Whether at a wedding, graduation or funeral, to enliven a work-out, survive repetitive tasks, to relax or simply to
drown out the world’s incessant rattle and hum, every culture of human being has listened to
music to aid them.
In an international survey, it ranked as one of life’s sources of supreme pleasure and emotional power.
Scientific studies confirm that the human brain is hard-wired to music, and they even suggest that one day it will be
used to help patients heal from mental disease or stroke.
Researchers have always assumed that the human brain must be equipped with a music room ,
a cortical infrastructure solely dedicated to deciphering the harmonic symbols of a song. With conventional
brain-scanning technology, scientists failed to find overwhelming evidence of a music-specific
psychological space, and the quest to recognize a quintessential human passion for melody floundered.
But researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have recently devised a radical new
passage to brain imaging that reveals what previous studies have missed.
Their conclusions offer researchers a new tool for exploring the contours of human musicality
in the mind. They discovered that when a musical passage was played, a distinct set of neurons
tucked inside the auditory cortex fired in response and other noises by contrast left the musical circuits
unmoved.
Art of any form is a medium for discovery and communication. Creativity is the catalyst for purpose and harmony in an otherwise strange life. The mandate of creative people is to be pioneers. Whether through the exploration of new sounds, materials or techniques, we must be wary of repetition and conformity.
Artists can produce works that promotes dialogue that helps us understand ourselves and in turn, discover all knowledge and mystery. By activating the creative forces within us, we can vitalize ourselves. Through this solitary brooding in the dark, we eventually call forth the light.
