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Musicality

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The Science of How Music Enchants the Brain, Animated. The science of music: Same old song. Is popular music becoming sadder? Nathalie Miebach: sculpture. How to Listen to Music: A Vintage Guide to the 7 Essential Skills. By Maria Popova “Respond esthetically to all sounds, from the hum of the refrigerator motor or the paddling of oars on a lake, to the tones of a cello or muted trumpet.” Music has a powerful grip on our emotional brain. It can breathe new life into seemingly lifeless minds. But if there is indeed no music instinct, music — not just its creation, but also its consumption — must be an acquired skill.

How, then, do we “learn” music beyond merely understanding how it works? How do we “learn” to “listen” to music, something that seems so fundamental we take it for granted? From the wonderful vintage book Music: Ways of Listening, originally published in 1982, comes this outline of the seven essential skills of perceptive listening, which author and composer Elliott Schwartz argues have been “dulled by our built-in twentieth-century habit of tuning out” and thus need to be actively developed. Develop your sensitivity to music. Donating = Loving Brain Pickings has a free weekly newsletter. Processing of Musical Chords in the Human Brain Studied with fMRI (dissertation) 5 Artists You Should Know In 2011. The hits just keep on coming — so much excellent music rolls out each week that it can be hard just to keep up.

In 2011, Bon Iver, Wilco, Raphael Saadiq, The Decemberists, Gillian Welch, Tinariwen, Elbow, Tom Waits and Fleet Foxes all met high expectations. Shabazz Palaces, James Blake and Wild Flag dropped highly anticipated debuts that lived up to the advance buzz. Charles Bradley came out of nowhere, stripping his heart and soul bare on his debut album (No Time for Dreaming) at age 61.

And legendary funk guitarist Dennis Coffey descended from cloud nine and a 20-year hiatus to lay down some wicked new original tracks. In 2011, even with more outlets than ever for discovering and sharing new music, it's nearly impossible for even the most dedicated music lover to keep up. Musical DNA' Turns Music Lessons Into 3D Light Show.