I read this article in Scientific American about a girl with musicophobia: she had seizures in response to music. And not just any music – only music she liked. Music she didn’t like (jazz, classical) had no effect. Partially because music is basically unavoidable in urban life (stores, ring tones, street musicians, etc) she chose to have brain surgery to remove the part of her brain where the seizures started. She ended up able to listen to whatever music she liked – but I wonder if her enjoyment had changed?
It got me thinking about what life would be like if you had to avoid music – or at least choose to live without it. What if music couldn’t be part of your life? I’m sure there are plenty of people for whom this wouldn’t be a challenge. They are either disinterested or passive consumers of music. For me it would be devastating. Would something else replace that near euphoric high of that perfect combination of sounds? What else could really feel so good? Sometimes I wonder if that’s the feeling people who are athletes or runners talk about. The release of endorphins or serotonin or dopamine or whatever feel-good neurotransmitter it happens to be that causes that high. And does every person have that something? I know I’ve felt it in plenty of different situations – music just happens to be the one that’s easiest to control and replicate. I can’t make someone fall in love with me, I can’t count on excelling at any specific task. Music, however, is always there.
In This is Your Brain on Music, Daniel Levitin discusses how music stimulates the entire brain diffusely, while most processing tasks are focused in one specific region of the brain. I’m still working my way through the book, but this concept makes sense to me. Music really does, more than anything else, seem to work it’s way through the entire mind; I’ve used the phrase “bathing every neuron” before. Even better, sometimes it works its way down to your heart. It’s a reliable high.
Today’s high courtesy of Coldplay’s “Strawberry Swing.”
