Rocking My Brain

Playing the piano makes me feel so alive. Now I know why.  This graphic shows how many parts of your brain playing the piano involves.

The graphic is a useful summary of Daniel Levitin’s This is Your Brain on Music: the Science of a Human Obsession (Dutton, 2006), an in-depth account of how brains and music co-evolved. Levitin emphasizes how rhythm stirs our bodies, while tonality and melody stir our brains:

The coming together of rhythm and melody bridges our cerebellum (the motor control, primitive little brain) and our cerebral cortex (the most evolved, most human part of our brain)….This is why rock, metal, and hip-hop music are the most popular musical genres in the world, and have been for the past three decades.

That last statement was enough to inspire me to finish the second part of a Coursera course on the History of Rock that I took last year. Steve and I had always loved dancing to rock music from our early years–especially Buddy Holly and the Beatles. In the 1970s, however, I found rock music too loud, repetitive, and disturbingly drug-laden. My interests turned to folk music; I started leading songs with children in nursery schools. I mostly ignored the music my own three children listened to in their teen years, though Shelby was a promising improviser on piano and Lilli made sure I had recordings by Billy Joel.

In the winter months of 2014 as David and I cared for his infant twins, we had such provocative discussions about rock, that I realized I had been missing some really innovative music. When I saw a free course offered by Eastman School of Music at the University of Rochester, I signed right up. Here’s my thank you to the instructor, John Covach:

Thank you for expanding my musical world. For most of my life I have studied, played, and taught classical music–from Bach to Gershwin.  My piano students introduced me to Tori Amos, Eric Clapton, Ben Folds, and Smashing Pumpkins, but in rock, guitar takes precedence over piano. I failed to keep up with developing rock styles until Hamilton seduced me two years ago.  Last summer I visited the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland. Thanks to this course, I now listen to a wider range of music, exercise to various rock stations on my Sonos, and feel more connected with popular culture, ready to seek out rockumentaries.

Despite being splintered into various styles and fan bases, Rock can be a powerful force for bringing people together. On May 25, 1985, my mother and I took part in Hands Across America in Amarillo, Texas. She had just had hip surgery and was in a wheelchair. The rest of my family stretched their hands out to others at the US Capitol in Washington. Watch this grand collection of rock artists and let me know in the Comments below your favorite artists.