music and the brain

[PsychToday] Scoping out Sticky Songs

September 23, 2015
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Pop quiz time! What do the following phrases have in common? I’ve got my baby back, baby back, baby back, I’ve got my baby back, baby back ,baby back… Who let the dog’s out! Woof, woof, woof, woof…. Give me a break! Give me a break. Break me off a piece of that Kit Kat […]

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5 Problems Music Can Create

August 15, 2014
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I am a strong believer in the incredible and varied effect music can have on us. I believe in its ability to shape our brains and our selves. It’s for this reason that I started both my children in piano lessons just shy of their fifth birthdays. Music is the vocational passion of my life […]

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Presentational vs. Participational Music: A Recap of the 2014 CMS Summit

May 22, 2014
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Music therapy is an inherently interdisciplinary field, which makes it all the more surprising that it has taken me almost 15 years to finally begin attending non-music therapy-specific conferences. The first was the Society for Music Perception and Cognition conference in Toronto last summer. The second was the 2014 Summit for the College Music Society […]

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[PsychToday] Listening to Music Ain’t a Simple Thing

February 14, 2013
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If you were one of the millions who watched the Superbowl halftime show last week, you likely had one of two reactions: You loved it. Or you hated it. You simply need to read the headlines to get a sense of the extreme reactions people had to her performance. Some called it electric and thrilling. […]

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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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Explore My Other Projects

April 25, 2011

Today, I’m excited to share with you some articles I’ve written recently that have been published on other sites. One of the “perks” of being a blogger–for me, anyway–is having the opportunity to share my passion (music therapy!) through the internet ethers. Here’s what I’ve been up to lately: Episode 15 of the Music Therapy […]

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It’s Brain Awareness Week!

March 18, 2011
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Did you know that this week is Brain Awareness Week (BAW)? I didn’t! According to the Dana Foundation, BAW is a global campaign aimed at increasing “public awareness about the progress and benefits of brain research.” I don’t know the history behind how BAW got started, but it now happens every March. BAW highlights efforts […]

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Book Review: This is Your Brain on Music

January 7, 2010

If you read my blog, you know that I am a big fan of neuroscience. The brain  fascinates me and understanding how it works is a big part of my clinical work. So it should be no surprise that Dan Levitin’s book This Is Your Brain on Music: The Science of a Human Obsession has […]

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