Music and Neuroscience

“The Traumatized Brain” Handouts

November 14, 2009

If you’ve been following me on this blog or on Twitter and Facebook, you know that I am writing this from the American Music Therapy Association (AMTA) national conference. We are in sunny San Diego–the weather is perfect, the palm trees are beautiful, and the tobacco warning signs read: “Warning: This area contains various chemicals [...]

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71 Things Everyone Ought to Know About the Brain (Part 2)

November 12, 2009

This post is the second in a two-part series of ideas, facts, and resources all about the brain. They are based on a workshop I attended last weekend called “Linking Neuroscience to Clinical Practice.” The fabulous speaker was Dr. Martha Burns.
The first article, published on Tuesday, listed the first 35 points.
71 Fun Facts About the [...]

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71 Things Everyone Ought to Know About the Brain (Part 1)

November 9, 2009

Have you ever attended a seminar or workshop that got you so excited about something you wanted to start working right away, even though you just spent over 9 hours sitting, listening, and taking notes?
I just did.
If you follow me on Twitter or are a fan of Neurosong on Facebook, you know that I attended [...]

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The Traumatized Brain: Discover 3 Ideas that Will Change How You Work With Clients

November 5, 2009

If you are a music therapist, you probably know that our national conference is next week in San Diego (Yay!). This will be a time for us to learn, meet-and-greet, and get inspired being around like-minded people. There are hundreds of presentations and so many people to connect with–I can’t wait!!!
On Saturday November 14, I’ll [...]

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Mr. Teachout, Here’s Why We DO Need to Know About the Power of Music

November 3, 2009

A couple weeks ago, an article titled “The Mystery of Music: What about it has such power over human beings?” appeared in the Wall Street Journal. The author, Terry Teachout, wondered why it’s important for us to understand music’s effect on our emotions (he was inspired by a study showing that music can influence a [...]

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On Attention, Plasticity, Learning, Individuality

October 15, 2009

A couple of weeks ago I wrote an article about the 4 different types of attention–sustained, selective, divided, joint–and gave examples of how you can address each in a therapy session. After reading the article, my friend Lisa contacted me on Facebook and asked:
(C)an the different types of attention really be learned or do you [...]

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How To Recognize the 4 Types of Attention

September 29, 2009

One of the most common goals music therapists address are attention goals. For example:

Goal: To increase attention span.
Goal: To promote on-task behavior.
Goal: To improve attention to task.
…and so on.

Attention. It’s a basic yet foundational skill. The ability to focus and pay attention is a precursor to a host of other cognitive skills  (another foundational skills [...]

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The 5 Most Important Things to Know About Neurodevelopment

September 10, 2009

My favorite graduate courses were the neuroscience courses. It fascinated me how the brain was organized, how it functioned, and how this incredibly complex and dynamic organism could be broken down and understood in simpler parts. Amazing.
And now that I work with trauma-influenced children, I’ve learned much more about neurodevelopment. I have had first-hand experience [...]

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7 Simple Ways to Calm an Angry Child

July 23, 2009

We’ve all made this mistake. It’s human nature. Evolution, really. We can’t help it. We’re wired to respond this way.
A child gets angry. The child cries, yells, hits, pinches. Our blood pressure rises. Our voice gets louder. We get in their face so they pay attention to us. We bark at them.
Does this work? Maybe. [...]

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