Wired for Sound: Music and the Brain
Series: The Nerve - Music and the Human Experience
From: Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
Length: 00:53:32
On Episode 1 of The Nerve, host Jowi Taylor takes you on an aural journey, from the creation of sound at its source, through the air and the outer ear to the cochlea, the spinal column, and the cerebral cortex. On the way, you'll hear about how and why hearing evolved, and how the human ear is designed to react to certain sounds. Why do we hear some sounds as music, and other sounds as noise? What's the critical relationship between anticipation and satisfaction that drives music? Just what happens when the human brain and music become dance partners? And what roles do the elements we call rhythm, harmony, melody and timbre play in that dance?
More from Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
In the Key of DNA: Music & Evolution
(00:53:40)
From: Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
Cheesecake? Or sex, baby talk, and social interaction? Set in the Key of DNA, The Nerve 2 examines what the purpose of music is and has been, yesterday and today.
Enchanted, Entranced: Music & Spirituality
(00:53:32)
From: Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
The Nerve 4 congregates a variety of opinions from multiple faiths to adress why music so enchants and entrances us.
myTunes: Music & Identity
(00:53:32)
From: Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
Just how much power does music have to create a sense of "me" and "you", of "us" and "them"? How can songs written by other people be described as your tunes or my tunes? The ...
Sentimental Journey: Music & Emotion
(00:53:32)
From: Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
The Nerve 6 wonders whether music really is the language of our emotions.
The Pipe, the Drum and the Thunder Run: Music & War
(00:53:54)
From: Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
From pipes, to drums, to thunder runs, The Nerve 3 takes a serious look at the dark side of music.
Episode Five: Rebooting the Public Square
(00:53:02)
From: Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
In the finale of ReCivilization, host Don Tapscott takes us into the public square, to look at how governments must re-engage with citizens.
Episode Four: Re-Industrializing the planet
(00:53:02)
From: Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
In Episode four of ReCivilization, host Don Tapscott looks as how the digital revolution has changed how business are run.
Episode Three: Collaborative Health Care
(00:53:02)
From: Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
In part three of ReCivilization, host Don Tapscott looks at the future of heath care and medicine.
Episode Two: Open-Source Knowledge
(00:53:02)
From: Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
In episode two of ReCivilization, host Don Tapscott looks at the transformation of education and science, and the emergence of knowledge-sharing and discovery-driven learning ...
Episode One: Turning the media inside out
(00:53:02)
From: Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
In the first installment of ReCivilization, host Don Tapscott looks at the media and how the industrial-age model of mass production is giving way to new, collaborative and ...
Related Pieces
Piece Description
On Episode 1 of The Nerve, host Jowi Taylor takes you on an aural journey, from the creation of sound at its source, through the air and the outer ear to the cochlea, the spinal column, and the cerebral cortex. On the way, you'll hear about how and why hearing evolved, and how the human ear is designed to react to certain sounds. Why do we hear some sounds as music, and other sounds as noise? What's the critical relationship between anticipation and satisfaction that drives music? Just what happens when the human brain and music become dance partners? And what roles do the elements we call rhythm, harmony, melody and timbre play in that dance?
3 Comments
|
We Want Information It makes sense that we find either a steady tone or random noise uninteresting. Neither encodes information. If you accept a Darwinian point-of-view, our brains evolved to extract meaning out of sensory input from the environment. (Or, rather, individual organisms which were differentially better able to discriminate sights, smells, tastes and SOUNDS survived and reproduced in greater proportion and so passed along to the gene pool the DNA that enabled this ability.) However, it is difficult for me to see the adaptive survival value of music per se - unless it is related to social cohesion. Maybe those of our ancestors who enjoyed music found in it a reason to go on living.
|
|
|
We Want Information It makes sense that we find either a steady tone or random noise uninteresting. Neither encodes information. If you accept a Darwinian point-of-view, our brains evolved to extract meaning out of sensory input from the environment. (Or, rather, individual organisms which were differentially better able to discriminate sights, smells, tastes and SOUNDS survived and reproduced in greater proportion and so passed along to the gene pool the DNA that enabled this ability.) However, it is difficult for me to see the adaptive survival value of music per se - unless it is related to social cohesion. Maybe those of our ancestors who enjoyed music found in it a reason to go on living.
|
Broadcast History
This piece was first broadcast as part of a six part series on the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation in September 2008.
Timing and Cues
54:01
Musical Works
| Title | Artist | Album | Label | Year | Length |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Nerve Opening Theme | Paolo Pietropaolo | unreleased. | 01:30 | ||
| Do-Re-Mi | Julie Andrews | The Sound of Music soundtrack. | RCA Victor | 03:30 | |
| Für Alina | Alexander Malter | Alina. | ECM 1591 | 05:30 | |
| Cello Concerto in B minor, 1st movement | Jean-Guihen Queyras, cello, with Prague Philharmonic Orch | Harmonia Mundi. | 00:30 | ||
| Piano Sonata no. 14 in C-sharp minor, 1st movement | Anton Kuerti | Ludwig van Beethoven. | Analekta | 06:13 | |
| Let Down | Radiohead | OK Computer. | EMI/Parlophone | 05:00 | |
| Yesterday | The Beatles | Help!. | EMI/Parlophone | 02:05 | |
| Superstition | Stevie Wonder | Talking Book. | Tamla/Motown | 02:15 | |
| Bolero | Charles Dutoit & l’Orch. Symph. de Montréal | Decca | 07:00 | ||
| Somewhere Over the Rainbow | Judy Garland | You Made Me Love You. | Fabulous | 01:15 | |
| Raga Miyan Ki Malhar: Alap | Amjad Ali Khan | Inde du Nord. | Ocora/Radio France | 00:45 | |
| Bubaran Kembang Pacar | The Royal Jogjakarta Palace Gamelan | Schirmer Books – Worlds of Music, CD 2, Track 38. | 01:30 | ||
| The Nerve Closing Theme | Paolo Pietropaolo | unreleased. | 02:15 |
Related Website
Of 13 purchasers of this piece...
- 12 also bought:In the Key of DNA: Music & Evolution (00:53:40)
- 12 also bought:
- 12 also bought:Enchanted, Entranced: Music & Spirituality (00:53:32)
- 12 also bought:myTunes: Music & Identity (00:53:32)
- 12 also bought:Sentimental Journey: Music & Emotion (00:53:32)
David Srebnik
Posted on August 29, 2009 at 05:15 PM | Permalink
Some people (and radio producers) know how to make far away worlds accessible, beautiful, fun, interesting and entertaining.
As you look for end of summer programming, or new ways to plant seeds in your listeners hearts and souls as fundraising season returns in September and October, I wanted to get in one additional recommendation about the mindblowing six-part series, The Nerve - Music and the Human Experience, from the CBC.
The series investigates the "how and why of music" in fresh, new ways and means. To get all that this program offers requires a mostly "sit down and give all your attention to the radio" commitment. And it's a sit down experience you can, without hesitation, tell your listeners is well worth their time and attention.
Even if you don't get all of the information and understanding of the music-brain-body interaction, the mix of voices, information, music and radio craft is so pleasing to the ear. Still, your listeners will still walk away with plenty.
(Repeating each show in the series is worth considering.)
Some people (and radio producers) know how to make far away worlds -- the mystery of science, music, the cochlea, spinal column, and the cerebral cortex -- accessible, beautiful, fun, interesting and entertaining.
The presenters and producers of this series are those people.
Highly recommended.
(More detailed reviews of Programs 1 and 3 in the series are included in the "Music Station Picks for August" Playlist.)