music and the brain

I just caught the tail end of a report on US National Public Radio this
morning. Some neurophysiology types at UC Irvine found some music-like
signals in the brain. So they decided to see how music might stimulate the
brain. They played a Mozart piano sonata to students before an IQ test, and
the average score went up 10 points or so. Plus some studies on
kindergarteners learning to play music. PS 144 in Harlem in New York picked
up on it and has started some kind of pilot project.

Sorry I don't have more specifics.

Jim

Received: from ns.ezh.nl [137.174.112.59] by vbv40.ezh.nl
with SMTP-OpenVMS via TCP/IP; Thu, 17 Apr 1997 20:05 +0200
Received: by ns.ezh.nl; (5.65v3.2/1.3/10May95) id AA02500; Thu, 17 Apr 1997 20:05:55 +0200
Received: from ella.mills.edu by ns (smtpxd); id XA02498
Received: from by ella.mills.edu via SMTP (940816.SGI.8.6.9/930416.SGI)
id LAA16757; Thu, 17 Apr 1997 11:04:16 -0700
Date: Thu, 17 Apr 1997 11:04:16 -0700
Message-Id:
Errors-To: madole@mills.edu
Reply-To: tuning@ella.mills.edu
Originator: tuning@eartha.mills.edu
Sender: tuning@ella.mills.edu

>Steiner broke from the Theosophy movement following Annie Besant's
>deification of Jiddu Krishnamurti, a young Hindu boy more or less
>kidnapped from his parents by Besant and Leadbetter. In his maturity,
>Krishnamurti denied he was a deity, but did set up a headquarters
>in Ojai, California, a town in a valley near Santa Barbara, California.
>Ojai (pronounced Oh-HI) seems to be inhabited primarily by occultists
>and chiropractors, including my sister.

-- and retirees, and a great new music festival every year.

But here's another musical connection -- Peter Yates, the author of a very
insightful and readable history of 20th century music and the founder of
the influential Evenings on the Roof and Monday Evening Concerts in Los
Angeles, made the trek on foot to Ojai from San Bernardino in the 30s to
seek enlightenment from Krishnamurti. The story is recounted in Dorothy
Lamb Crawford's book _Evenings On and Off the Roof_. I don't have the book
handy to recount what it says exactly, but I think he got more out of
working in the lovely mountians than from Krishnamurti himself. He then
returned to the city, moved to LA, and began the famous concert series. He
was, by the way, an early and enthusiastic supporter of Lou Harrison, among
others. His book (published in 1967) begins with essays on the nature of
sound, including a lot on temperament and just intonation.

Bill

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
^ Bill Alves email: alves@hmc.edu ^
^ Harvey Mudd College URL: http://www2.hmc.edu/~alves/ ^
^ 301 E. Twelfth St. (909)607-4170 (office) ^
^ Claremont CA 91711 USA (909)607-7600 (fax) ^
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^




Received: from ns.ezh.nl [137.174.112.59] by vbv40.ezh.nl
with SMTP-OpenVMS via TCP/IP; Fri, 18 Apr 1997 02:56 +0200
Received: by ns.ezh.nl; (5.65v3.2/1.3/10May95) id AA02897; Fri, 18 Apr 1997 02:56:23 +0200
Received: from ella.mills.edu by ns (smtpxd); id XA02895
Received: from by ella.mills.edu via SMTP (940816.SGI.8.6.9/930416.SGI)
id RAA25979; Thu, 17 Apr 1997 17:54:41 -0700
Date: Thu, 17 Apr 1997 17:54:41 -0700
Message-Id: <3.0.1.32.19970417170620.0069eb28@adnc.com>
Errors-To: madole@mills.edu
Reply-To: tuning@ella.mills.edu
Originator: tuning@eartha.mills.edu
Sender: tuning@ella.mills.edu