How to translate neural networks into characters: Neuroscience in "The Land of Sounding Colors"®

Music integrates many parts of the brain… you've heard this many times before, but in this article we want to share more specific information with you, which can transform the way you plan your sessions in the short and long term and how you evaluate your little ones. Furthermore, we want you to know how the story

“The Land of Sounding Colors”® has integrated this information to take advantage of it in a dynamic way through it's characters.

Studying each musical element separately, when we want to analyze its impact at a neuropsychological level, allows us to better understand how music works in the brain and how it is related to other capacities.

Break it into smaller pieces!

We know for a fact that brain damage can affect the way we perceive tones, while not affecting our ability to discriminate rhythms. (Ayotte et al. 2000, Li'egeois-Chauvel et al. 1998, Peretz 1990, Peretz & Kolinsky 1993, Piccirilli et al. 2000, Vignolo 2003). It is also true that our little ones in class can show strengths related to one element or ability but weaknesses in others, for example, excellent rhythm... poor intonation; or great capacity to imitate and memorize, but difficulties to improvise. That is why understanding these dissociations can open new doors for us when planning a class or program.

The processing of the different musical elements (rhythm, tone, sound qualities) occurs in different areas of the brain. Same goes for the different abilities related to music (reading, singing, improvising, imitating, etc.), But to create an efficient and complete education we want to attend to the “sub-elements” that make up each of these, since each one is attended by specialized areas... those are what we want to know so as not to leave any unattended in class!

Let's talk about pitch perception.

A sound entering the ear impacts the cochlea, midbrain, brainstem and, what we are interested in better understanding, the auditory cortex. The organization of pitches occurs both in the cochlea and in the auditory cortex, but a more detailed analysis, related to what we recognize as music, begins to happen in more specific areas. Do not worry about locating the brain areas that we will mention, focus on the musical sub-element so that you can integrate them into your planning following a sequence that is in harmony with the brain and the way it learns.

In "The Land of Sounding Colors", SVEN is in charge of gradually introducing the little ones to the world of melodies. Their progress follows a logic dictated by the different areas of the cortex that attend to each aspect of their learning. So let's find out what they are.

General analysis of the information

We start singing and relating to the perception of melodies. This general analysis occurs in the right temporal neocortex (Tramo et al. 2002).

Pitch changes

Pitch Height

Pitch Chroma

I now know all this different brain areas... ¿now what?

These skills we just mentioned will be the basis for being able to analyze melodies (something that we should definitely develop carefully in a music class). To be able to draw or represent what happens in a melody, SVEN attends to two separate approaches (try taking a similar path!)

Recognize melodic contours

This refers to the abstract "drawing" that a melody forms when rising or falling. Many people are able to discriminate a contour even though the notes they sing are not correct. This is the case of people we call "out of tune" - we can discriminate the essential idea of ​​the song they sing, but the notes are not exact. The right superior temporal gyrus is highly involved in this capacity (Ayotte et al. 2000, Li'egeois-Chauvel et al. 1998, Peretz 1990, Vignolo 2003).

Recognize Intervals

All of these integrations begin to happen very early in childhood. (Balaban et al. 1998) and it is these relationships between tones that allow a particular scale to be evoked, for which it is essential to be able to recognize a “tonic” tone or note as a base in relation to which the rest of the scale is built. There are cases in which if this area is damaged or weak, the listener is able to differentiate tones but not discriminate a tonal center (Peretz 1993), which affects, among other things, their ability to memorize melodies. It remains unknown, however, where the neural networks specialized in scale processing are located.

In this matter, the musical pedagogy of India, which is such an important part of "The Land of Sounding Colors" music program, allows us to work very focused and efficiently to develop this capacity to the fullest.

When should I introduce HARMONY?

The perception of tonal relationships in chords seems to operate under the same principles that we have mentioned, but the acquisition of this capacity seems to emerge later in development (Trainor & Trehub 1992). By the age of five, the degree of harmonic adequacy of the chord progression appears to be assimilated, studies indicate (Koelsch et al. 2003). That is why “The Land of Sounding Colors” focuses on musical development via melody, while the “Color Defenders” program (aimed at children ages 7 and up) takes care of the introduction to Western harmony principles.

Finally, the inferior frontal cortex (in both hemispheres, corresponding to Broca's area on the left) is involved when deviations from harmonic expectations are perceived (example: we expect to hear a chord or sensation and another is presented to us, which we call " deceptive resolution”).

You still haven't told me how to plan my classes using this information...

Presenting activities that focus on working each of these in an "isolated" way allows us to offer an organized activation of different areas. Understanding each of these as a specific element to work on will feed our ability to generate a good number of activities that cater to different learning styles, different tastes and interests, and more.

Since we are glad that your interest has taken you to the end of this article, we want to leave you with a surprise: write an email to contact@pakindamusik.com mentioning the title of the article and what has interested you the most about this information and we will offer you a period of free access to our program so that you can learn about activities that apply this knowledge.

It is important to mention that for now we have only taken tone analysis as an example, but the same principle extends to other elements and capabilities. If this article has aroused your curiosity, write to us to obtain more information about other musical elements (rhythm, sound qualities) and other areas of human development (memory, perception, emotions, cognition, creativity, etc).