Images from a musician's brain

Charleston's The Post and Courier published a fantastic piece about the impetus and process of the decision to scan a musician's brain. Here's a look at what we are able to learn about the activity during music making: 

For instance, understanding the rhythm of the brain could shed light on the way humans operate. In Lewandowski’s head, activity ebbed and flowed, not always in conjunction with the musical patterns. The colors bloomed often during quiet musical moments, then subsided as the cellist attacked his instrument with vigor.

And our upcoming research got a nice mention, as well! 

Jenny [sic] Dorris, a percussionist and research associate at Carnegie Mellon, is working on a study about music’s effect on the aging brain, Becker noted.

The idea is to teach elderly people to play the marimba to get both mental and physical exercise.

Would it sharpen their cognition? Would it delay dementia?

And what happens to the brains of two musicians when they play the same music together? Do their neurons fire in synchrony or are there differences?

And what about larger groups of players? Is there a sort of mind meld?

“There are a huge number of possibilities of places it can go,” Becker said, brimming with the enthusiasm of an explorer. “We have people ready, willing and able, we just need to generate the wherewithal to make it happen.”