BAY AREA VOCAL IMPROVISATION & COMMUNITY MUSIC
  • UPCOMING EVENTS
  • Contact
  • About Renée
  • Blog

What Shall We Do Without Us?

Picture
May 2017

​I read on the internet to gather some of this info. I love my iphone, I enjoy facebook, and I work on my computer a lot of the time. Now some of my music is scanned into my computer and youtube is a good ol’ friend. Yah, all this technology is super helpful with
my process as a musician fo sho!
 
But I don’t have to tell you that we are crazy knee deep into technology in a way that sometimes keeps us from connections with others. The level of entertainment, curiosity fulfillment, and time wasting available online is beyond measurable. The gift of this for me is that I massively value sitting in front of a friend eating a meal or sharing a cup of tea. I am happy when I am in a dance class and I get to laugh and connect with others. When I am in nature being with the silence and natural sounds, I feel my cup is full. And I am elated when I get to be in a circle singing with others!
 
No mater what has happened that day, that week, I get a massive recharge. My endorphins start to dance and the happy thang comes over me. Because I am getting to look in your eyes, feel the spirit of your song, or dance and laugh with you.
 
So, checking out your connections on facebook is fun, but have you thought about the neural connections you are reinforcing in your brain when you are making music?
 
“It’s really hard to come up with an experience similar to that” as an education intervention, said Gottfried Schlaug, the director of the Music and Neuroimaging Laboratory at Harvard Medical School. Not only does it require attention and coordination of multiple senses, but it often triggers emotions, involves cooperation with other people, and provides immediate feedback to the student on progress, he said. Music, on its own, has also been shown to trigger the reward area of the brain, he noted. [1]
 
So, my dears…it appears that coming together to do activities with other humans is becoming one of the basic needs for nervous system regulation and perhaps the survival of our relationships.
 
Stay with us, we are here…
 
Art by Kenneth Patchen

[1] Published in Print: Education Week
November 25, 2013
Studies Highlight Brain Benefits From Music Training
Vol. 33, Issue 13, Page 6

 

super sing sunday!

1/30/2018

0 Comments

 
Hey, hay!
 
I love it when BAVI lands on Super Bowl Sunday because it reminds me of the wonderful research in Daniel J. Levitin’s book “This Is Your Brain On Music”, where he shares that scientists discovered that making music stimulates more parts of the brain than any other activity. No concussion either, what a deal!
 
But seriously, in this time when we are all thinking more about brain function as we age, I encourage all of us to enjoy listening to music you love AND move beyond listening and observing music, to making music.
 
Whether it is singing or an instrument of some kind, the process involved in creating music is deeply engaging your Corpus Collosum (bilateral communication), the Auditory Cortex (listens to sounds and analyzes tones), the Nucleus Accumbens and the Amygdala (involved with emotional reactions to music) along with many other functions.
 
When you are in a circle together with others singing and inventing sounds/music this turns up the learning curve a notch as you engage making decisions in the moment, taking risks, and taking the oldest and most amazing natural anti-depressant: Being in a non-hierarchal circle where people are rooting for each other. Delicious sustenance.
 
I am extremely happy to announce that Bay Area Vocal Improv will be one of the presenters at this year’s “Brain Fitness Forum” at the San Francisco Jewish Community center on June 10, 2018.
 
Stay tuned here as more information gets posted:
 
bit.ly/2BzYeMO
 
Let’s jam peeps!
 
See you soon,
 
Renee
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Picture
  • UPCOMING EVENTS
  • Contact
  • About Renée
  • Blog