Brain Singing!

**hadassahchana**[$] · #1 11-20-2005, 11:29 AM

After my brain injury, I could no longer read music, nor could I stand to listen to classical music, except for single-instrument pices. Markham sent me a set of Bach violin partitas and unaccompanied cell sonatas, and they were a real challenge to try and make sense of. Symphonies just sounded like a mess of noise with no perceivable melody or pattern of any kind.

Anyway, that is the same year I bought the Horsemen a karaoke machine for a gift, and I found that singing along, although really hard at first, also really seemed to make it possible for me to concentrate afterward, and it also made it easier to talk for short periods after (at first, I couldn't really hold a conversation, it was just too hard).

Well, I just found this link about this very thing:

Brain Singing

I think this is so cool! It also really ties in with the discussion we've been having about how children learn in the 'kid lit' thread- music really isn't a frivolous extra in school, or oughtn't to be.

Cindy

**taurusmoon** · #2 11-20-2005, 11:36 AM

Fascinating. Even more so, since you're living proof.

Way cool indeed!

**slick4591**[$] · #3 11-20-2005, 11:44 AM

Quote:

Symphonies just sounded like a mess of noise with no perceivable melody or pattern of any kind.

You don't have to have a brain injury for this to be true.

**hadassahchana**[$] · #4 11-20-2005, 01:18 PM

Quote:

slick4591 said

You don't have to have a brain injury for this to be true.

Hmmm. I'd almost guess that you aren't an opera fan, either.

Cindy

erik_kosberg · #5 11-20-2005, 01:50 PM

I’m probably not the only on here who saw the title of this thread as Brian Singing! and hoped for a link to an Igo MP3.

**hadassahchana**[$] · #6 11-20-2005, 02:07 PM

Oh< Brian knows some really good songs. Just ask my boys.

Cindy

**mjfrombuffalo**[$] · #7 11-20-2005, 03:51 PM

I thought it said "Brian Singing" too, so when I started reading about classical music, I was briefly perplexed.

**slick4591**[$] · #8 11-20-2005, 07:34 PM

Quote:

hadassahchana said

Hmmm. I'd almost guess that you aren't an opera fan, either.

Cindy

No reason to guess, Cindy. Opera sucks! Went to a play one time too, but that was back in the 6th grade. Woulda asked for my money back but it was fourth period and was free.

**theworm**[$] · #9 11-20-2005, 11:03 PM

Brian was just singing in the car! We were driving back from the Keys.
I can send CDs or MP3s to anyone on request - and yes - he does know some great songs!

Cindy - very very cool!
I, too, am not a fan of Opera. More of a ballet type.

cristina1 · #10 11-20-2005, 11:24 PM

I heard that singing can help people who stutter. I find it very interesting.

**theworm**[$] · #11 11-20-2005, 11:25 PM

Most people with a bad stutter can sing beautifully. I'ver heard its because of the different mechanisms that the brain uses to "create" speach rather than to sing. It's fascinating.

**hadassahchana**[$] · #12 11-20-2005, 11:33 PM

Acting can do the same for a stutterer. I had a terrible stutter in jr. high, and for some reason when auditions were announced for drama club, I signed up. Even the teacher gasped when I showed up to audition, but my stutter never showed up once on stage. Of course, afterward at the cast party, I couldn't put two words together, but I had a wonderful time in the plays.

Cindy

**theworm**[$] · #13 11-21-2005, 09:57 AM

I saw Christopher Reeve speak once (pre-accident) and was very suprised that he had a quite noticeable stutter. Acting and singing use different mechanisms - you are recounting - not creating ideas.

**lynnzop**[$] · #14 11-21-2005, 11:13 AM

Quote:

hadassahchana said

I think this is so cool! It also really ties in with the discussion we've been having about how children learn in the 'kid lit' thread- music really isn't a frivolous extra in school, or oughtn't to be.

Cindy

Amen.

One of the downers of public school is that if a child is getting poor grades in acedemics, they aren't allowed to participate in elective classes like art or music, even if they are excelling in those classes.

I've always been of the mind that just because you are a fine arts-type person doesn't mean you are nothing but fluff and stuff. Musicians work hard to perfect their craft, and learning to read music is akin to learning another language!

And I love the classics, although I can see how a symphony, with all the layers and movement would be really hard to digest in some circumstances. You guys who don't like classics are just listening to the wrong stuff.

**pippadaisy**[$] · #15 11-26-2005, 02:12 AM

I thought it was Brian Singing, too.

And I LOVE opera. I

thinking about people who don't love it. I remember the first time I heard it live... I actually sat in the theater and cried.

eplovejoy · #16 11-26-2005, 12:08 PM

Quote:

erik_kosberg said

I’m probably not the only on here who saw the title of this thread as Brian Singing!

That's funny. I read it as it's spelled, but I thought it referred to a more radical approach: brain singeing. This thread has turned out to be a big relief.

Cindy: You don't stutter now. Is it common for people to outgrow their stutters? And when we say "stutter" we mean something more pronounced than "stammer," right?

**hadassahchana**[$] · #17 11-26-2005, 08:16 PM

I'm not sure if it's common, but I was in speech therapy for a year in high school, and finally mostly got rid of it. And yes, this was not just a stammer- that's what I sometimes have now because of the brian injury. This was an all-out, repeating words or letters, can't-communicate kind of stutter.

Cindy

**pippadaisy**[$] · #18 11-27-2005, 08:33 AM

They actually can do a lot with stutters now if they catch them early enough. One of Beanie's friends had a serious stutter... started speech at age three, and now at five it's gone. I love early intervention.