Those interested in the science of learning may be interested in The Biology of Learning (including tips) from Luminosity’s Brain Health Blog.

It’s not really news, I know, but it’s always good to see reaffirmation of the benefits of exercise on learning and the brain - like this article in the Independent. One aspect I hadn’t seen articulated quite so directly concerns the role exercise plays in reducing aggression. Perhaps that explains why, almost without exception, martial […]

Got a spare 15 minutes? Would you like to take part in a national, online survey about how people listen to music? The mission of Feeling Sound Musiclab is to test how we perceive music – and also to gauge the nation’s favourite chord – the result of which will be used to commission a […]

In a recent edition of The Material World on Radio 4 there was a fascinating discussion on how the brain processes sound. Presented by the mercurial Quentin ‘For me science isn’t a subject, it’s a perspective’ Cooper the guests - Jan Schnupp from the University of Oxford and Sophie Scott from the Institute of Cognitive […]

Why should religious music be of interest to our largely secular society? BBC 4’s Sacred Music, presented by Simon Russel Beale, visited Notre Dame de Paris to show how two innovations of the 12th Century Notre Dame School underpin what has since come to be known as western classical music.
Four members of early music specialist […]

In the Music Matters special on Music & Health one of the guests, Dr John Zeisel, claimed that music attacks The Four A words associated with Alzheimers - agitation, aggression, anxiety & apathy. Aware that the study of dysfunction often enhances awareness of function, I soon began to wonder whether music (specifically the study of […]

One of the more interesting features to emerge from the New Scientist (NS) special The Roots of Music was an article on amusia. Like many people, I had imagined this simply to mean the inability to carry a tune or to perceive changes in pitch and rhythm. However, researching further in a listen again edition […]

In an attempt to refresh mind and body between school and a twilight Parents’ Evening, I recently spent an hour in the pool and health suite of North Berwick Sports Centre. In the steam room I found myself, inexplicably whistling*. Apart from the fantastic acoustic and the apparent contribution of the steam to the quality […]

Thanks to Ewan McIntosh for a link to a Times Online article I’d otherwise have missed concerning Leonard Sax’s book Boys Adrift: The Five Factors* Driving the Growing Epidemic of Unmotivated Boys and Underachieving Young Men
This is a massive field and one upon which I do not feel qualified authoritatively to comment. However, one claim […]

It’s always nice to have your intuitions nudged in the general direction of scientific fact by reputable specialists. That’s why I was delighted to read on Simon Ager’s excellent blog Omniglot about a new book by Oliver Sacks called Musicophilia.
I’ve long been persuaded by the parallels between music and language so I’ll be very interested […]