bobby mcferrin hax yr brain

  On 8/2/2009 at 11:30 PM, zazen said:

  On 8/2/2009 at 9:07 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.

My thoughts exactly.

  On 8/3/2009 at 3:04 AM, Braintree said:

  On 8/2/2009 at 11:57 PM, mcbpete said:

  On 8/2/2009 at 11:22 PM, 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 12:20 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?

When you read anything you are also reading ahead.

More interesting (or amazing) to me is muscle memory, how you hands seems to memorize how to play a piece of music. I think's that's alot more mysterious than developing a skill.

  On 8/2/2009 at 9:00 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?

heh ... i also like how at the end they got lost when he was going up in thirds ... or maybe i got lost whatever .. been up for over a day now .,..

  On 8/2/2009 at 11:17 PM, mcbpete said:

  On 8/2/2009 at 11:06 PM, 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....

pretty much .. like driving .. motor functions being taken care of by your subconscious leaving your conscious mind to plan ahead a little .. 'oh ok, i'm gonna play that next line like this ..blah dee blah' ...

if you are saying that they haven't figured out the exact mechanism in the brain that gives rise to future planning or what have you ..well that's fine .. but to call sight readin a phenomenon is a little much given that so many other features of human activity work along similar lines ...

yanoe

  On 8/2/2009 at 11:30 PM, zazen said:

  On 8/2/2009 at 9:07 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.

oh ok .. i should havge just quoted this .. but i do get worked up by this and that as i progress through a thread .. so have to post whilst the iron is hot .. (soez i can shove it up someone's rectum for maximum damage) ..

it takes a master to sight read and play at the same time. Its like real hard

  On 8/3/2009 at 12:20 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.

the trick to sight reading well is not too look at the notes, look at the phrase as a whole, absorb its keys and nuances as an entire entity, not a collection of seperate notes.

  On 8/3/2009 at 8:01 PM, messiaen said:

  On 8/3/2009 at 12:20 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.

 

the trick to sight reading well is not too look at the notes, look at the phrase as a whole, absorb its keys and nuances as an entire entity, not a collection of seperate notes.

as with everything .. it's about practise ..