“Music is a universal part of our life that produces strong emotions, improves memory and promotes social cohesion”. But music also heals. This was highlighted during a conference by Eckart Altenmüller in Cosmocaixa on February 21st, in the cycle “The music and its impact on the body and mind”, organized by the Obra Social La Caixa and IDIBELL.
Altenmüller is neurologist and musician, director of the Institute of Music Physiology and Musicians’ Medicine of the University of Music, Drama and Media of Hannover. In collaboration with the researcher of the University of Barcelona and IDIBELL Antoni Rodríguez-Fornells —who is also coordinator of the lecture series— investigates the therapeutic effect of musical practice in patients who have suffered a stroke.
The German neurologist noted that the musical practice has positive effects on the development of people, especially during childhood. Learning to play an instrument helps to control emotions, to develop language and mathematical skills and, indirectly, to increase concentration, endurance, self-confidence and also to improve relations with other individuals. Even playing an instrument might make people slightly more intelligent.
But musical practice has more effects. Hearing and movement are linked in our brains, and this ratio is even greater when practicing an instrument. Years ago it was known that the brain has great plasticity, which is able to change through the individual experiences. And playing music appears to change the brain, in short and long term, as shown by testing with neuroimaging techniques. “Practicing the piano for a few minutes makes connections between the auditory and the motor areas of the brain”, explained Altenmüller.
The neurologist cited an experiment made with fMRI in people who did not play any musical instrument in which, after only thirty minutes of practice with the piano, there were observed significant changes in the motor area of the brain. After fifteen months of practicing twenty minutes a day, the research group lead by Altenmüller observed changes in the areas of the brain that regulate the movement of hands and hearing, as well as in the corpus callosum, the bundle of nerve fibbers that connects the two cerebral hemispheres.
From these observations, Altenmüller, along with other researchers as Rodríguez-Fornells, tried to apply the power of musical practice to treat motor deficits appeared after suffering a stroke. The researchers named the study with the term MUT (German acronym of music based training), which coincides with the word courage in German. The results of this experiment have been spectacular.
The patients learnt to play an electronic drum and an organ for several sessions, after which they were able to recover some of the lost mobility to a greater extent than with traditional treatments such as rehabilitation. In fMRI scans, they also observed much more brain connections than that seen with other treatments. “The MUT seems to be an innovative and effective training of fine motor skills in patients who have had a stroke”, concluded the researcher.
During the public question time, Altenmüller noted that, “in addition to preventing diseases, the music also has the ability to heal”. In this sense, the researcher referred to music therapy, the use of music —only listened not played— to treat health problems.
Altenmüller’s talk is part of the lecture series “The music and its impact on the body and mind”, jointly organized by the Fundació La Caixa and IDIBELL, which, from February to June 2013, brings together leading experts in Cosmocaixa Barcelona from around the world that, from different perspectives, study the role of music on humans.