evolution

[#PsychToday] The Evolution of Music: A Bonding Effect?

December 9, 2015
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Image courtesy of Ambro at FreeDigitalPhoto.net I’ve performed in many ensembles over the years—band, orchestra, choir, and chamber groups—and have yet to find a music group as socially and emotionally connected as the marching band. Not to say I haven’t felt connected to my fellow choral, orchestra, and wind ensemble peers, but there’s something about […]

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[PsychToday] Music, Adaptation, and Evolution

June 14, 2013
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One of the advantages of working on a PhD is that you get to do a lot of reading and re-reading. I find the re-reading more interesting than the initial reading as I read the article or book in a different way, with a different level of depth and understanding. This happened recently when re-reading […]

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[PsychToday] Which Came First: Music or Language?

September 20, 2012
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Which came first: language or music? Traditionally, music has been considered an evolutionary byproduct of language. Language, after all, is one of the few skills we have that makes us uniquely human. Thus it has the more important evolutionary role. Music is just “auditory cheesecake.” Unimportant. Pretty little fluff. A misunderstood byproduct.But this tradition is […]

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Book Review: Why We Like Music

December 7, 2011
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I am super-excited to share with you a book recently introduced to me: Why We Like Music: Ear, Emotion, Evolution. The book was originally published in Italy about 5 years. It has been translated into English by Stephen Thomson Moore and released just two months ago by New World Media. Here’s the short version of […]

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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 […]

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The Daily Blog 07/14/2009

July 14, 2009

Anyone who has ever been on vacation knows that it takes time to both prepare for your departure and to transition back to work. As it is for me right now. And in that spirit of trying to catch up with everything domestic and professional, I have decided that, instead of the knowledgeable, rich, thought-provoking […]

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The Daily Blog 04/17/2009

April 17, 2009

I am starting a new category of posts. These posts will include links to other blog postings with information related to music therapy and music and the brain. Lots of people out there are writing about lots of interesting things and sharing lots of fascinating information that should be shared. So, in this inaugural Daily […]

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