Results for "The Art and Science of Jazz"
Where in the Brain Does Creativity Come from? Evidence from Jazz Musicians
by AAJ Staff
According to a popular view, creativity is a product of the brain's right hemisphere--innovative people are considered “right-brain thinkers" while “left-brain thinkers" are thought to be analytical and logical. Neuroscientists who are skeptical of this idea have argued that there is not enough evidence to support this idea and an ability as complex as human creativity ...
Thelonious Monk Inside Out: A Fresh Perspective On His Music
by Victor L. Schermer
Over the years, Thelonious Monk has resided in our collective minds and hearts like the extra-terrestrial “E.T." or Holden Caulfield from Catcher in the Rye, or some such alien figure whom we don't fully understand yet love and enjoy. His music shocks and disturbs us, yet we take great pleasure in it like a jolting ride ...
Access for People with Disabilities at Jazz Venues: What is really missing
by Hrayr Attarian
A few months ago I asked an acquaintance who is also a jazz fan if he was going to attend a much anticipated concert at a local club. He told me that, alas, he was not because his life partner, who uses a wheelchair, could not navigate the venue. I was surprised as I thought the ...
The Healing Power of Music: Can Jazz Repair a Damaged Brain? The case of trumpeter Louis Smith
by Hrayr Attarian
The title above is not an abstract statement or a philosophical question. Hence, what follows is not a speculative or metaphysical piece. It is an evaluation of the concrete, experimental data on the merits of music therapy in the treatment of brain injury, particularly one due to a stroke. A stroke or a cerebrovascular accident (CVA) ...
Medical History Blues: The Curious Case of Jake.
by Hrayr Attarian
Historians and scholars of medical humanities mine the (mostly) Western literary classics for the first descriptions of illnesses we have now categorized and studied. But why not explore popular culture as a historical source as well? Can art forms like the blues--the progenitor of jazz and other modern musical forms--contain also clues to medical mysteries of ...
On Blind Tom, Essence of Creativity, Autism and Jazz
by Hrayr Attarian
It is safe to assume, that today, Blind Tom Wiggins (AKA Bethune) is not a household name. In the mid to late 19th century, and into the first decade of the 20th, however, Blind Tom was a phenomenon who some named the Eighth Wonder. Although no contemporary physician made the actual diagnosis of autism, it is ...
All Jazzed Up: Looking for a Jazz Center Within the Folds of the Brain
by Hrayr Attarian
Music is a universal phenomenon across all human cultures both past and present. In that respect it is much like language, and as the understanding of language comes naturally to humans, so, too, does appreciation of music. Language has been mapped to distinct areas of the brain for well over a century, and relatively recently there ...
Motivation
by Chuck Anderson
Motivation is the moving force behind anyone's activity. There is a complex set of forces which move anyone to do anything. It is no less complex for the musician. I bring this up not to point out differences between musicians and “laymen," but rather to point out the inherent similarities. Musicians, like anyone ...
The Student Performer Cycle
by Chuck Anderson
Every musician is at once a student and a performer. In each role, the musician explores and hopefully expands. The efficiency of progress for the student often suffers because of his inability to clearly see the differences between his own roles as student and performer.The attitude of the student must essentially be one of ...
Dennis Sandole and Guitar Lore
by Chuck Anderson
Guitar Lore by Dennis Sandole was not originally published by Theodore Presser. I published the book and distributed it through my school Modern Music Studios Inc. A second edition paperback was published later by Pressers.There has always been controversy about the origins of the book. Dennis had conceived and organized this material long before ...
