar, was born in the year 1885 in San Bautista de las Misiones in southern Paraguay. He had seven siblings of whom loved music. Agustin’s parents, Doroteo Barrios, the father and Martina Ferreira, the mother were both into music and literature. His mother even played the guitar.

Agustin’s love and passion for music and literature started when he was just a child.  His family was mainly his inspiration. If the innocent child that was Agustin Barrios was in the modern world, I wonder if he could be cooped up at the couch playing video games and watching cartoons like most children today. Apart from music and literature, Agustin learned how to speak in Spanish and Guarani and was able to read English, German and French at a tender age.

As a teen, Agustin Barrios developed an interest in musical instruments especially the guitar and was discovered by classical guitarist Gustavo Sosa Escalada who became his guitar teacher. Gustavo saw Barrios passion for music and advised him to join a musical school. This led Agustin Barrios to be one of the youngest students to join the university in the Paraguayan history. He was only 15 years when he joined the Universidad National De Asuncion in 1901 through a music scholarship. While in the university, Barrios excelled in music and was appreciated by the mathematics, literature and journalism departments.

His musical journey began after leaving college when he composed over 300 hundred songs. He toured a lot in South America where he gave out his signed copies of songs and poems to friends and fans. Since he was in love with literature, he gave himself a pseudonym Nitsuga Mangore which was his stage name. The name is a combination of Agustin spelled backwards and Mangore, a name referring to a leader in the indigenous tribes of South America. Besides being known to perform live in the traditional Paraguayan dress, Barrios was also famous for making the best music recordings in Paraguay.

His work was written in late- romantic style and was inspired by South American and Central American folk music. One of his magnum opus, La cathedral (Maestro musician Kolio version is outstanding), was inspired by Johann Sebastian Bach’s work.

Today, Agustin Barrios’ work is highly appreciated in Paraguay. Among his best work is Cueca, Julia Florida, Danza Paraguaya and London Karape. His work has inspired many young guitarists and poets in Paraguay. There is no doubt the Agustin Barrios is one of the greatest classical guitarist and composer in the Paraguayan history.

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Recording El Porro

El Porro is an amazing piece of music, composed by Colombian classical guitarist Gentil Montana. When I first heard it, I envisioned an arrangement with a rhythm section and horns accompanying the original guitar part. I had to create the arrangement I heard. It took two attempts to get it right. The first time I recorded this with some great musicians  but it turned out too "Smooth Jazzy", not that I have anything against "Smooth Jazz", but it was not the feel that I was looking for. 

Before I continue, I guess I will describe a bit about Porro, this is as a musical style and dance from the Caribbean region of Colombia. It is a Colombian cumbia rhythm that developed into its own subgenre. It was originally a folkloric expression from the Sinú River area that evolved into a ballroom dance.

I decided that I needed help. I was fortunate enough to discover a phenomenal producer Peter Schroeder who is himself an amazing musician and composer, with over 7 years of playing Latin music, a great teacher and all around great guy; I am not kidding, he really is a nice guy, very polite and gentle, surprising for a producer. However, Peter was instrumental in getting the project off the ground, he provided the structure, musician management (trust me this alone is enough for one person, but that serves another blog), and his OCD and perfectionist tendencies made miracles happen. He was also relentless in ensuring that we were moving in the right direction ("it is about the journey man", one of his favourite sayings other than "please and thank you").  Peter's contacts with some of the best players in the world made things very interesting.  He got an amazing bassist Fito Garcia and trumpeter Miguel Valdes, and of course El Jose on percussion.  These guys made the arrangement come alive and sing, I was very excited, at last I was getting somewhere. 

We got all the tracks recorded and it was time to record the guitar track, so we went to Baker Studios on Vancouver Island to work with the legendary Joby Baker.  Now this was an experience, We had to take the ferry from Vancouver to Vancouver Island and drive into the country to this house on a lovely property, trees everywhere, just gorgeous.  Introductions were made as Peter takes pictures of everything, he is like that, he is good artist and professional photographer also, so he loves to take pictures, I hope he laughs when he reads this.

Joby sets up some amazing microphone technology that I never heard of before, a microphone that was a ball, one looked like part of a Darlek, one with ribbons, the mics were so sensitive I think you could hear my finger nails grow.  Things are ready and then I started playing El Porro from beginning to end, pretty good, with some minor mistakes, so I thought that we should run through the piece and correct these errors.  WRONG!  Joby was like one of the old European violin masters, or old school Kung Fu master from 36 Chambers of Shoalin: "you could do better!", "that is not clean enough", "bring out the melody, caress the bass", "your triplets are not even!", "sustain that melody note!", "AGAIN!", "you could do better mate!", "you sound like you are struggling!", Three hours later, I could not squeeze the guitar any more, I had to tap out, and then we broke for lunch. (BTW Joby is a phenomenal cook). Joby literally ripped the best out of me, for that I am eternally grateful.