J is for Juxtaposition

Why? Because today I juxtapose another topic on top of merely listing our listening for the day.

Today is J. The hard thing about J is that many of my favorites are Js and I have to force myself *not* to listen to them while working on listening to more unfamiliar tunes. So...I must resist the pull of Josh Groban, Jack Johnson, John Mayer, and John Legend to spend quality time with Joshua Redman, Jimmy Dorsey, James Taylor, and yes, even Jessye Norman. I have Joshua Redman swirling his sax through my speakers write now...and it's goooooood.

I was thinking yesterday about what I am doing, potentially, to my brain with this delicious bounty of new music.

From Daniel Levitin's book This Is Your Brain on Music:

…Listening to music caused a cascade of brain regions to become activated in a particular order: first, auditory cortex for initial processing of the components of the sound. Then the frontal regions…that we previously identified as being involved in processing musical structure and expectations. Finally, a network of regions – the mesolimbic system – involved in arousal, pleasure, and the transmission of opiods and the production of dopamine, culminating in activation in the nucleus accumbens. And the cerebellum and basal ganglia were active throughout, presumably supporting the processing of rhythm and meter.

So...you might as well see yourself as pushing play on your brain as well as your iPod whenever you crank up the tunes. And the activity for new-to-you music is even more neurologically frenetic...

Trying to appreciate new music can be like contemplating a new friendship in that it takes time, and sometimes there is nothing you can do to speed it up. At a neural level, we need to be able to find a few landmarks in order to invoke a cognitive schema. If we hear a piece of radically new music enough times, some of that piece will eventually become encoded in our brains and we will develop landmarks.

I think of music and the brain like water wearing a path over the ground. We go so much more easily towards the established paths. That's why familiar music is so soothing. Why when we are stressed or distressed, reaching for favorite tunes is often a first-line response. Well-loved music boosts dopamine production in the brain, which is a guaranteed mood-lifter. But the unfamiliar? With unfamiliar music, there is that feeling of...awkward "Hey...do I know you? Can I let you in?" on an almost primal level. I've noticed that, even though I like what I'm listening to, I can feel a very slight level of anxiety that isn't there when I'm listening to music I have memorized. However, I know as "we" get to know each other...as my brain becomes accustomed to the melodic flow and knows better what to expect from each artist...I will be able to relax and enjoy the music even more than I do on first listen.

My point? Listening to new music is like a workout for the mind. I'm stretching my neurons in new directions. I'm forcing my grey matter to work at processing new sensations instead of simply stagnating with the routine. January is the time when many are working on pushing their bodies into new strength...don't forget to work your brain at the same time!