Charles Limbs Study on Music Creativity and Brain Functions Essay

Have you ever wondered how musicians can come up with melodies, rhythms, chords, and riffs off-the-top of their heads? Well, this type of spontaneous idea is called improvisation. Improvisation is the creative activity of an â€Å"in the moment† musical composition. Basically, it’s a spur-of-the-moment kind of thing where musicians simply make up a rhythm or melody without even thinking about it. Whatever or however a musician is feeling he could incorporate that feeling into a musical thought. But how does this imagination come about? Is there some type of magical feeling that comes over the musician? How can the mind create something on command? William James has labeled this innovative development as a â€Å"seething cauldron of ideas, where everything is fizzling and bobbing about in a state of bewildering activity.†(Creation on Command) Scientists have been baffled at the way the brain works in general, but now we are finding more and more ways to view †Å"what is really going on up there†. In the past few years, there have been studies that try to figure out what goes on in the brain with improv is being done. I am going to talk about Dr. Charles Limb’s study on brain activity and music creativity. Dr. Charles Limb is an associate professor in otolaryngology at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, where he is also a part of the Peabody Institute of Music where he plays the Saxophone, Bass and Piano. He led one of the first brain-scan studies of musical improvisation in 2008. For the past ten years, Dr. Limb has studied what goes on in the brain and how it relates to music. He tested three different of experiments before coming up with a conclusion. Before coming up with the main experiment, Dr. Limb asked the question, â€Å"How can the b... ...r what goes on in their brain when they free style and help them understand Limb’s study of free style rap and improv. I might use this information for another project in another class. Who knows? I do know that this study is a very interesting research. So basically, improvisation is just a way for musicians express their feelings their thoughts and moods without even realizing what they have done. Works Cited Zagroski, Nick. "The Science of Improv." The Peabody Institute of The Johns Hopkins University: Music for the World. Johns Hopkins University. Web. 03 Apr. 2012. . Your Brain on Improv. Perf. Dr. Charles Limb. Ted.com. Jan. 2011. Web. . "Tool Module: Brain Imaging." The Brain. Web. 03 Apr. 2012. .