Music on my Mind

This year, Christmas was especially musical in our home. My daughter got an electric guitar and my son an electric bass. And we all exchanged various musical CDs.
For me, though, this was an especially retro holiday season. I decided to buy myself a nice new turntable, even though new LPs are rarely produced any more. In my basement there are thousands of LPs I accumulated during the 60s, 70s, and early 80s. My children recently took an interest in the rock and roll vinyl. They still sound great. The new turntable also has given me the opportunity to listen to some obscure 20th century classical and jazz albums I had collected but not played for decades.
With music on my mind, I was interested in a New Year's Eve New York Times article about the relationship of music and the human mind. It focused on the work of Daniel Levitin, a musician, record producer, and cognitive psychologist. He directs the McGill University Laboratory of Music Perception, Cognition, and Expertise. He also is the author of a new book, titled "This Is Your Brain on Music."
The key questions on Levitin's mind are why music plays such an important role in our lives, and how our brains function to make music so memorable and emotional. He believes that by understanding music we will better appreciate essential aspects of being human. He thinks that music can reveal the "deepest mysteries of human nature."
Levitin's research has shown that music activates and coordinates many different areas of the brain involved in pleasure and emotion. Music even stimulates the more primitive structures at the base of the brain that coordinate movement and the perception of the body's position in space. Maybe that's why music and dance are almost inseparable.
It's no surprise, then, that music can be therapeutic. Many people have discovered on their own that they can feel better by playing their favorite "comfort music." Music therapy is used in many settings, from inpatient units for the criminally insane to outpatient senior programs. It has been shown to help people communicate, move, and think better. There are music therapy programs for people of all ages and abilities.
My daughter listens to music constantly. She says, "Music is amazing. I don't know why, but I just love it!" She's not alone, of course. We may not all enjoy or respond the same way to the same music, but for all of us, our deepest feelings may only be plumbed by some kind of music.