Comments on: Think Different: Musicians’ Brains

By: Hippie Chick

Hippie Chick — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 23:20:00 +0000

“What they found was that “large areas of the brain responsible for monitoring ones own behavior” all but shut down — which helps explain both guitar face, and the lack of inhibition that “in the zone” musicians seem to experience.”

Finally…someone’s able to explain my ex…LOL!

By: Stevie

Stevie — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 18:06:00 +0000

Interesting article. My husband and I are both musicians and live in an area when the musician population seems to flourish. We spend time jamming with our friends on a weekly basis. Many of the people in our group of friends are extremely talented musicians, however, not one of us reads music. We simply determine the key the music is being played in and go from there. Based on our festival travels, this seems to be a popular method for a lot of musicians since you can’t carry 20 books of sheet music with you wherever you go. So I wonder where we stand? Perhaps this is an idea for another study…

By: Alli

Alli — Sun, 12 Oct 2008 02:16:00 +0000

*wanders in*

Actually, part of the reason musicians, especially guitar players, make faces is because of overflow. Specifically, the the parts of the brain where the nerve signals from the hands and mouth wind up are next to each other. When most of us do something requiring concentration/intense focus with our hands, the messages often overflow to the mouth area. Tis why many people stick out their tongues when writing; overflow.

By: tona b.

tona b. — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 01:04:00 +0000

Great article! Increasingly, science proves music to be more than just a fluffy human by-product!

Amy D. – The 10% brain thing is a myth. (No biggie; I used to think the same thing too, but what a relief, no?) Check it on Snopes!

By: jabsonik

jabsonik — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 10:01:46 +0000

But duuuude, surely you don’t read _notes_ when playing rock’n'rollah?

By: Dayna

Dayna — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 20:02:43 +0000

My boyfriend will love this article! My friends and I are Phish fans, and love the ‘autistic’ face that Trey makes while jamming, the better the face the better the jam

By: Matt Soniak

Matt Soniak — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 20:01:32 +0000

Awesome post. Glad to see that first study get some more attention, it’s one of the coolest experiments done this year. My name links to a write-up of the study I did when the research was published.

By: the creature

the creature — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 18:37:16 +0000

i just read B. B. King’s autobiography (very interesting read, btw). he says that one of his wives used to call him “Ol’ Lemon Face” due to the faces he would make while playing.

By: Marty

Marty — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 17:36:06 +0000

Now I know why I can’t read sheet music and play at the same time. It’s because just because I play music doesn’t mean I am a musician.

By: Amy D

Amy D — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 17:03:35 +0000

As a musician myself, I concur with these studies. It’s been said that the average person uses 10% of their brain (at any one time, if your whole brain was functioning all at once, you’d be experiencing a grand mal seizure), but musicians use 20% of their brain whilst performing.