What Music Tells Us About the Brain

Many neuroscientists study music to elucidate mysteries of the brain. Why is music such a rich resource?  Not only can scientists physically track the process of learning music as different areas of the brain light up, they can trace music’s powerful effect on our emotions, muscles and memory.  The benefits of music span well beyond entertainment. and many believe music will be the healing art of the future.  Accumulating data about our “brain on music” unmistakably supports how important, positive and valuable music is our well-being, and self expression, as well as its role in the human evolutionary process.

Janice Jarrett, a jazz singer, published lyricist, and arranger, is also an educator and journalist with a Ph.D. in Ethnomusicology, a Masters in World Music (Wesleyan) and a B.A. in voice and composition (Antioch College). She has taught and performed across the country and abroad and she currently runs her own music studio in Tucson while continuing to perform jazz with Tucson’s best. Besides having taught at the University of Arizona, she has written pieces for the Arizona Daily Star, the Tucson Weekly and the Phoenix New Times.