BrainReady Blog - Comment
Really good article, and I love the holistic view that brainready takes here, instead of just citing the research findings. Agree with the opinions too.
Very refreshing to find writing this good. Nice job brainready!
-Jason
The studies with exercise and classical music is very interesting - except I can't imagine running at the gym to classical music. With the variations in beat, I can see myself falling off the treadmill!
Great article.
I've always though that all music can increase mental performance. Sure, classical music is much more intricate. But rock n' roll has that passion, and an intricacy an untrained ear cannot understand. I hypothesize that the mental enhancing effects are not relevant to the intricacy but to the feelings and passions the music evokes in the individual.
music to me is a a "boundry expanding" experience;to explain... I have found that music that is very catchy and or pleasing after the first listen tends to lose its appeal as well as effectivness after repeat listens. On the other hand, certain peices of music that appear to be rather ordinary after the first listen, leand themselves very well to repeat listens. subsequent listens allow for a "layer" to be pealed away and for new elements and intracasies to be revealed. In my opinion the potential for deeper listening is the key element that seperates an engaging, mind expanding peice of music from a top 40 "fling".
This is such a well written article...for those more interested in the topic, I've just finished Daniel Levitin's book This Is Your Brain On Music. To add to the above: research is showing that it isn't specifically classical music that is good for our brains but rather highly complex music (inviting those repeat listenings). While classical music tends to be highly complex, it doesn't hold exclusive rights (and I'm a biased classical musician!)...lots of other music is complex in many different ways. Also, tapping into our emotions, whatever the genre, seems to have lots of benefits too, so listening to music you "like" is also good for your mind. As this article states, this is relatively new and unexplored territory, and I'm really excited to find it included on BrainReady. Thanks!
Thanks Mieke! And yes, Daniel Levitin's book is fantastic...a great read.
Music can conjure such a complex array of emotions, memories, neuro-tracking mechanisms and much more, making it truly unique and also highly "analogue" in our very digital culture 
Indeed Music has a high Order.
Both language and Music have developed from sound. Language is based on how we produce sound through the mouth. The order of Music is based on two factors, 1. ascending and descending of the sound (pitch) and length given to each sound (time). These two factors are more precise and universal compared to the languages of the world. Hence Music is a higher order appealing to the brain.
Did the exercise study include a control group that listened to the music WITHOUT exercising? As described, the study did not prove that the combination of exercise and music has unique brain benefits that could not be gained by music alone.
Commenting by HaloScan
