46 Comments

Ted my personal experience as an artist tells me that there is even more to it during the creative process and it doesn't need to forcibly be something that happens just with music but with other artistic disciplines as well. I call it "The Materialisation Of The Abstract Form".

I'm slowly putting into words what I mean by that in my "Lower Иotes" publication.

Please give it a read. I think there is much to explore in what I'm presenting and I would be definitely very pleased for the opportunity to discuss it with you.

Many thanks, Daniel

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Hey, how did you get that backward "N"? Is that somewhere in Unicode?

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Ted - this chapter is so mind provoking. When I play piano at a dementia center, I see patients who can’t recognize their own children sing along to “Over the Rainbow.” They instantly groove to the “Take Five” riff. The fun part is when I ask “What song do you want to hear next?” And sometime invariably says “How about ‘Over the Rainbow!’ “ - which I had just played.

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Heartwarming ❤️

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The Gould Bach has made my day -- a hundredfold. How beautiful and uncanny.

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This article may be your most brilliant yet...at least since I've been reading your blog ;-). I too was captivated by the Bolte Taylor TED talk. I too am fascinated by the brain hemisphere integration required for music performance.

The context that presents this most clearly is when sight-transposing. I find that notes (symbols-- right brain) transpose easily, whereas chord notation (left brain) takes extra effort.

You are right on the money with the stuff they don't teach you in music school. Despite being a conservatory graduate (and 2001 alum of the year ;-) I am totally with you regarding the state of today's musician. Clearly we must bring more to the table!

I'm presenting a course called Metaphysics of Music at Las Cuevas del Ilaló, in Ecuador, next August. The objective is to present precisely the type of approach you are recommending.

Today's professional musician is between a rock and a hard place, caught between an era of changing paradigms. Most are still trying to fit into the old paradigm that no longer exists. But the new paradigm is yet to be born. And this is why we must create it. Now.

Thanks Ted.

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I am ENJOYING this so very much! I read almost everything I can about neuroscience and music. My own health journey has been made so much better with time, treatment and MUSIC as an everyday occurrence. Your word skills promise more excitement to come.

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I came across this late, and have to jump in to praise you, Ted, on how you have synthesized and shared this.

There are large ramifications for how we have enabled this Left/Right split to widen, and how the left brain analytics have absorbed not just business and technology, but how society and media have come to compartmentalize culture and the liberal arts.

On the opposite side of the divide, immersive cultural and even political activities drive into passion and some sort of transcendence that can be free of facts or critical analysis.

We need both sides of our brain to craft a holistic life. Our current society and systems of living and government are struggling with "both" and in the process, struggling with the ability to support peace and joy.

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I've been listening to McGhilchrist talk about these hemispherical differences lately, so this piece landed perfectly with me. Thanks!

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Thank you for this Ted. I'm going to dig into this. This validates so many experiences that I have had.

I never really knew why, when I get behind my drum kit, it feels like the first time...

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Oh man I love this. So glad I found you here Ted! 🙏 🎶

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As a scientist I know the importance of left sided thinking. It wasn’t until mid to late career that I realized that numbers and facts alone are not enough to move science forward. The right side is critical to the creativity needed to be a scientist. I am an advocate for STEM, but I am also and advocate for the arts (music, art, literature etc.) as part of a STEM program.

You are onto something Ted!

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So. Much. Good. Stuff. Here. Thanks for this fascinating read. Will need to sift through it again.

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> Somebody needed to bring Ted back to reality and pronto.

Haha, not me! I love that mystical woo-woo stuff. But the science part is interesting too :-)

Really, this is thoroughly fascinating. Eager for the next installment!

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This is another gem. Thank you, Ted!

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Amen! How we all SOOOO need this, thanks!

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" . . . the constant critiquing, judging, arguing, verbalizing, nitpicking—now permeate every sphere of public and private life."

Yes, this perfectly describes the characteristics of "asocial media" that comprise the Internet. And it's not simply the Schadenfreude of the "content" there, it's more mechanical (and invidious) than that. Consider the discursive nature of typing in those little "tweets" and other messages.

Totally different, and at odds with–I aver, the holistic way we experience music, love, joy, etc.

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STEM at the expense of the humanities. It is now possible to get a degree from the University of Alabama without taking any courses in the humanities.

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Couldn't agree more. This is an essential point that needs to be in the top of the agenda. I myself am a physicist and a man of numbers but STEM isn't what will bring the human beings to the next stage of development. We need to develop our senses in every possible way specially intuition if we want to be able to survive. That's also implicitly included in what I wrote in my main comment to this article. There's much to say about this topic. Thank you very much Ted for leading the way...

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Good scientists have a lot of knowledge, great scientists combine that with wisdom. These are attributes of our two hemispheres. I live with a good scientist, and she is never wrong, an attribute of the left hemisphere. I don't necessarily care.

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