bobby mcferrin hax yr brain

i love this, made me grin like a kipper

[vimeo]5732745[/vimeo]

interesting analysis here

that's so awesome, kaini, thanks for sharing!

cool!

i like the old white guys in the back.

an interesting point i saw raised is that bobby is a happy cheerful jumpy-about sort of bloke... and the audience decided by themselves to choose the major third.

if he'd been a less animated, more sombre type or a goth would they have gravitated to the minor third instead?

  On 8/2/2009 at 11:00 PM, kaini said:

an interesting point i saw raised is that bobby is a happy cheerful jumpy-about sort of bloke... and the audience decided by themselves to choose the major third.

if he'd been a less animated, more sombre type or a goth would they have gravitated to the minor third instead?

you're on to something there buddy boy

Speaking of music and neuroscience, it's actually a mystery as to how musicians can sight-read music.

very nice thanks

  On 8/2/2009 at 11:07 PM, Braintree said:

Speaking of music and neuroscience, it's actually a mystery as to how musicians can sight-read music.

what?

  On 8/2/2009 at 11:10 PM, GORDO said:

  On 8/2/2009 at 11:07 PM, Braintree said:

Speaking of music and neuroscience, it's actually a mystery as to how musicians can sight-read music.

 

what?

don't worry, be happy.

  On 8/2/2009 at 11:07 PM, Braintree said:

Speaking of music and neuroscience, it's actually a mystery as to how musicians can sight-read music.

Is it really? Where'd you read that?

That was awesome. Bobby is awesome.

i love when he does the star jump and the entire audience's collective brain short-circuits

  On 8/2/2009 at 11:32 PM, Lascaille said:

  On 8/2/2009 at 11:07 PM, Braintree said:

Speaking of music and neuroscience, it's actually a mystery as to how musicians can sight-read music.

 

Is it really? Where'd you read that?

One of my professors in college told me about it. We know how the information is interpreted in the brain, but not how the brain functions in real time while you're playing.

It's a phenomenon.

  On 8/3/2009 at 12:54 AM, Braintree said:

  On 8/2/2009 at 11:32 PM, Lascaille said:

  On 8/2/2009 at 11:07 PM, Braintree said:

Speaking of music and neuroscience, it's actually a mystery as to how musicians can sight-read music.

 

Is it really? Where'd you read that?

 

One of my professors in college told me about it. We know how the information is interpreted in the brain, but not how the brain functions in real time while you're playing.

 

It's a phenomenon.

why is it different to reading? or following in real time a set of instrucitions?

  On 8/3/2009 at 1:06 AM, GORDO said:

why is it different to reading? or following in real time a set of instrucitions?

Exactly what I was thinking. Sure it requires a bit more dexterity and knowledge but it's still basically the same....

  On 8/3/2009 at 1:06 AM, GORDO said:

  On 8/3/2009 at 12:54 AM, Braintree said:

  On 8/2/2009 at 11:32 PM, Lascaille said:

  On 8/2/2009 at 11:07 PM, Braintree said:

Speaking of music and neuroscience, it's actually a mystery as to how musicians can sight-read music.

 

Is it really? Where'd you read that?

 

One of my professors in college told me about it. We know how the information is interpreted in the brain, but not how the brain functions in real time while you're playing.

 

It's a phenomenon.

 

why is it different to reading? or following in real time a set of instrucitions?

Because it's reading in combination with complicated muscle movement. Your brain is reading, interpreting, hearing, and reacting all in microseconds. I'm not talking about sight-reading in the way that you get a minute to look it over, I'm talking about someone throwing music in front of you that you've never seen before and you just start playing. No time to look it over.

  On 8/2/2009 at 11:07 PM, Braintree said:

Speaking of music and neuroscience, it's actually a mystery as to how musicians can sight-read music.

Well, OK, but most of the things our brains do are still a mystery as far as science is concerned.

Its a mystery as to how people experience consciousness.

Its a mystery as to how how free will works, or whether it even exists.

Its a mystery as to how memories are stored (we know some rough details)

Its a mystery as to how language is understood (we know roughly which lumps of neurons are involved, no idea how they do it)

Its a mystery as to how imagination works

A musician sight-reading and playing music is equally as myserious as someone driving a car, although perhaps more refined. Put in a load of real-time stimuli that the person has learnt to process, and watch them do all the right muscle movements. We can explain the big picture, but we have no idea how any of it actually happens in fully-integrated detail. So yeah, its a mystery in that sense of the word.

but the muscle-movement varies. when playing a stringed instrument, your left and right hands are doing very different things - when playing a keyed instrument, they're usually doing the same thing. i think it's more concerned with mapping complex visual information mentally into sound (audiation). the muscle-movement is a secondary thing which follows from the audiation, but requires the audiation to happen.

what bobby is doing here is a very simple audiation. places on stage = tones in the pentatonic scale. what is marvellous and interesting is that the audience seems to be able to supply a lot of the tonal information themselves, given a place to start.

  On 8/3/2009 at 1:32 AM, kaini said:

but the muscle-movement varies ...

Its an impressive feat, I agree, but its no more flabbergasting that hundreds of other things our brains do every day that we can't explain.

  On 8/3/2009 at 1:22 AM, Braintree said:

Because it's reading in combination with complicated muscle movement.

Isn't that pretty similar to reading something out loud - your throat, mouth and tongue muscle movements are a pretty complex thing...

Um, I thought musicians looked ahead a bit when sight-reading. While they're playing one note, they're preparing for the next one.

His acap performances during that are really great as well, a treat to watch and listen to. Thanks!

  On 8/3/2009 at 1:57 AM, mcbpete said:

  On 8/3/2009 at 1:22 AM, Braintree said:

Because it's reading in combination with complicated muscle movement.

Isn't that pretty similar to reading something out loud - your throat, mouth and tongue muscle movements are a pretty complex thing...

Not really, because a bunch of those muscle movements are involuntary. Everything about sight-reading music is a voluntary muscle movement.

  On 8/3/2009 at 2:20 AM, Rabid said:

Um, I thought musicians looked ahead a bit when sight-reading. While they're playing one note, they're preparing for the next one.

Yeah. Don't you guys realize how complicated and amazing this is?