Music Therapy & Autistic Children

NJ.Com reports about John Foley's music therapy sessions with Autistic children at the Peter Cooper school in NJ. Mr. Foley's work has encouraged children to be communicative (normally nonverbal children making verbal requests for songs) engaged (actively involved in class) and attentive (asking questions about musical instruments that they pass by and recognize in a store.)

The article covers not only some of the specific techniques John uses, but also the parents responses to the noticeably positive changes in the children's behavior. Embeddd also is a video about the students learning to communicate using musical sounds.

Guitar Heroes!

New Scientist discusses research about EEGs of guitarists who played the same tune together at the same time. Several areas of brain activity were found to be perfectly synchronized between the two guitarists during their performances (watch this video for more.)

Brain areas which became synchronized between the two performers involved included those which control and coordinate motor activity, those which allow us to mimic others and, more surprisingly, the areas that recognize other human beings as individuals separate from ourselves.

A Strike against Strokes!

Eckart Altenmuller presents some very wonderful findings on the efficacy of Piano Lessons in helping stroke victims recover fine motor skills!

Note: Link opens a web-based powerpoint presentation (with audio.) Powerpoint not required to view presentation.


Altenmuller's incredibly well designed study showed a drastically positive result for movement ability in stroke victims who were given piano lessons, as compared to both control groups and groups receiving other methods of motor-skill retraining.


This presentation was given at an event sponsored by the Mariani foundation, which included several more enlightening findings, including the benefits of rhythmic auditory training on gait in stroke patients as well as the benefits of singing on language skills in stroke patients (WARNING: Previous link is a PDF.)

More links to follow...

Drum Circles

This week we're featuring Drum Circle Music, an organization that promotes -- no surprise here -- drum circles. Drum circles are a great method for having many people participate in a group musical experience together. After all, as they quote on their page explaining the drum-circle process:


"You never see a group of keyboardists jamming together, and even three guitar players in a room often can't get along, but you can have a group of 20, 30 or even 50 drummers playing together and they'll ask for more to join."