The connection between music and our bodies fascinates
me, and I’ve blogged about it several times in the last couple of years. This
interest was awakened again in June by a series that ran for a week on NPR
called Rhythm Section: Spending a Week
Trying to Catch the Beat. The stories
examined the hidden rhythms that affect our lives, and one of them, about
rhythms in brain cells, caught my attention.
Now I love rhythm, so this is irresistible stuff.
It seems that each individual brain cell has its own
firing pattern, its own rhythm, some faster, some slower. As neuroscientist Nathan Urban put it, each
one is like a little clock, with its own built-in frequency. To avoid brain chaos, cells synchronize their
rhythms to accomplish tasks. For
example, when a mouse explores a new space, neurons in the navigation area of
its brain begin to pulse together in rhythm.
This works because whenever two cells synchronize their rhythms, the
connections between them are strengthened!
Doesn’t that sound entirely human?
And innately musical.
The actions of all living things are built on systems of
rhythms, circuits of nerve cells that fire in sequence, activating muscles in
repeated patterns, such as when we walk—pick up a foot, rock forward, put it
down, pick up a foot...—or when a fish propels itself forward with its swishing
tail. But many of the details of movement happen in the nervous system, not the
brain itself. It acts as a kind of grand
poobah, sending out a command to the nerves something along the lines of “activate
the walking rhythm.” This is even true
of motions that don’t appear to be rhythmic at all, such as reaching for
something. Isn’t that wonderful? And so we walk, or reach, or drive. In rhythm!
Until something goes awry with the cellular rhythms. Beats fall out of sequence, cells can’t synchronize,
with heartbreaking results: Parkinson’s, schizophrenia, epilepsy. But many Parkinson’s sufferers find temporary
relief in music or dance classes. A
Parkinson’s patient noted that sometimes, when someone has trouble walking to a
class, she’ll get them to hum a tune with her, a waltz maybe, or a march. And they begin to move to the beat, and lo and
behold, they can walk!
Revel in the idea that all of life is buttressed by
rhythm! It’s irresistible, maybe a
little like these synchronizing metronomes!
Dr. Linda Gingrich
Artistic director and conductor
Master Chorus Eastside
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