"Musical Minds"

Did anyone happen to see the Nova program last night about neurologist Oliver Sacks' case studies about how the brain reacts to music? Fascinating stuff.
One part that I found most interesting was the differences shown on a functional MRI when Sacks was listening to Bach as opposed to when he was listening to Beethoven. For many people, the pieces of music would have been so similar as to have not had any differing effect. However, the plan was for him to indicate with an electronic instrument when he felt most emotionally pleased, which happened to be during the Bach, and when he was least pleased, which was during the Beethoven. By his own description, it was not that the Beethoven was displeasing - it just left him "flat". When they showed the brain scans during those musical segments, the Bach brain was lit up like a Christmas tree and the Beethoven brain was not lit up at all - it was very flat!
One point made was that it does seem that people's brains actually can be "deaf" to pitch, or rhythm, or melody, or other musical attributes - that it is not necessarily just something that was a lack of environmental stimulation. It is all in the wiring. Some truly can't hear pitch differences no matter what, or feel a rhythm enough to dance to it, or be able to hear the intervals in a melody well enough to recognize or reproduce it. I know, of course, that there is plenty of evidence to this, but as an educator, I always wanted to think that if a child were exposed to music early enough, the "wiring" could be affected in some way. Actually, I think I will still choose to believe that to some degree, but the research at least provides plenty of insight for an abundance of patience!

Deja Vu

Earlier this week I was asked to field a mass e-mail request for 300-400 coffee cans for an art project for July 4th. The former preschool teacher in me giggled. Preschool teachers hoard these items over months, knowing that they have a special craft rolling around some week for which they will need these sacred objects. Preschool teachers, in fact, hoard everything. Their garages are full of recyclables that "surely could be used for something someday". Their brains are in imaginative overdrive... always. So the idea of coming up with 300-400 coffee cans in two weeks' time I found, uh, funny.
Now, I confess that as a music teacher, I had a special interest in Folgers plastic coffee containers. Bright red, came in several different sizes so that you could store them inside of each other, they stacked well, and they made great drums. Better in some ways than the ones you ordered from school music instrument sites - those drums that caved in the minute one overly energetic, or perhaps, overly devious 4-year-old decided that he wanted to see exactly how loudly it would play.
Ah, fond memories. Giggle, giggle.
Actually, yes they are fond, and though I have given away or thrown out most of my hoarded materials at this point, I do still have all of my lesson plans, the outlines to my workshops, and the notes on child development and musical development so someday I will share bits of that here and label it boldly so that if it doesn't interest you, you can just skip along and read something else. Fair enough? There may be some struggling teachers out there wishing for ways to integrate required music elements into their NAEYC accreditation wish lists. Education is about passing along the knowledge wherever you are.