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Right Brain/ Left Brain


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I've just been reading some extracts of a book The Master and his Emmisary by Ian McGilchrist (Yale UP 2009)I may get it for Christmas

 

He is saying that the Right Brain controls the emotional and intuitive elemenst of life and the left Brain executes what is needed to make things happen including control of the Right hand.

 

He also thinks the left brainers are taking us in the wrong direction because of the technology that is racing away.

 

 

Does anyone think this could be relevant to our little two handed instrument and its playing?

 

 

I commented elesewhere about a workshop at the ICA AGM last month where Sylvia Needham and Keith Kendrick were teaching playing by ear. Thery said that they'd read or been told that learning by ear was controlled by the Right Brain and dot reading by the left brain.

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I don't know the deep scientific data on this but I too believe(what from I have read??) that the right brain is involved in the creative and intuitive side of things.It is argued that the right side controls the left hand and the combination of this and it influencing the creative, apparently explains why a lot of artists are left handed?But I am sure that we need to use both sides.

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I don't know the deep scientific data on this but I too believe(what from I have read??) that the right brain is involved in the creative and intuitive side of things.It is argued that the right side controls the left hand and the combination of this and it influencing the creative, apparently explains why a lot of artists are left handed?But I am sure that we need to use both sides.

 

That's why English Concertina is a superior design from left brain point of view.

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On the concept of left / right brain activity, basically, left brain thinking is verbal and analytical. Right brain is non-verbal and intuitive, using pictures rather than words. It is said that by consciously using the right side of our brain, we can be more creative. I believe that there are exercises you can do which build up such skills and by learning to access the right brain, we can then apply these fundamental skills to enhance our creativity, whether it be music or art, etc. I recently bought a 'Hemi-sync' CD of music, which is overlaid with a slightly different frequency in each of the two channels. When you listen to the CD through headphones, the differing frequencies are supposed to enable the two hemispheres of the brain to synchronize and therefore enable the brain to work more effectively as whole unit. I presume it will take several listenings to know whether it seems to be working. I have also read that the right side of our brain controls the left side of our body and vice versa. I have also found that learning to juggle and playing the EC, have considerably improved my coordination (not that it was bad beforehand and with juggling, my eyesight has also improved!) There is a lot about the brain and its functions that are still to be understood, I am sure. I read that London Cabbies, who have spent 4 years studying 'The Knowledge', have been found to have an enlarged area of the brain consistent with memory and remembering facts. Perhaps there is a part of the brain that responds to music. Why is it that people like some types of music but not others? ITM and ETM spring to mind, but it could be heavy metal versus the classics. I guess any techniques which help us make progress in our chosen hobby, are welcome.

 

Chris

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I have also read that the right side of our brain controls the left side of our body and vice versa. I have also found that learning to juggle and playing

 

Chris

 

Understandable. I've always said that I find it easier to sing with my anglo than when playing my melodeon.

 

Must add that I don't play melody on the right hand side of the anglo. I start on the left and cross over as and when required. Whereas with the melodeon it's all on the right hand and more difficult to get started. I'm making progress, but it's slow.

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Can you do this trick?

"While sitting cross your right leg over your left.

Make clockwise circles with your right foot.

Now, while doing this, draw the number '6' in the air with your right hand."

I saw it on the One Show...Apparently they could only find drummers that could do it. Its all about left and right...and different parts of the brain or something.

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I've just been reading some extracts of a book The Master and his Emmisary by Ian McGilchrist (Yale UP 2009)

Well, the title puts me off right away. I'm not searching for a "master" to explain the world to me, much less some self-proclaimed emissary to convey to me said master's purpose. ... Or is the title intended to have some other meaning?

 

He is saying that the Right Brain controls the emotional and intuitive elemenst of life and the left Brain executes what is needed to make things happen including control of the Right hand.

And the right brain controls the Left hand. How does that fit his argument?

 

The brain is neither that simplistic nor that simple. Some functions -- speech, for instance -- seem to be localized to one side, while many others are essentially symmetric on both sides. Spatial perception, speech, and numerical aptitude are reported to be among those largely (I'm not sure about completely) on one side or the other. (I haven't memorized which are on which side.) The several senses and motor control are largely symmetrical.

 

As far as "intuitive" vs. "make things happen"... I don't think that's a dichotomy, so I'm leery of any argument that seems to be based on an assumption that it is.

 

He also thinks the left brainers are taking us in the wrong direction because of the technology that is racing away.

Wow! Seems to me that to believe that claim, one has to also believe various other assumptions which so far you haven't stated. Has he?

  • That not only are certain cognitive functions localized on one side of the brain or the other, but that individuals' behavior is dominated by the functions of only one of the sides. As far as I know, this has not been demonstrated.
  • Either or both of
    • The development of technology involves only the left side of the brain. (There's no intuition involved in technological invention? Fat chance!)
    • Runaway ("racing away") pursuit of a particular concept (technology? left brain-right brain explanations of human behavior?) is a result of left-brain dominance.

Does anyone think this could be relevant to our little two handed instrument and its playing?

Probably someone does, but not me.

 

I commented elesewhere about a workshop at the ICA AGM last month where Sylvia Needham and Keith Kendrick were teaching playing by ear. Thery said that they'd read or been told that learning by ear was controlled by the Right Brain and dot reading by the left brain.

Gee, they don't know how they came by that "information", much less where, so they probably don't know who made the claim, and I'm sure they have no idea what evidence -- if any -- was used to support it.

 

And what about ABC notation or various forms of "tablature" that are favored by some people (though not only those people) who aren't fans of "dots"? Where do they fit into this belief system?

 

Whether it's "dots" or "by ear", the process involves recognition and learning of patterns. As far as I can recall, recognition/learning of sound patterns and recognition/learning of visual patterns are not localized in opposite hemispheres of the brain.

 

Does anyone think this could be relevant to our little two handed instrument and its playing?

What sort of relevance do you think it might have? An excuse for why some people prefer one method of learning over another, or resist learning the other once they've learned the one? Or do you think it could even lead to something constructive... perhaps improved teaching methods or ways to learn more quickly with greater long-term retention?

 

My own view of all this right side-left side popular "science" is that some really interesting basic research into the relationship between brain structure and behavior has been misunderstood, misquoted, and augmented by a series of unfounded speculations masquerading as "fact", until in its popular form it has become something of a cult religion and far removed from the original science.

 

So I'll try to refrain from any further comments, at least until I've found the time to learn more about the research which has actually been done... and what claims have no foundation (at least not yet) in experimental inquiry.

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On the concept of left / right brain activity, basically, left brain thinking is verbal and analytical. Right brain is non-verbal and intuitive, using pictures rather than words. It is said that by consciously using the right side of our brain, we can be more creative. I believe that there are exercises you can do which build up such skills and by learning to access the right brain, we can then apply these fundamental skills to enhance our creativity, whether it be music or art, etc.

 

Hm! My brain, for one, is a Black Box which I never open up, so I've no idea what wires go from where to where. If you told me, just for the sake of exercise, to do something with my right half only or my left half only, I wouldn't know how to go about switching off the other half!

 

What I do know is that there are things I do intuitively, and things I do logically. But my intuition is often logical, and my logic often intuitive. Also, when I read a text, I see pictures before my mind's eye; and when I observe a scene, my mind is formulating a verbal description of it. And my creative ideas are realised only when I start organising them.

 

Creativity/technicality: the very people whom we regard as the creative types - musicians, artists, writers - are all masters of a set of techniques, and spend a lot of time organising (their sounds, their shapes and colours, their words and ideas). On the other hand, engineers can be very creative - we then call them inventors.

 

Perhaps left-brain/right-brain is a good tag for two categories of human capability. But unless we intend to open up someone's head and re-wire his brain, the hemisphere idea is of purely academic interest. Yes, there are people who lack creativity, or lack organisation, or who lack linguistic or figurative skills. These people are what you might call "imbalanced". But this is evident enough without postulating two independent brain halves (or half-brains). We know this, and so we teach school-children maths and literature, physics and music, to promote a balance in their personality. With some, it works; with some it doesn't.

 

Fact is, you'll never be a good musician if you can't deal with both the emotional side (expressiveness and eloquence of musical phrases), and the analytic side (the maths of harmonic progressions or time signatures and the physics of reeds, strings, or columns of air). Music is emotional mathematics, sensual physics.

 

Serious commitment to music should tend to redress any imbalance that there may be, because you'll notice which skills are working satisfactorily, and which are not, and you'll have to work harder at the latter if you want to improve your music-making.

 

Cheers,

John

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It is said that by consciously using the right side of our brain, we can be more creative.

Hm! My brain, for one, is a Black Box which I never open up, so I've no idea what wires go from where to where. If you told me, just for the sake of exercise, to do something with my right half only or my left half only, I wouldn't know how to go about switching off the other half!

Exactly. We don't consciously use the right side of the brain. We consciously try to develop skills which just happen to involve areas in the right half of the brain. Except maybe for a few people who decide to practice certain skills because they are "located" in the right (or maybe left) half, regardless of what other significance those skills might have in their lives.

 

Interestingly enough, when the corpus callosum (the bundle of nerves which constitute the major communication pathway between the right and left halves of the human brain) is severed, each half develops a complete, independent personality. I don't know if anyone has tried to study the relative strengths of "organization" and "creativity" in these rare "dividuals". (Ooh, I may have just coined a new term! They can't be "individuals", since they certainly are not "indivisible". ;))

 

Creativity/technicality: the very people whom we regard as the creative types - musicians, artists, writers - are all masters of a set of techniques, and spend a lot of time organising (their sounds, their shapes and colours, their words and ideas). On the other hand, engineers can be very creative - we then call them inventors.

Actually, many of them are also known as "artists" of various types, including "musicians". It is often said that a "surprising" number of scientists and engineers are also excellent musicians... so often that I'm surprised that anyone should find it surprising.

Brief linguistic digression: The word "engineer" seems to have different meanings in the US than in the UK. In the UK, "engineer" can mean someone who
operates
a machine, e.g., a metal lathe. In the US, the word "engineer" is generally used only for someone who
designs
machines. But fine musicians are found among both kinds.

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Can you do this trick?

"While sitting cross your right leg over your left.

Make clockwise circles with your right foot.

Now, while doing this, draw the number '6' in the air with your right hand."

I saw it on the One Show...Apparently they could only find drummers that could do it. Its all about left and right...and different parts of the brain or something.

 

 

I found that dead easy to my surprise. Does that mean I should give up the Anglo and turn to the drums. Mind you I found I was drooling from both sides of my mouth at the same time as I was on the level!

 

 

All those drummer jokes don't encourage me!

Edited by michael sam wild
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Actually, many of them [engineers] are also known as "artists" of various types, including "musicians". It is often said that a "surprising" number of scientists and engineers are also excellent musicians... so often that I'm surprised that anyone should find it surprising.

 

I think that most people who are competent at complex tasks of any kind are usually pretty well balanced along the axes Creative/Organised and Instinctive/Logical.

I fully approve of your use of inverted commas around "surprising". ;)

 

Brief linguistic digression: The word "engineer" seems to have different meanings in the US than in the UK. In the UK, "engineer" can mean someone who
operates
a machine, e.g., a metal lathe. In the US, the word "engineer" is generally used only for someone who
designs
machines. But fine musicians are found among both kinds.

Well, speaking as an Irish railway enthusiast, the names that come to mind when I think of English railway engineers would be George Stephenson and Thomas Telford. The only American railway engineer I can think of is Casey Jones (and he'd be only an "engine driver" in the UK). "Engineering" is a university course in the UK - so for me, an engineer is one of those people who are competent at complex tasks. Like lawyers, doctors, archaeologists, philosophers, philologists, physicists ...

(There are certainly balanced personalities among non-academics, too. And imbalanced academics ... like psychologists, for instance :P )

Cheers,

John

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...the names that come to mind when I think of English railway engineers would be George Stephenson and Thomas Telford ...

Not Thomas Telford (1757-1834)

Roads, bridges and canals, but not railways.

 

Edited to add:

The name I would think of for railways is George Hudson, the Railway King.

Edited by davidcorner
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Funny that this topic should come up now; I was in training yesterday with the district Occupational Therapist ( I teach Special Education ). The training involved a series of excercises that were designed to stimulate right brain/left brain integration. For my kids, is was mostly a lot of cross-body activities, reaching with r hand to l foot, ect. Pretty mild stuff, because the kids are, mostly, neurologically impaired in one way or another, and we're taking things step by step..

All this is based on the assumtion that left brain/ right brain concepts are valid and useful in teaching and learning.

My own experience in learning concertina is that, as the first time I'd learned an instrument that required two-handed coordination, it did seem to boost a general awareness of muscle sequences and mental planning that I'd not used well before.

Could be merely subjective, but I do feel that it has crossed over into other dexterity tasks as well.

Couldn't hurt, No?

RB

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My own experience in learning concertina is that, as the first time I'd learned an instrument that required two-handed coordination, it did seem to boost a general awareness of muscle sequences and mental planning that I'd not used well before.

Could be merely subjective, but I do feel that it has crossed over into other dexterity tasks as well.

Couldn't hurt, No?

Are there instruments that don't require hand-hand coordination - apart from brass instruments? There are different kinds of coordination, of course. On bowed and plucked strings, both hands combine to produce each single note. On keyboards and concertinas, the hands work separately, but in the same manner, and have to be coordinated. On accordions, the hands work coordinatedly in different ways. On woodwinds (of which I admittedly know only the tin whistle), the two hands have to pass the fingerings smoothly from one to the other - again, another form of hand-hand coordination (which I suppose applies to the EC as well, and to the Anglo when playing a melody "across the gap").

On the other hand, I can't think of many other activities, even sports, that require and promote a similar degree of hand-hand coordination, except typing.

Seems that the old bourgeois idea of giving children music lessons early on - whether they have the potential to excel or not - is not a bad one! Unfortunately, educationalists nowadays seem to overlook this obvious point (I'm glad that you seem to be an exception!), and music-making has become an individual privilege for children with enlightened parents. And with the funding for music schools being cut drastically (here in Germany at least), even these parents have difficulty getting music lessons for their children.

And let's not start on the person-person coordination that ensemble music demands and promotes ...

 

Cheers,

John

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Not Thomas Telford (1757-1834)

Roads, bridges and canals, but not railways.

David,

I was, of course, thinking of Telford's Menai Bridge, which is an essential part of the London-Holyhead railway line! :rolleyes:

Having said that, one of my most unforgettable holiday experiences was driving a narrow boat over his Poncysyllte Aqueduct, which dates from the pre-railway era.

 

Cheers,

John

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Not Thomas Telford (1757-1834)

Roads, bridges and canals, but not railways.

David,

I was, of course, thinking of Telford's Menai Bridge, which is an essential part of the London-Holyhead railway line! :rolleyes:

Having said that, one of my most unforgettable holiday experiences was driving a narrow boat over his Poncysyllte Aqueduct, which dates from the pre-railway era.

 

Cheers,

John

 

Staying OT for a moment.

 

Telford's Menai Bridge was and remained a road bridge. The railway bridge was designed by Stephenson. Unfortunately a fire fatally damaged Stephenson's bridge some years ago and it had to be replaced.

 

The railway engineer apart from the Stephensons whose name is well known by the general public I would suggest is Isambard Kingdom Brunel.

 

Geoff

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Are there instruments that don't require two-handed coordination...Well, at the time, the only instrument that I could play was the harmonica. I chose it precisely because of that fact.

 

I do have to agree with Jim, though: one can't seperate the two brain hemispheres clearly enough to assign actions soley to one place or the other. Take a look at Ramachandran's "Ghosts in the Brain" forainf about the placisity and "flowing" nature of how we work.

RB a

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