April 6, 2026

Science Series 4: Dr Karen Barrett / Improvising & Creativity / Music Perception / Dementia & Aging

Science Series 4: Dr Karen Barrett / Improvising & Creativity / Music Perception / Dementia & Aging

Dr Karen Barrett is an assistant professor at UCSF (University of California, San Francisco) with a joint appointment at the Institute for Health and Aging at the School of Nursing and department of Otolaryngology at the School of Medicine. She is also a classically trained pianist, a faculty member at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music.


Her research focuses on the neuroscience of creativity, complex sound perception of cochlear implant users, and the impact of music on the aging brain. Dr Barrett is also researching neural plasticity and musical training, improvisational music and creativity, and exploring the biological basis of musical performance.


https://karenchanbarrett.com


https://iha.ucsf.edu/people/karen-barrett-phd


https://amp.profiles.ucsf.edu/karen.barrett

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Welcome to another episode of
come together

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we are live doctor Karen Barrett
well, Barrett welcome so thank

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you so much for coming on how
are you I'm.

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Good, and I'm delighted to be
here.

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Yes, well, this is going to be
such a fun episode.

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I have been slowly.
It's funny because as my podcast

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comes along, I find what I'm
actually interested in based on

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when I talk to people, what they
say that I pick up on.

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And then I want to dive deeper
into those concepts.

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So I was recently recording with
Doctor Lisa Gable out of

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Lafayette University and she's a
neurologist and physiologist.

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And we touched on music and the
brain a little bit.

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And, and as soon as we started
touching on that, I was like, I

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got to, I got to learn more
about this.

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And so, so here we are and, and
I am so excited to be in your

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wheelhouse right here.
And tell me, tell me a little

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bit about the kind of research
that you do or the audience and

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a little bit about your
background, if you don't mind.

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Yeah.
So why don't I start with my

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background because I think it
kind of explains a lot of what I

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do.
So I grew up in a very musical

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household.
My dad was a classical, well,

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not professional, but he was a
classical guitarist, pretty

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serious.
And we basically had music going

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all the time.
So I started playing piano when

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I was 5, and I was really
serious about it.

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You know, in my childhood I was
doing, you know, the prep

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Conservatory programs and
competitions and all that.

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And then when I got to college,
I did want to do music, but my

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parents were like, you should
probably have, you know, a

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backup plan.
What if you break your hand or

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something?
I was like, OK, that's smart.

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So I went to Wellesley College
and I double majored.

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I did music and I did
neuroscience.

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And at the time they were
totally separate field.

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I was just doing my, my music
and I was doing my neuroscience,

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but I wasn't trying to combine
all of them.

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And then when I, you know, the
only time I finally heard about

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the field of music and
neuroscience was meet my senior

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year.
I had to do a lab project and I

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decided to, you know, we had
these invertebrate crayfish

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brains and we were looking at
neurogenesis.

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So I said, hey, let's expose
them to music.

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They don't have ears
traditionally in the same way

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that we do, but they can feel
vibrations and organized

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vibrations.
So we did it and we found it.

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That did increase neurogenesis.
But like I said, this was just a

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tiny little class paper, and I
kind of just didn't really think

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too much more about it.
After college, I wanted to go to

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really focus on my instrument
because I think at Wellesley I

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felt very split brain, you know,
trying to keep up my

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neuroscience but also practice
and just not finding that there

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was enough time to do
everything.

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So I went to Peabody
Conservatory and there it was.

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I did my master's degrees in
piano performance and musicology

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and was fabulous.
I was getting to music 12 hours

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a day, really got to focus on my
yeah, I got to really do my art.

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It felt wonderful.
The only thing though, is that

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we were always playing at night
and I'm a morning person.

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So this was, I was like, you
know, I don't think this

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lifestyle is working for me.
So after that I decided that I

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was like wanted to go back to
academia and I wanted to do a

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PhD.
And that's how I found the music

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cognition program at
Northwestern.

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It was me because the cognition
in theory.

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So we took all the usual classes
you would need to teach music at

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a university level, so pedagogy,
theory, analysis, etcetera.

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But I also was able to work in
auditory neuroscience.

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So this was the first time I was
really able to combine my

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interest in the brain and how
the brain processes music.

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It must.
Be so exciting.

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Yeah, it was so exciting.
I like felt like it was such a

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privilege to get to do 2 things
that I loved and kind of mesh

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them together.
Was it considered?

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I'm sorry to interrupt.
I just got a couple of quick

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questions if you don't mind is
first of all, if anyone that

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doesn't know neurogenesis that
you mentioned the word that you

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mentioned earlier, can you just
break that down quickly?

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It's OK, no problem.
Yeah, Neurogenesis is the birth

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of new neurons.
So neurons are our brain cells.

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So neurogenesis is looking at
the at the creation of new brain

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cells.
And so does.

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That not usually happen
naturally, Or does that need?

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It does so nowadays.
We do know that our brain is

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plastic.
In fact, this is a whole theme

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of all.
My PhD dissertation work was

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looking at how the brain changes
as a result of experience and

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musical training.
And all of that is known as

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neuroplasticity.
So it's the idea that your brain

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changes as part of learning and
development, but also because of

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your expertise and your
experience.

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So neurogenesis is part of it,
you know, the birth of actual

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new neurons.
But part of what also happens in

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neuroplasticity is that you form
new connections between certain

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neurons, right?
And you prune other things that

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are not used.
So it's this idea that your

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brain is kind of changing in
plastic because you're

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experiencing things.
And that was the whole focus on

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my PhD dissertation was what
happened?

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How are the brains of musicians
different from non musicians?

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How do they hear differently?
How do they think differently,

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you know, because they're
musical experts.

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And so I was always really
interested.

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I guess that is kind of a theme
is this idea of like, how does

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the brain remodel itself?
Because you've done music and I

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loved it, you know, But you
know, that ivory tower and

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academia can be kind of
isolating.

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Sometimes you're doing things in
a really abstract way.

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And so when I finished my PHDI
really wanted to do work that

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was more translational, meaning
like actually get to do it in

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the real world, see how it makes
a difference on patients, people

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living with things.
So I then did a postdoc.

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A postdoctoral fellowship is
basically a period after your

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PhD where you're training in new
skills.

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And that's when I came to UCSFI
was working with Doctor Charles

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Lim.
He was the head of the Musics

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and Sound Perception lab at
UCSF.

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And so when I started working
with him, you know, I, you know,

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during my PHDI had really
focused on these like small

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perceptual experiments.
And I was learning EEG, which is

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when you wear the scalpel, you
know, scalpel on your head,

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right?
And you're measuring all the

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brain waves from your, from your
brain.

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But when I got to UCSFI said,
OK, I know how to EEG, but my

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new skill that I was learning
was F MRI.

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So functional magnetic resonance
imaging, which is this idea that

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you use a giant scanner and you
can see which parts of the brain

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are active or deactivated while
you're doing particular tasks.

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So that was something because I
was working in Charles's lab, I

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basically started having new
research areas.

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One was he the neuroscience of
improvisation.

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And that's because Charles
himself is a really, he's a

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cochlear implant surgeon, but
also a very experienced jazz

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saxophonist.
So he was already studying

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improv and I wanted to study
improv with him.

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And then another research area
that I started during my postdoc

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was music perception in cochlear
implant users.

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So as I said, Charles is a
cochlear implant surgeon.

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So these are devices that get
inserted into your, let's say

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you're deaf and your cochlear is
not functioning, which is your

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hearing organ.
You put the cochlear implanting

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air in and now you can hear.
Now maybe it's, it's very much

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maximized for speech.
Like that's what the cochlear

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implants are really good at
restoring, which is already

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amazing if you go from being
deaf to suddenly being able to

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hear people talk to you.
But we are cochlear implants are

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not as good yet is really
complex sounds.

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So think music or think noisy
restaurants or things that are

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just emotion.
Emotion is a very rich kind of

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acoustic signal.
So we study music perception and

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cochlear implant users.
So those are two of my research

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areas, Neuroscience of improv,
music perception, and cochlear

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implant users.
And then after I finished my

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postdoc, I started, I became a
faculty member here at UCSF.

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I am an assistant professor now
and I have a joint appointment.

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So I'm in the Institute for
Health and Aging, which is a

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research unit within the School
of Nursing.

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And then I'm also still in the
Department of Otolaryngology

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with Charles Lim.
And so the one recent new area

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that I've been adding to my
research area is studying the

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use of music for health and
well-being.

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So that's what I studied now
too, is I've added looking at

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music and health.
So I guess widely you could say

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that, you know, my research
falls in these three pots, the

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neuroscience of creativity and
improv, music perception and

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cochlear implant users and hard
of hearing individuals and then

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music for health and aging.
So it's been kind of a long

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journey, but it it, I don't make
sense, I guess, given they all

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do, you know?
It feels as you're explaining

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it, it feels all very intuitive.
And what, what I noticed also,

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you know, similarly again with
Doctor Gable was that she

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mentioned, you know, we, she and
I mentioned we're talking about

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the fact that she didn't quite
know where her research

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initially was going to lead her.
And she said there was something

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really beautiful about not
searching for having an angle in

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mind and then trying to get
there, but starting with what

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you're excited and passionate
about and then seeing where that

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where your nose and your senses
and your intuition takes you.

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Yeah.
And I think that's absolutely

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what happened to me.
You know, I get contacted by a

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lot of people who want to do
careers in music and science or

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blending the arts and humanities
with the sciences.

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And they're like, do you know,
did you, you know, your career

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was going to be like this?
I'm like, no, not at all.

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Like on paper it looks very
neat.

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Like I lined everything up.
But the reality was every day I

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was just saying, well, what do I
enjoy doing?

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You know, And it's like, I found
the stuff that I love doing.

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I mean, part of why I was drawn
to doing music in the brain

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research is that I was spending
my weekends reading these books

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by, Oliver Said.
Hey everyone real quick if

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you're enjoying the show, click
subscribe and rate the show. 5

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stars helps a ton.
Thanks so much.

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You know, Musicophilia or this
is your brain on music or

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anything.
So I was like, well, if I'm

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doing this for my fun anyways,
why don't I study it, you know,

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And so I think I've always just
been someone who, you know, I

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don't really know where my
research career will be.

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I think I'm still trying to
figure that out.

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But you know, it's fun.
It's fun as long as I I always

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have this unifying love of music
and how it affects our health

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and our brain so.
Yeah, yeah.

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And I think it's super, super
important.

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And again, I think that there's
a real value in being, I, I

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talked about this in different
contexts, but there's a real

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value in my opinion in play.
And this actually probably goes

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directly in with your team with,
with play and experimentation to

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see where we go.
And it feels, it feels to me and

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part of the reason why I'm
actually why I, why I, I don't

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typically fit into any kind of
formal box.

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And I have a little bit of a
push back towards typical

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academia or, or anything like
or, or even any kind of typical

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bureaucracy or corporate
democracy or anything like that

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I have a very hard time with.
But I just like to kind of sense

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out and sniff out where I'm
going.

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I have no problem with the work.
I just like to have that kind of

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play in spirit of adventure
while I go along.

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Absolutely.
And as a creativity researcher,

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I fully support that.
I think play is way more

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important than we realize.
I mean, we play with our kids

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all the time, but adults really
need play too, and I think play

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is a huge component of being
creative, so I think it's great.

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Yeah, and this is actually going
to take me.

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So I wonder where we you can
actually choose which kind of

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path we're going to go down.
I was going to ask you based on

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we work with Doctor Charles
about improv versus classical

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playing because you mentioned
that your father and you, you

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know, your background and your
music that you played was

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classical.
And I, and from my

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understanding, and please
correct me if I don't, if I'm

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wrong, classical music tends to
be very structured, I believe.

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And then obviously jazz music
and improv, improvisational

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music, you know, like this, like
the ones that are so active in

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San Francisco historically
especially, has really, really

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focused a lot more on being
unstructured.

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So yeah.
So we can either kind of discuss

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that or I was actually going to
ask you about the difference

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between the cochlear implants
and their and processing music

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as opposed to speech and why
that would be.

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Let's go to the F MRI one
because I think that's that

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covered that that links really
well with our idea of play and

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so yeah so this idea, you're
right, I think classical music,

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at least the way we learn it now
and Conservatory.

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So when you go to music school,
it is very structured and

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hierarchical.
It's creative in that you are

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trying to play really
expressively, but it's still

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within constraints, right?
Like Beethoven wrote the score,

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you have the notes, you are
supposed to interpret it.

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But it's creativity within risk
constraints.

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And I think that's really
different from jazz, for

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example, an improv, because then
you're doing something we call

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generative creativity, right?
You have just pulling new notes

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out.
This hasn't been pre written.

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You write it, you know, you're
trying to spin something on the

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spot.
And I think something that

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really fascinated me about
improv when I first started

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researching it as a postdoc was
that I'm not very good at

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improv.
So no, in the in the past,

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actually in classical music,
there used to be a ton of

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improv.
So back in the time of Mozart,

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he would have improvised the
entire cadenza.

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Every time he had a concerto, he
would have taken material from

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the concerto and then just, you
know, spring something together

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that's like 2 to 3 minutes.
Or, you know, if you're a

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vocalist, you just suddenly make
up all the trills and the

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ornamentations.
There used to be be a ton of

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improv, but I will say our way
of learning music now, classical

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music now is very structured.
And so I, I find for me, I'm not

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very good at it.
And I think I was really

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fascinated because to me, improv
always looked like this really

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00:13:22,040 --> 00:13:24,160
magical thing.
Like, how are they pulling those

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notes out of thin air?
And how did they not make

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mistakes?
And, you know, and I think

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that's what fascinated me about
it in the first place.

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And so to study, you know,
creativity in the F MRI scanner,

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00:13:37,080 --> 00:13:38,600
right?
So there's what we do as

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artists, but then we have to
think about how to make this

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rigorous as a scientist, right?
So in one of Charles's original

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00:13:44,240 --> 00:13:47,880
studies, this is the Lemon Bron
2008 + 1 paper.

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Basically, he created a paradigm
where you were either going to

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play a control.
So the control was he wrote this

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12 bar Blues piece, he called it
magnetism.

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00:13:57,280 --> 00:14:00,960
And so he either had jazz
experts play that piece that he

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had written, they memorized it
and played it before they went

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into the into the scanner, or
for the experimental condition,

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00:14:06,800 --> 00:14:09,240
they improvised based on it.
So they still use that 12 bar

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00:14:09,240 --> 00:14:11,760
Blues architecture, but now they
could do whatever they want with

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00:14:11,760 --> 00:14:13,840
it.
They had to keep the same tempo,

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00:14:13,840 --> 00:14:16,040
the same general framework, but
they could improvise.

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00:14:16,040 --> 00:14:20,080
So if you think about it, the,
the control condition is kind of

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like what I as a classical
musician would do, right?

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00:14:22,360 --> 00:14:25,480
Play a piece from memory,
interpret it the way I want, but

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00:14:25,480 --> 00:14:28,400
we're contrasting it against an
experimental condition where

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they're generating new material.
So really then the two

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00:14:31,360 --> 00:14:34,200
difference, the difference
between these two conditions is

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00:14:34,760 --> 00:14:38,240
what what happens in the brain
when you are generating new

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00:14:38,240 --> 00:14:40,120
musical material right from
scratch.

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00:14:40,640 --> 00:14:44,000
So what you do as an fMRI, you
know when you're doing these

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00:14:44,000 --> 00:14:48,200
fMRI studies is you put your
jazz musician in the scanner and

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00:14:48,200 --> 00:14:51,120
you can imagine a scanner is
like basically a big magnet,

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00:14:51,120 --> 00:14:53,480
like a tube.
So what they had to do is they

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00:14:53,480 --> 00:14:57,600
created this special keyboard.
It's a non ferromagnetic custom

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00:14:57,600 --> 00:14:59,960
made keyboard that's safe to go
into the scanner.

304
00:15:00,480 --> 00:15:04,440
And then basically all the
musicians lie down and they hold

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00:15:04,480 --> 00:15:07,760
the keyboard on their lap.
And then as they go in the

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00:15:07,760 --> 00:15:10,200
scanner, we have what we call it
the face quick, but it's the

307
00:15:10,200 --> 00:15:13,200
Darth Vader mask basically.
And there's a little mirror on

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00:15:13,200 --> 00:15:16,720
it and they can see their hands.
So while they're in the scanner,

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00:15:16,720 --> 00:15:19,000
you know, they have to stay
really, really still.

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00:15:19,000 --> 00:15:21,880
So you get a good picture of the
brain, but they can just use

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00:15:21,880 --> 00:15:23,960
their their hands.
So they're playing with the

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00:15:23,960 --> 00:15:25,680
right hand.
They're either playing that 12

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00:15:25,680 --> 00:15:28,920
bar Blues when when prompted, or
they're improvising on that,

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00:15:28,920 --> 00:15:31,920
that 12 bar Blues.
And what Charles's original

315
00:15:31,920 --> 00:15:35,120
study found is that if you take
the you you to isolate what

316
00:15:35,120 --> 00:15:38,080
activity is specific to
improvisation, it's really

317
00:15:38,080 --> 00:15:39,760
interesting.
There's like a distinct both

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00:15:39,760 --> 00:15:42,640
neural activation and
deactivation in the brain that's

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00:15:42,640 --> 00:15:45,680
associated with improv.
So essentially what they find is

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00:15:45,680 --> 00:15:48,360
when you look at the structures
in the brain, we see an

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00:15:48,360 --> 00:15:52,120
activation of the medial
prefrontal cortex, which is kind

322
00:15:52,120 --> 00:15:53,360
of here in the front of the
head.

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00:15:53,760 --> 00:15:56,640
And that's an area that's
usually very goal oriented and

324
00:15:56,640 --> 00:15:59,440
task oriented that parts gets
activated, which makes sense.

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00:15:59,440 --> 00:16:01,560
You're trying to like do
something right in the in the

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00:16:01,560 --> 00:16:04,120
scanner.
But at the same time, we also

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00:16:04,120 --> 00:16:07,280
saw deactivation of a plate part
of the brain called the

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00:16:07,280 --> 00:16:11,400
dorsolatto prefrontal cortex.
And this dorsolateral prefrontal

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00:16:11,400 --> 00:16:15,560
cortex deactivates when you,
when you're trying to, you know,

330
00:16:15,760 --> 00:16:18,560
turn off the judgment area of
your brain when you're trying to

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00:16:18,560 --> 00:16:21,400
just get in the in flow states,
you know, when you're, you're

332
00:16:21,400 --> 00:16:24,920
kind of, so it's, it's like
improv is this kind of goal

333
00:16:24,920 --> 00:16:27,560
oriented task, but with this
defocused kind of form of

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00:16:27,560 --> 00:16:30,400
attention, right?
And so because we had this very

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00:16:30,400 --> 00:16:33,080
distinct pattern, right,
activation of the medial

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00:16:33,080 --> 00:16:35,960
prefrontal cortex and
deactivation with dorsolateral

337
00:16:35,960 --> 00:16:38,760
prefrontal cortex, Charles said
not only are these the neural

338
00:16:38,760 --> 00:16:42,640
substrates of improv, but also
maybe about flow, right?

339
00:16:42,640 --> 00:16:45,640
Because when an artist is in the
zone, especially a really

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00:16:45,640 --> 00:16:48,600
experienced jazz musician
improvising on something simple

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00:16:48,600 --> 00:16:50,600
like a 12 bar Blues, they're
hitting flow.

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00:16:50,920 --> 00:16:54,680
And so that was one of his first
groundbreaking papers.

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00:16:54,960 --> 00:16:58,720
And ever since then, his lab,
and by extension me, because I

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00:16:58,720 --> 00:17:01,600
work with him, I've as I've been
with him since I was a postdoc

345
00:17:01,600 --> 00:17:05,040
and now as a faculty member now,
we've continued to study the

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00:17:05,040 --> 00:17:06,960
neural correlates of
improvisation.

347
00:17:06,960 --> 00:17:10,319
So we looked at, OK, those were
jazz experts, but what happens

348
00:17:10,319 --> 00:17:12,800
if we do have kids who don't
play piano?

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00:17:12,800 --> 00:17:15,480
What happens when they're being
created or what happens to older

350
00:17:15,480 --> 00:17:18,000
adults when they do it?
Or what about, you know, if

351
00:17:18,000 --> 00:17:21,160
you're improvising in different
artistic domains?

352
00:17:21,160 --> 00:17:24,280
Does music look different from
comedic improvisers versus,

353
00:17:24,280 --> 00:17:26,800
like, an artist who's trying to
generate something?

354
00:17:26,800 --> 00:17:28,760
Right.
So that's what our lab studies.

355
00:17:29,560 --> 00:17:33,040
Wow, so, so you actually go
beyond the realm of just music

356
00:17:33,040 --> 00:17:35,840
and you actually look at the
flow and improv and everything.

357
00:17:36,320 --> 00:17:39,960
We're trying to, at least
certainly the field that studies

358
00:17:39,960 --> 00:17:43,440
the neuroscience of generative
creativity or improv, it's the

359
00:17:43,440 --> 00:17:45,760
most we know the most in the
music domain.

360
00:17:46,040 --> 00:17:49,520
And I think that's because music
kind of lends itself easily to

361
00:17:49,520 --> 00:17:51,200
the scanner, right?
You can like put a little

362
00:17:51,200 --> 00:17:55,360
instrument in music has these
discrete parameters that you can

363
00:17:55,520 --> 00:17:59,080
isolate whether it's rhythm or
tempo or so people study music a

364
00:17:59,080 --> 00:18:01,080
lot.
But I think what what our lab is

365
00:18:01,080 --> 00:18:04,680
recently doing, Charles and I
have had funding from the

366
00:18:04,680 --> 00:18:07,920
National Endowment for the Arts
to start A to fund our research

367
00:18:07,920 --> 00:18:10,960
lab for the last 10 years.
And our big project is like, OK,

368
00:18:10,960 --> 00:18:13,520
that's great, but what happened?
What are the neural and

369
00:18:13,520 --> 00:18:16,840
cognitive correlates of doing
improv in different art forms?

370
00:18:16,840 --> 00:18:19,800
So we're still studying
musicians, but we're studying

371
00:18:19,800 --> 00:18:22,120
them as case studies.
So we're like, OK, you know,

372
00:18:22,120 --> 00:18:24,920
most of data and science is
about averaging a bunch of

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00:18:24,920 --> 00:18:26,720
brains together and seeing
what's common.

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00:18:26,960 --> 00:18:30,320
But, you know, you don't go to a
concert hoping for like, an

375
00:18:30,320 --> 00:18:32,960
average concert, right?
The people like Esperanza

376
00:18:32,960 --> 00:18:37,160
Spalding are Hiromi are these
great musicians are unique in

377
00:18:37,160 --> 00:18:39,800
their voices and likely in their
brains, too.

378
00:18:39,800 --> 00:18:42,440
So we're studying a bunch of
these musicians as case studies,

379
00:18:42,760 --> 00:18:45,920
meaning we look at each musician
as their own artistic outliner.

380
00:18:45,920 --> 00:18:48,880
And we like create things that
are very much tailored to them

381
00:18:48,880 --> 00:18:50,560
and see what's really unique
about their brain.

382
00:18:51,240 --> 00:18:53,520
But then at the same time, we're
also being, OK, well, can we

383
00:18:53,520 --> 00:18:57,320
design some improv tasks that in
the scanner that look at comedic

384
00:18:57,320 --> 00:18:59,720
improvisation?
So think professional

385
00:18:59,920 --> 00:19:04,120
improvisers from SNL or Second
City, which was the training

386
00:19:04,120 --> 00:19:06,600
school for SNL.
So we worked with Second City in

387
00:19:06,600 --> 00:19:08,880
Chicago.
You know, so we're like what

388
00:19:08,880 --> 00:19:11,920
happens in amazing, amazing
improvisers like Tina Fey or,

389
00:19:11,920 --> 00:19:13,800
you know, these people who are
just generating stuff on the

390
00:19:13,800 --> 00:19:15,800
spot.
And then also we're looking at

391
00:19:15,800 --> 00:19:17,720
visual artists.
You know, visual artists don't

392
00:19:17,720 --> 00:19:21,080
improv per SE, but like if you
think about it, they do sketch

393
00:19:21,080 --> 00:19:22,640
and just create things
generatively.

394
00:19:22,640 --> 00:19:25,400
And so we're looking at, well,
how is that different versus

395
00:19:25,400 --> 00:19:27,400
copying them?
Like if you give you like, you

396
00:19:27,400 --> 00:19:30,560
know, of still life, you know,
and they're just copying what

397
00:19:30,560 --> 00:19:32,040
they see versus trying to be
creative.

398
00:19:32,040 --> 00:19:35,560
So that in general has been our
large 10 year project for the

399
00:19:35,560 --> 00:19:37,880
last, you know, like I said, for
the last decade we've been

400
00:19:37,880 --> 00:19:40,520
working on trying to understand
different domains, not just

401
00:19:40,520 --> 00:19:42,440
music.
That's amazing.

402
00:19:42,440 --> 00:19:44,360
That's really amazing.
What I would imagine the way

403
00:19:44,360 --> 00:19:46,440
that I kind of, while you're
explaining all this, the way

404
00:19:46,440 --> 00:19:51,200
that I kind of imagine this is
you have almost a playground is

405
00:19:51,200 --> 00:19:54,320
the way I look at it.
And and then you can choose to

406
00:19:54,320 --> 00:19:57,120
either play a game and have
organized structure, or you can

407
00:19:57,120 --> 00:19:59,720
kind of say, Hey, run around and
figure something out and allow

408
00:19:59,760 --> 00:20:02,040
the emergent activities within
this playground happen.

409
00:20:02,040 --> 00:20:05,440
Now, generally rules within the
playground like you can't beat

410
00:20:05,440 --> 00:20:06,920
kids up.
You can't, you know, you can't

411
00:20:07,000 --> 00:20:08,320
take kids lunch or whatever it
is.

412
00:20:08,920 --> 00:20:11,840
And there are rules that you got
to stick to, but that doesn't

413
00:20:11,840 --> 00:20:16,320
mean that doesn't by any means.
Restrict your creative

414
00:20:16,320 --> 00:20:18,560
abilities.
Yeah, absolutely.

415
00:20:18,560 --> 00:20:19,680
I think that's the hardest
thing.

416
00:20:19,680 --> 00:20:22,400
For the longest time, no one
wanted to study artistic

417
00:20:22,400 --> 00:20:24,800
creativity in the scanner until
Charles started doing it

418
00:20:24,800 --> 00:20:27,160
because, well, on some of it's
hard, right?

419
00:20:27,160 --> 00:20:30,880
Scientists are trying to use
rigor and reproducibility and it

420
00:20:30,880 --> 00:20:33,320
just feels like, well, that's
not what creativity is like.

421
00:20:33,560 --> 00:20:36,960
But I think one of the beauties
of the way Charles designed his

422
00:20:36,960 --> 00:20:39,960
experiment is that, yeah, you're
right, you get to be creative.

423
00:20:39,960 --> 00:20:42,560
There's still constraints, but
you can still be creative.

424
00:20:42,560 --> 00:20:45,600
And you also make a good point
too, which is that something we

425
00:20:45,600 --> 00:20:48,920
started looking at is
improvisation paradise with

426
00:20:48,920 --> 00:20:50,280
different degrees of
constraints.

427
00:20:50,280 --> 00:20:52,800
So if we give you a very, you
know, let's just take the

428
00:20:52,800 --> 00:20:54,920
comedic improvisers we could
have, you have a very

429
00:20:54,920 --> 00:20:58,160
constrained improv task where
all you're saying is like words

430
00:20:58,480 --> 00:21:01,680
versus like completely doing a
monologue or a solilokey, right?

431
00:21:01,680 --> 00:21:04,440
So it's like, that's a spectrum
of creativity, right?

432
00:21:04,440 --> 00:21:07,320
And so with our comedian, we
created several paradigms to

433
00:21:07,320 --> 00:21:09,840
kind of look at what is it like
to go from something that's

434
00:21:09,840 --> 00:21:12,920
narrowly creative versus really
creative, right?

435
00:21:13,920 --> 00:21:16,640
And so, yeah, it's taken a lot
of creativity, honestly, from

436
00:21:16,640 --> 00:21:19,400
Charles and I to come up with
these paradigms.

437
00:21:19,640 --> 00:21:22,720
But that's partially why I love
it, you know, because I think

438
00:21:22,720 --> 00:21:27,200
both of us are artists and
musicians and and, you know,

439
00:21:27,200 --> 00:21:29,360
scientists.
He's a surgeon and APHD.

440
00:21:29,360 --> 00:21:32,640
But so we're polymats and we
like both parts using both parts

441
00:21:32,640 --> 00:21:34,360
of these, the sides of
ourselves.

442
00:21:34,800 --> 00:21:38,000
And so I love having to use
creativity and be like, OK, I

443
00:21:38,000 --> 00:21:41,640
can make this rigorous for
science, but I can still study

444
00:21:41,640 --> 00:21:44,720
the arts and creativity, right?
In a way that's that's fun.

445
00:21:44,800 --> 00:21:46,800
That's like going to make a
difference, so.

446
00:21:47,360 --> 00:21:51,160
Can I ask, just out of
curiosity, what your definition

447
00:21:51,160 --> 00:21:53,000
of creativity is?
Yeah.

448
00:21:53,000 --> 00:21:55,560
So when I say creativity, at
least in the in the, you know,

449
00:21:55,560 --> 00:21:58,480
context of my work, I basically
mean improvisation.

450
00:21:58,480 --> 00:22:01,560
And I specifically mean improv
as a form of like generative

451
00:22:01,560 --> 00:22:03,920
creativity.
So meaning that you generate

452
00:22:03,920 --> 00:22:06,560
material on the spot
spontaneously without having

453
00:22:06,560 --> 00:22:09,200
mapped it out, which as we said,
is kind of like a different

454
00:22:09,200 --> 00:22:12,240
creativity than like playing
classical music where you again

455
00:22:12,240 --> 00:22:13,880
have constraints.
You know exactly what you're

456
00:22:13,880 --> 00:22:16,680
going to play, but you get to
play with the tempo or the

457
00:22:16,680 --> 00:22:18,920
expression or, you know, things
like that.

458
00:22:18,920 --> 00:22:21,800
So when I say creativity, I mean
artistic creativity.

459
00:22:21,840 --> 00:22:25,120
I mean improvisation.
I mean generative creativity.

460
00:22:25,520 --> 00:22:27,040
Cool, cool.
Yeah, because the way that I

461
00:22:27,040 --> 00:22:29,480
always thought of it and the way
that I like to think of it is

462
00:22:29,720 --> 00:22:33,160
kind of A and again, you
mentioned this sort of towards

463
00:22:33,160 --> 00:22:36,920
the beginning of the interview
already, but it's a lot to do

464
00:22:36,920 --> 00:22:39,600
with our associations.
And because all of us have our

465
00:22:39,680 --> 00:22:43,240
own very subjective experiences,
what makes our creativity so

466
00:22:43,240 --> 00:22:46,200
much fun is that there's no two
people with the same

467
00:22:46,200 --> 00:22:48,320
experiences, no two people in
genetics.

468
00:22:48,600 --> 00:22:52,200
And So what they would if you if
I asked you what do you

469
00:22:52,200 --> 00:22:54,400
associate with B.B.
King?

470
00:22:54,960 --> 00:22:56,800
You and I will have very
different answers.

471
00:22:57,120 --> 00:23:00,880
My only association with him
might be this, do this duets

472
00:23:00,880 --> 00:23:03,520
album that he has and I'm
associating him with with other

473
00:23:03,520 --> 00:23:04,720
artists.
And you could associate him as,

474
00:23:05,040 --> 00:23:08,520
as a, as a Blues, you know, a
performer by himself and and

475
00:23:08,520 --> 00:23:10,080
what you get.
There are totally different

476
00:23:10,080 --> 00:23:12,640
universes, even though we're
talking about the same subject.

477
00:23:12,920 --> 00:23:14,320
Yeah.
And I think that's actually the

478
00:23:14,320 --> 00:23:17,240
beauty of the arts, right?
That it is very, you know, we we

479
00:23:17,240 --> 00:23:20,120
talk about music and music
exists in a culture, right?

480
00:23:20,120 --> 00:23:22,880
And exists in a context.
So that's me wearing my my

481
00:23:22,880 --> 00:23:26,120
historical musicology hat.
That music has a context and

482
00:23:26,120 --> 00:23:28,960
culture and no artist creates in
a vacuum.

483
00:23:28,960 --> 00:23:31,160
They were influenced by so many
different things.

484
00:23:31,640 --> 00:23:34,040
And so it's, it's interesting
trying to blend these things,

485
00:23:34,040 --> 00:23:36,200
you know, in the, in musicology
and in the arts.

486
00:23:36,200 --> 00:23:39,160
We understand that arts have a
context, but at the same time, I

487
00:23:39,160 --> 00:23:42,840
think sometimes our science is
all about trying to find what is

488
00:23:42,840 --> 00:23:46,120
common to a bunch of things,
what is replicable, rigorous.

489
00:23:46,120 --> 00:23:50,400
And so I think we, we, we found
a good way to navigate both,

490
00:23:50,400 --> 00:23:52,160
right?
We do the group size, what that

491
00:23:52,160 --> 00:23:54,880
we call cohort studies.
When you take a bunch of people

492
00:23:55,040 --> 00:23:58,000
and you average all the results
together, We do that because

493
00:23:58,000 --> 00:24:00,160
that is what we need for
science, right?

494
00:24:00,160 --> 00:24:03,040
Reprint, you know, rigor,
reproducibility, but then we're

495
00:24:03,040 --> 00:24:06,000
also doing these case series
because as Charles and I talked

496
00:24:06,000 --> 00:24:09,640
about and like as an artist, you
would never say like Renee

497
00:24:09,640 --> 00:24:11,920
Fleming is the same as Coltrane,
right?

498
00:24:11,920 --> 00:24:14,920
Like we're all artists, we're
both all they're all equally

499
00:24:14,920 --> 00:24:17,560
talented, but they do really
different things.

500
00:24:17,560 --> 00:24:19,680
So why would you average them
together, right?

501
00:24:19,880 --> 00:24:22,760
And so that's why we do these
case studies because I'm like,

502
00:24:22,760 --> 00:24:25,720
you know, and Esperanza Spalding
is different from her Romy.

503
00:24:25,720 --> 00:24:29,120
They're both top of their game
and jazz right now, but their

504
00:24:29,120 --> 00:24:32,120
braids probably have these
unique things that make them

505
00:24:32,120 --> 00:24:35,040
them as well as like, you know,
when they create, you have their

506
00:24:35,040 --> 00:24:37,360
unique voice, right?
Everyone brings their, their

507
00:24:37,360 --> 00:24:39,120
experiences to their
performance.

508
00:24:39,120 --> 00:24:43,120
So This is why we advocated for
using a case study approach too.

509
00:24:43,120 --> 00:24:45,680
Now, of course, the, the hard
part about it from a science

510
00:24:45,680 --> 00:24:48,600
perspective, they're like, well,
if it's only an N = 1, right?

511
00:24:48,600 --> 00:24:52,440
If you only have one case study,
you can't, you can't generalize

512
00:24:52,440 --> 00:24:53,840
to the rest of the people,
right?

513
00:24:53,840 --> 00:24:55,880
Like Esperanza Spalding isn't
like the rest.

514
00:24:55,880 --> 00:24:58,200
I'm like, understandable.
And that is a fair, fair

515
00:24:58,200 --> 00:25:00,600
critique.
Of course we can't generalize

516
00:25:00,600 --> 00:25:03,800
Esperanza's brain into somebody
else's, but maybe there's

517
00:25:03,800 --> 00:25:06,200
something we can learn like the
more of these case studies we

518
00:25:06,200 --> 00:25:09,000
do, maybe there is then we can
there's maybe patterns that come

519
00:25:09,000 --> 00:25:12,040
out or there's things that we
learn just from looking at

520
00:25:12,040 --> 00:25:15,200
somebody's unique brain, right?
It's just like, yeah, but when

521
00:25:15,200 --> 00:25:17,680
people studied Beethoven's
brain, I'm pretty sure they

522
00:25:17,680 --> 00:25:20,440
analyzed Beethoven's brain,
Einstein's brain, all these

523
00:25:20,440 --> 00:25:23,280
greats throughout history.
There probably are things that

524
00:25:23,280 --> 00:25:25,760
make them very unique.
And then there's probably things

525
00:25:25,760 --> 00:25:29,520
that are pretty common to high
achieving scientists, artists,

526
00:25:29,520 --> 00:25:31,840
etcetera too.
So I think it's a it's, it's

527
00:25:31,840 --> 00:25:35,840
we're always mirroring both.
And to be fair, the whole field

528
00:25:35,840 --> 00:25:39,360
of neuroscience of creativity is
relatively young.

529
00:25:39,360 --> 00:25:42,200
I mean, Doctor Lamb Charles says
that when he started this, there

530
00:25:42,200 --> 00:25:43,920
was not a lot of people doing
it.

531
00:25:43,920 --> 00:25:47,840
And now we have an entire
academic society, the Society

532
00:25:47,840 --> 00:25:50,200
for the Neuroscience of
Creativity, that does work in

533
00:25:50,200 --> 00:25:52,880
this field.
So it's changed a lot, just even

534
00:25:52,880 --> 00:25:55,680
in like 25 years.
So it's really exciting.

535
00:25:55,680 --> 00:25:58,120
It's really exciting because,
because, because we could see

536
00:25:58,120 --> 00:26:00,600
that there are benefits and I
want to talk to you about some

537
00:26:00,600 --> 00:26:02,400
of them and one of the benefits
potentially.

538
00:26:02,720 --> 00:26:05,520
And again with creativity and,
and this is an observation that

539
00:26:05,520 --> 00:26:07,160
I've had and I wonder what you
think about it.

540
00:26:07,520 --> 00:26:11,360
I've noticed that a lot of the
great improv improvisers or the

541
00:26:11,360 --> 00:26:18,160
improv, Oh my gosh, players or
bands all tend to be extremely

542
00:26:18,160 --> 00:26:21,960
steeped in a lot of different
types of musical backgrounds.

543
00:26:22,240 --> 00:26:24,480
And so whether you're talking
about The Allman Brothers or

544
00:26:24,480 --> 00:26:26,120
you're talking about the
Grateful Dead, you're talking

545
00:26:26,120 --> 00:26:28,520
about Billy Strings, you're
talking about even Ella

546
00:26:28,520 --> 00:26:30,560
Fitzgerald.
And again, we, I think we talked

547
00:26:30,560 --> 00:26:35,920
to you about in Doctor Dan
Levitan's book about her, her

548
00:26:35,920 --> 00:26:38,280
scatting, I believe, or maybe I
don't remember if I talked to

549
00:26:38,280 --> 00:26:39,760
you about that.
But then you know that there's

550
00:26:39,760 --> 00:26:43,880
something about the like what
you said, the, the, the vocals,

551
00:26:43,880 --> 00:26:46,320
the words as opposed to just
playing where you can kind of

552
00:26:46,320 --> 00:26:48,800
riff based on your, on your
experiences.

553
00:26:49,520 --> 00:26:53,760
It it almost seems that in order
to be able to be a great

554
00:26:53,760 --> 00:26:56,680
improviser, you got to be able
to have a big pool of data to

555
00:26:56,680 --> 00:26:58,000
draw from.
Yes.

556
00:26:58,040 --> 00:26:59,520
And in fact, that's actually
here.

557
00:26:59,520 --> 00:27:01,920
I'm going to pause one second
because I hear my husband

558
00:27:01,920 --> 00:27:05,000
starting to play cello.
So I'm going to just.

559
00:27:05,560 --> 00:27:06,960
There you go.
Yeah, thank you.

560
00:27:06,960 --> 00:27:09,480
So yeah your to your point about
that a lot of the great

561
00:27:09,480 --> 00:27:12,800
improvisers have a lot of
knowledge of different genres or

562
00:27:12,800 --> 00:27:14,480
if you I think that's absolutely
true.

563
00:27:14,480 --> 00:27:18,280
So there have been theorists who
have put forth these frameworks

564
00:27:18,280 --> 00:27:21,360
for improvisation and for
example, pressing.

565
00:27:21,360 --> 00:27:25,040
Pressing is someone who
theorized like how do people

566
00:27:25,040 --> 00:27:26,640
improvise?
Like what is the process?

567
00:27:26,640 --> 00:27:30,000
And what he basically says in,
and I'm summarizing, it's

568
00:27:30,000 --> 00:27:33,480
basically that if you're really
experienced improviser, you have

569
00:27:33,480 --> 00:27:36,240
all these licks and schemas in
your head, right?

570
00:27:36,240 --> 00:27:38,320
You've played all the scales,
you know the scheme, you know

571
00:27:38,320 --> 00:27:42,120
the licks, you know what to do.
And so then when you get very

572
00:27:42,120 --> 00:27:45,280
good at it and you've practiced
all those that knowledge and

573
00:27:45,280 --> 00:27:47,840
it's at your fingertips or your
mouth or whatever it is, then

574
00:27:47,840 --> 00:27:50,600
when you sit down to just
create, you're not playing for

575
00:27:50,600 --> 00:27:52,280
nothing.
You're just concatenating and

576
00:27:52,280 --> 00:27:55,040
bringing things together in
really unique ways on the spot.

577
00:27:55,240 --> 00:27:57,480
But it's not that you're
actually pulling from thin air.

578
00:27:57,480 --> 00:27:59,600
You're actually pulling from a
lot of knowledge.

579
00:27:59,880 --> 00:28:01,960
So you know, and that's
something like, for example,

580
00:28:01,960 --> 00:28:05,280
Zakir Hussein, who's the
greatest Dublin master that ever

581
00:28:05,280 --> 00:28:07,080
lived.
He just passed away in December.

582
00:28:07,320 --> 00:28:09,320
But one of the things that was
really great about him is not

583
00:28:09,320 --> 00:28:13,160
only is he fantastic at Dubla,
which is Hindustani classical

584
00:28:13,280 --> 00:28:16,280
percussion improvisation, but he
was genre bending, right?

585
00:28:16,280 --> 00:28:19,080
He would work with jazz
musicians or you know, and I

586
00:28:19,080 --> 00:28:20,760
love that.
I love, I love artists who

587
00:28:20,760 --> 00:28:25,160
really kind of go outside their
normal routine and can work with

588
00:28:25,160 --> 00:28:27,440
all sorts of different artists
and create something really new.

589
00:28:27,440 --> 00:28:30,360
I know yo-yo Ma as a classical
musician does that too, right?

590
00:28:30,680 --> 00:28:34,440
So I think This is why we love
the idea of looking at each

591
00:28:34,440 --> 00:28:36,800
artist.
Each artist has their own unique

592
00:28:36,800 --> 00:28:38,680
way of things and recombining
things.

593
00:28:38,680 --> 00:28:41,640
And I think this is where the
case study approach has a lot of

594
00:28:42,360 --> 00:28:44,800
benefit, even if it means we
can't generalize to the whole

595
00:28:44,800 --> 00:28:46,880
population.
Definitely, definitely,

596
00:28:46,880 --> 00:28:48,800
definitely.
And I'm also, and I also wonder

597
00:28:48,800 --> 00:28:51,920
if you were to tell someone,
hey, if you want, if you want a

598
00:28:51,960 --> 00:28:54,720
healthier brain or a little bit
more of a if you want to

599
00:28:54,720 --> 00:28:57,320
experience a more
neurogeneration or more

600
00:28:57,320 --> 00:29:01,920
neuroplasticity would expose
themselves to more and different

601
00:29:01,920 --> 00:29:05,440
types of either music or just in
general different types of

602
00:29:05,480 --> 00:29:09,960
information be a necessary
requirement in order to do so.

603
00:29:10,160 --> 00:29:12,880
Yeah, absolutely.
So that was definitely the focus

604
00:29:12,880 --> 00:29:16,880
of my PhD is like I would say as
a researcher that if you want to

605
00:29:16,880 --> 00:29:21,120
increase neuroplasticity, right,
you should learn new skills, do

606
00:29:21,120 --> 00:29:23,200
things that are complex and
multimodal.

607
00:29:23,200 --> 00:29:27,200
So when I say that the reason
music is very powerful as a tool

608
00:29:27,200 --> 00:29:29,840
for neurogenesis, for
neuroplasticity, is because

609
00:29:30,120 --> 00:29:33,360
music involves so many different
activities and processes and

610
00:29:33,360 --> 00:29:36,120
domestics, right?
There's pattern recognition and

611
00:29:36,120 --> 00:29:40,200
emotional processing and sound
matching and moving your body

612
00:29:40,200 --> 00:29:42,800
and moving your fingers and
matching to space and your

613
00:29:42,800 --> 00:29:45,560
memory.
And so because of that, I often

614
00:29:45,560 --> 00:29:48,160
say that that's why music is
biologically powerful.

615
00:29:48,160 --> 00:29:50,960
So let's say you were, and you
know, a lot of the research

616
00:29:50,960 --> 00:29:55,600
shows if you play music, if you
try it as a new skill, it does

617
00:29:55,600 --> 00:29:58,280
do great things for the brain.
And this is particularly

618
00:29:58,280 --> 00:30:00,520
important because if you think
about it from the opposite

619
00:30:00,520 --> 00:30:04,280
spectrum, by the time we get
old, right, when we're older,

620
00:30:04,480 --> 00:30:06,520
there are neurodegenerative
disorders, right?

621
00:30:06,520 --> 00:30:08,240
There's Parkinson's and
Alzheimer's.

622
00:30:08,240 --> 00:30:09,960
That's from the death of
neurons, right?

623
00:30:09,960 --> 00:30:13,440
So if you can do things like
music, which almost will serve

624
00:30:13,440 --> 00:30:16,040
as a prophylactic kind of thing
where you're increasing

625
00:30:16,040 --> 00:30:18,760
neurogenesis, right?
That helps combat this kind of

626
00:30:18,760 --> 00:30:21,240
cognitive decline that's going
to happen with age for all of

627
00:30:21,240 --> 00:30:23,880
us.
So I for a long time, I've

628
00:30:23,880 --> 00:30:27,560
always told everyone do music,
you know, like even listening to

629
00:30:27,560 --> 00:30:29,960
music is good, listening to new
things is good, but actually

630
00:30:29,960 --> 00:30:33,360
doing it to like that procedure,
cubedral memory of trying to do

631
00:30:33,360 --> 00:30:36,400
something is really important.
And if you're not into music,

632
00:30:36,400 --> 00:30:37,720
there are other things you can
do, right?

633
00:30:37,720 --> 00:30:39,720
That's why people recommend
things like learning new

634
00:30:39,720 --> 00:30:43,040
languages or crossword puzzles
or doing a new learning a new

635
00:30:43,040 --> 00:30:45,520
art form, right.
But I do think music is as a, as

636
00:30:45,520 --> 00:30:49,160
a researcher studies music, I
think music is particularly

637
00:30:49,160 --> 00:30:52,760
powerful because it is so
multimodal is draws from sound

638
00:30:52,760 --> 00:30:55,400
and pattern recognition and
emotion and, and everything

639
00:30:55,400 --> 00:30:57,000
language.
And so it's all, it's very

640
00:30:57,000 --> 00:30:59,480
powerful when packaged together.
I love that.

641
00:30:59,600 --> 00:31:02,440
I really do Okay, I want to talk
about perception a little bit.

642
00:31:02,440 --> 00:31:04,480
I'm really excited about
perception because.

643
00:31:05,440 --> 00:31:08,800
And I have a, I guess I have
maybe one example that I've

644
00:31:08,800 --> 00:31:10,200
given before the podcast, but
I've.

645
00:31:10,400 --> 00:31:14,640
So I for many years, I was a
Bruce Springsteen nut.

646
00:31:17,120 --> 00:31:19,360
Yeah, many of us.
And I found really, really,

647
00:31:19,360 --> 00:31:22,240
really that he had, as far as
I'm concerned, save my life in

648
00:31:22,240 --> 00:31:25,920
emotional way, emotional ways
throughout the years and the

649
00:31:25,920 --> 00:31:28,840
biggest risks and the times that
I've really had to step up to

650
00:31:28,840 --> 00:31:32,160
the plate.
Most of my life I was I was

651
00:31:32,240 --> 00:31:34,280
helped along by his lyrics and
his music.

652
00:31:35,280 --> 00:31:40,400
And then I tried showing his to
my high school students and I

653
00:31:40,400 --> 00:31:43,440
found that they weren't as crazy
about it as I was.

654
00:31:43,680 --> 00:31:48,640
And so I, so I tried an
experiment, my own self

655
00:31:48,640 --> 00:31:52,200
experiment as a high school
teacher, where I played the song

656
00:31:52,200 --> 00:31:55,800
Badlands from then the
Springsteen song Badlands every

657
00:31:55,800 --> 00:31:58,200
day for four days.
It's a, it's a, it's a school

658
00:31:58,200 --> 00:32:00,240
week.
And I asked them to point out

659
00:32:00,240 --> 00:32:02,600
what they noticed about the song
the first day and then the

660
00:32:02,600 --> 00:32:04,080
second day, the third day and
the fourth day.

661
00:32:04,080 --> 00:32:07,400
And as music became more
familiar to their ear and as

662
00:32:07,400 --> 00:32:10,880
they became to and as the song
wasn't so strange because they,

663
00:32:10,960 --> 00:32:14,320
you know, they're not hearing
this new rock tone, rhythm,

664
00:32:14,320 --> 00:32:17,360
whatever it is, for the first
time, they started to notice

665
00:32:17,360 --> 00:32:21,720
drum fills and guitar riffs and
specific lyrics that jump out at

666
00:32:21,720 --> 00:32:23,320
them.
And the way that I like to set

667
00:32:23,320 --> 00:32:26,080
the way that the metaphor that I
walked away from with is almost

668
00:32:26,080 --> 00:32:28,200
like when you meet someone for
the first time, you judge them

669
00:32:28,200 --> 00:32:31,360
initially based on the most
external aspects of them.

670
00:32:31,680 --> 00:32:32,960
And then as you get to talk to
them.

671
00:32:32,960 --> 00:32:34,640
Oh, you like music too?
I like music too.

672
00:32:34,640 --> 00:32:36,200
You like psychology.
I like psychology.

673
00:32:36,200 --> 00:32:37,960
You have a family.
I have a family All of a sudden

674
00:32:38,480 --> 00:32:41,200
you, even though I would have,
you know, I would have judged

675
00:32:41,200 --> 00:32:44,800
one way, as I got to know you a
little bit more, my perception

676
00:32:44,800 --> 00:32:47,360
evolves and my and I'm able to
notice more nuance.

677
00:32:47,880 --> 00:32:50,240
I feel like that's the way that
we actually go ahead about

678
00:32:50,240 --> 00:32:52,440
processing things like music as
well.

679
00:32:53,000 --> 00:32:54,280
Absolutely.
Absolutely.

680
00:32:54,640 --> 00:32:56,920
Yeah, absolutely.
So I wish I could remember

681
00:32:56,920 --> 00:33:00,720
exactly who the author of this
paper is, but there was AAI

682
00:33:00,720 --> 00:33:03,560
think I want music theorist or
musicologist who talked about,

683
00:33:03,800 --> 00:33:07,200
you know, if you're reading a
detective story, you get

684
00:33:07,200 --> 00:33:09,680
something on the first reading,
then the second reading and the

685
00:33:09,680 --> 00:33:11,320
third reading, right?
So if you were reading a

686
00:33:11,320 --> 00:33:13,560
detective story, right, the
first reading, you're just like,

687
00:33:13,560 --> 00:33:16,160
OK, I want to know who did it,
You know, like, OK, does this

688
00:33:16,160 --> 00:33:16,880
all make sense?
Right.

689
00:33:17,080 --> 00:33:21,040
But then you can still go back
and read a mystery novel again,

690
00:33:21,040 --> 00:33:23,840
because then we're like, oh,
were there clues all along?

691
00:33:23,840 --> 00:33:24,960
Like should I have seen
something?

692
00:33:25,120 --> 00:33:28,160
And then then 30, I picked up
all these details I didn't

693
00:33:28,160 --> 00:33:30,440
notice the first time, right?
Which is kind of like analogous

694
00:33:30,440 --> 00:33:33,160
to your saying that like when we
see each other, there's only the

695
00:33:33,160 --> 00:33:36,520
surface things before you get to
deeper, deeper meaning and deep

696
00:33:36,520 --> 00:33:39,760
in common underground.
So we so someone in I'll have to

697
00:33:39,760 --> 00:33:42,560
find the paper for you later.
But someone also said it's

698
00:33:42,560 --> 00:33:45,560
analogous to music listenings
where you have a first hearing,

699
00:33:45,560 --> 00:33:47,160
a second hearing and a third
hearing.

700
00:33:47,160 --> 00:33:50,840
So maybe on the first hearing,
you're just getting very surface

701
00:33:50,840 --> 00:33:52,600
things like how long is the
piece?

702
00:33:52,600 --> 00:33:54,360
What's the general feel, things
like that.

703
00:33:54,360 --> 00:33:56,360
But by second hearing, you're
starting to know where is it

704
00:33:56,360 --> 00:33:58,480
going?
What are the details?

705
00:33:58,480 --> 00:34:01,360
What do the lyrics really mean?
And you know, and then by the

706
00:34:01,360 --> 00:34:03,720
third hearing, you're getting
all those smaller details like

707
00:34:03,720 --> 00:34:05,760
where is their silence?
Where are their drum fills?

708
00:34:05,760 --> 00:34:08,280
Where does it like pick up and
if the chorus sounds really

709
00:34:08,280 --> 00:34:11,159
different, right?
And I think with any what

710
00:34:11,159 --> 00:34:14,639
beautiful art, whether that's
writing music, whatever, you

711
00:34:14,639 --> 00:34:18,320
gain a lot from multiple
hearings and I think or multiple

712
00:34:18,320 --> 00:34:20,280
listenings, hearings, readings,
etcetera.

713
00:34:20,280 --> 00:34:23,760
I think definitely with music,
and that's something I think is

714
00:34:23,760 --> 00:34:26,239
very hard for a lot of people
who need to classical music.

715
00:34:26,520 --> 00:34:29,239
It has a complexity, you know,
like the first time you hear it,

716
00:34:29,239 --> 00:34:30,719
you're not going to grab
everything.

717
00:34:30,719 --> 00:34:33,800
There's too many chords that go
so it's 1/2 hour piece.

718
00:34:33,800 --> 00:34:36,840
How can you take that all in the
first time that you can, right?

719
00:34:37,159 --> 00:34:39,880
But if you keep keep with it and
you keep listening to it, you

720
00:34:39,880 --> 00:34:41,400
will start discovering new
things.

721
00:34:41,400 --> 00:34:44,880
And there is cognitive science
work that shows that familiarity

722
00:34:45,040 --> 00:34:47,320
increases liking.
The more familiar you are with

723
00:34:47,320 --> 00:34:51,560
something, the more you like it.
Now there is at the same time,

724
00:34:51,560 --> 00:34:54,639
that's with a caveat.
So there was this person who

725
00:34:54,719 --> 00:34:57,400
designed something called the
Burline curve and they said

726
00:34:57,400 --> 00:35:00,400
really where you have your peak
interest and something is when

727
00:35:00,400 --> 00:35:04,040
it's optimum complexity.
So if it's too simple, you don't

728
00:35:04,040 --> 00:35:06,800
like it because it's boring.
If it's too hard, you can't

729
00:35:06,800 --> 00:35:08,840
understand it, right?
The optimum place where you're

730
00:35:08,840 --> 00:35:11,120
really starting to get it is
when it's like the medium, the

731
00:35:11,120 --> 00:35:13,800
optimum complexity.
And I think I tie that a lot to

732
00:35:13,800 --> 00:35:16,160
these listenings to write the
first at the first time, it's

733
00:35:16,160 --> 00:35:17,840
too hard to understand
everything.

734
00:35:18,160 --> 00:35:20,280
And then if it were too simple,
you would just get bored

735
00:35:20,280 --> 00:35:22,400
eventually.
But like, good music or good art

736
00:35:22,400 --> 00:35:24,680
is worth a second try where you
really are starting to bring in

737
00:35:24,880 --> 00:35:27,840
all those complexities.
So basically that phenomenon

738
00:35:27,840 --> 00:35:30,800
that you notice with your high
school students is pretty much

739
00:35:30,800 --> 00:35:32,600
backed up by cognitive science
as well.

740
00:35:32,600 --> 00:35:37,000
Here we go.
I'm happy to hear that.

741
00:35:37,000 --> 00:35:37,920
I'm happy to hear that.
I'm not.

742
00:35:40,880 --> 00:35:42,280
That's so great.
That's so great.

743
00:35:42,440 --> 00:35:43,840
Well, yeah.
And I noticed that too, by the

744
00:35:43,840 --> 00:35:45,480
way, because I was listening to.
So I was listening to a Billy

745
00:35:45,480 --> 00:35:47,280
Strings song yesterday while I
was jogging.

746
00:35:47,280 --> 00:35:49,640
And obviously one of the
benefits of listening to some

747
00:35:49,840 --> 00:35:53,160
great live performers as opposed
to studio variations is that

748
00:35:53,200 --> 00:35:55,760
they tend to be a little,
especially if you're a fun

749
00:35:55,880 --> 00:35:58,480
jammer, quote UN quote.
And you're and you don't then

750
00:35:58,480 --> 00:36:00,440
then even though you might
recognize the bare bones of the

751
00:36:00,440 --> 00:36:03,000
song or the structure of the
song, there's something fun

752
00:36:03,000 --> 00:36:06,640
about the, the new, the, the,
the newness and the novelty to

753
00:36:06,720 --> 00:36:07,920
the jam.
Yeah.

754
00:36:07,960 --> 00:36:10,840
And I'm listening to a song and
it's called While I'm Waiting

755
00:36:10,840 --> 00:36:14,280
Here and, and I was thinking, I
just, I know I was thinking I'm

756
00:36:14,280 --> 00:36:16,760
jogging like I love this song.
It just is something about the

757
00:36:16,760 --> 00:36:19,240
song that really hits.
And I realized it kind of sounds

758
00:36:19,240 --> 00:36:22,800
like a lot of songs that I know,
but it's just being done really,

759
00:36:22,800 --> 00:36:25,360
really like well with the cool
flair that I like.

760
00:36:25,360 --> 00:36:28,360
And I and I was, and I was like,
oh, maybe that's why it's, you

761
00:36:28,360 --> 00:36:30,560
know, that's why it's hitting
particularly well for me.

762
00:36:30,800 --> 00:36:34,200
Whereas if there's a song whose
title I don't recognize and

763
00:36:34,280 --> 00:36:37,840
source I don't recognize, and if
the name sounds a little weird

764
00:36:37,840 --> 00:36:40,080
for what I would imagine the
song, a song titled to be

765
00:36:40,080 --> 00:36:43,160
called, I'm far, far more
hesitant.

766
00:36:43,160 --> 00:36:45,520
Even if I love the artist and
even if I already know that I

767
00:36:45,520 --> 00:36:48,320
like the artist, I'm hesitant to
jump into it.

768
00:36:48,320 --> 00:36:52,640
And I, and, and, and I don't and
I don't, I, I one of the bigger

769
00:36:52,640 --> 00:36:54,800
struggles that I have actually,
even though I like to be open

770
00:36:54,800 --> 00:36:58,120
minded, is that I'm, I am very
quick to judge books by a cover,

771
00:36:58,120 --> 00:36:59,960
by their covers.
And and it's really hard for me

772
00:36:59,960 --> 00:37:01,920
to get over.
I mean, that's also pretty

773
00:37:01,920 --> 00:37:04,160
normal, right?
So there has been work in music

774
00:37:04,160 --> 00:37:06,200
cognition about music
preferences, right?

775
00:37:06,200 --> 00:37:10,320
And music preferences are not
only shaped by biological things

776
00:37:10,320 --> 00:37:12,520
like your temperament, your
psych, you know, that you're

777
00:37:12,600 --> 00:37:15,680
your natural temperament force
things, but also by like, you

778
00:37:15,680 --> 00:37:18,080
know, your culture and your
experience, your lived

779
00:37:18,080 --> 00:37:19,840
experience and things like that,
right?

780
00:37:19,840 --> 00:37:23,520
And you know, something that we
often talk about too is how do

781
00:37:23,520 --> 00:37:26,760
we define creativity, right?
A lot of the really creative

782
00:37:26,760 --> 00:37:30,760
things that we deem creative are
not so completely novel that you

783
00:37:30,760 --> 00:37:32,240
can't even recognize them,
right?

784
00:37:32,240 --> 00:37:35,400
Like, you know, I think there's
this idea that creative things

785
00:37:35,400 --> 00:37:40,160
are things that are useful and
novel and like recombine

786
00:37:40,160 --> 00:37:42,240
familiar elements.
I mean, I always think about

787
00:37:42,240 --> 00:37:44,200
this, like when Harry Potter
came on the scene.

788
00:37:44,200 --> 00:37:46,560
I, I think it's hugely creative
back from when we were young,

789
00:37:46,560 --> 00:37:49,440
right in the 90s and stuff.
But it, it does use tropes,

790
00:37:49,440 --> 00:37:51,400
right?
Like Harry Palmiter uses, you

791
00:37:51,400 --> 00:37:54,160
know, the boarding school, the
British boarding school, magic

792
00:37:54,160 --> 00:37:56,560
things.
But the way that she recombined

793
00:37:56,560 --> 00:37:58,960
them was so unique for the time,
right?

794
00:37:58,960 --> 00:38:02,440
And so a lot of what we think is
create creative is also

795
00:38:02,440 --> 00:38:05,200
sometimes just about recombining
them in a really cool

796
00:38:05,320 --> 00:38:06,840
juxtaposition that we hadn't
seen.

797
00:38:06,960 --> 00:38:09,560
I mean, that I think goes back
to what we're saying with jazz

798
00:38:09,560 --> 00:38:12,440
and improv, right.
They're not pulling it from out

799
00:38:12,440 --> 00:38:14,840
of thin air, even though it
seems to imagine playground.

800
00:38:15,200 --> 00:38:16,320
Yeah, there's still a
playground.

801
00:38:16,320 --> 00:38:18,560
There's still some structure.
They're still playing schemas

802
00:38:18,560 --> 00:38:21,400
and licks and things like that.
Like if you were going to take I

803
00:38:21,400 --> 00:38:22,600
like.
So one of the things I love is

804
00:38:22,600 --> 00:38:26,600
Coltrane's my my Favorite Things
from Sound of Music.

805
00:38:27,000 --> 00:38:28,320
Well, you start with a lick,
right?

806
00:38:28,320 --> 00:38:30,920
The, you know, my favorite
things, and then he improvises

807
00:38:30,920 --> 00:38:33,280
on it.
But like if he improvised so far

808
00:38:33,280 --> 00:38:35,520
that it broke down and you
couldn't even hear that was my

809
00:38:35,520 --> 00:38:38,040
favorite things anymore.
Probably not as enjoyable,

810
00:38:38,040 --> 00:38:39,800
right.
The reason it's enjoyable is it

811
00:38:39,800 --> 00:38:43,360
has that familiarity.
Like it still sounds like my

812
00:38:43,360 --> 00:38:47,320
favorite things, but done so
well, you know, so I, I, I think

813
00:38:47,320 --> 00:38:50,000
that's completely normal.
Like your experience, not only

814
00:38:50,000 --> 00:38:52,600
is there interaction with, you
know, like I said that your

815
00:38:52,600 --> 00:38:54,920
biological and your
psychological temperament, but

816
00:38:54,920 --> 00:38:59,000
then there's also this idea that
like it's familiar enough, but

817
00:38:59,000 --> 00:39:01,560
novel enough that it's both
creating of an interest.

818
00:39:01,560 --> 00:39:02,280
I.
Have to check that out.

819
00:39:02,680 --> 00:39:03,800
I have to check that out.
I might.

820
00:39:03,800 --> 00:39:06,840
One of my favorite examples of
that is Duke Ellington

821
00:39:06,920 --> 00:39:10,360
Nutcracker.
Yeah, Oh my God, it's so much.

822
00:39:10,840 --> 00:39:14,360
It's so cool, yeah.
And then you're like, and you're

823
00:39:14,400 --> 00:39:17,040
like, yeah.
What would Kaikowski think?

824
00:39:17,040 --> 00:39:19,400
But he'd probably love it, yeah.
Totally.

825
00:39:19,400 --> 00:39:22,040
And what I, what I've done is
and what I, what I like to do is

826
00:39:22,040 --> 00:39:24,160
I do creative writing
assignments in my class where

827
00:39:24,160 --> 00:39:27,680
I'll just play all, you know,
instrumental music and I have

828
00:39:27,680 --> 00:39:31,000
the class write what pops into
their mind, what associations

829
00:39:31,000 --> 00:39:32,320
and imagery pops into their
mind.

830
00:39:32,640 --> 00:39:36,840
And, and what's fun is to do
comparative, I'll play the nut

831
00:39:36,920 --> 00:39:39,560
Nutcracker and then I'll play
Duke Ellington's The Nutcracker.

832
00:39:39,880 --> 00:39:42,000
I just see, like, does this take
you to the same place?

833
00:39:42,000 --> 00:39:44,520
Where does this take you to and
how and how does it how does it

834
00:39:44,520 --> 00:39:47,080
differ?
What aspects of music causes the

835
00:39:47,080 --> 00:39:48,320
change?
And I try to actually get them

836
00:39:48,320 --> 00:39:50,920
to identify.
Is it the fact that it's a brass

837
00:39:50,920 --> 00:39:53,520
section that changes things?
Is the fact that it's a horn

838
00:39:53,520 --> 00:39:56,800
section that creates a new world
in your head as opposed to just

839
00:39:56,800 --> 00:39:59,760
a soft piano?
So it's really cool, the

840
00:39:59,760 --> 00:40:03,800
cochlear implants and the
trouble in perception with music

841
00:40:03,800 --> 00:40:06,120
as opposed to speech.
Yeah, let's talk about that.

842
00:40:06,200 --> 00:40:08,920
Yeah.
So if you think about speech

843
00:40:08,920 --> 00:40:12,160
versus music, music is actually
one of the richest acoustic

844
00:40:12,160 --> 00:40:16,720
stimuli we ever hear as humans.
So what I mean by that is music

845
00:40:16,920 --> 00:40:21,040
offer goes through a much wider
pitch range than speech.

846
00:40:21,040 --> 00:40:24,080
Speech is in a much more narrow.
We also have wider dynamics,

847
00:40:24,120 --> 00:40:27,800
right, like much more sound, you
know, soft and loud.

848
00:40:28,080 --> 00:40:30,120
We have a lot more different
tambers.

849
00:40:30,120 --> 00:40:32,640
You know, in speech, we have
female male voices and there's

850
00:40:32,640 --> 00:40:34,480
different tambers.
But then think about how many

851
00:40:34,480 --> 00:40:37,360
instruments there are, right?
And so that's it's, it's

852
00:40:37,360 --> 00:40:41,560
basically music is much more
acoustically rich than speech if

853
00:40:41,560 --> 00:40:42,840
you just look at them as
stimuli.

854
00:40:42,840 --> 00:40:46,040
And for that reason, you know,
cochlear implants are amazing

855
00:40:46,040 --> 00:40:48,320
devices, right?
And that they help people Now

856
00:40:48,320 --> 00:40:50,960
here again.
But what happens is the cochlear

857
00:40:50,960 --> 00:40:55,080
implant has like 12 electrodes
in this little implant device

858
00:40:55,080 --> 00:40:58,400
that's supposed to stimulate the
thousands of hair cells that you

859
00:40:58,400 --> 00:41:00,760
would normally have, right?
If in the human ear.

860
00:41:00,760 --> 00:41:05,000
And there's no way 12 to 24
electrodes could simulate, like,

861
00:41:05,000 --> 00:41:07,680
be as pristine as thousands and
thousands of hair cells.

862
00:41:08,080 --> 00:41:10,720
And so that's why there's a
technological limitation for why

863
00:41:10,720 --> 00:41:14,360
cochlear implants can't pick up
all the richness of things like

864
00:41:14,360 --> 00:41:16,920
music and speech.
And so really right now, what

865
00:41:16,920 --> 00:41:19,600
the research field is trying to
figure out is, OK, well, what

866
00:41:19,600 --> 00:41:22,200
does music sound like to a
cochlear implant user?

867
00:41:22,200 --> 00:41:25,040
And, you know, and it, it really
varies, you know, for kids who

868
00:41:25,040 --> 00:41:27,440
get cochlear implants, let's say
you had a deaf child and they

869
00:41:27,440 --> 00:41:30,440
get implanted early.
They adapt very well, again, not

870
00:41:30,440 --> 00:41:33,640
surprisingly, because they have
very plastic brains, right?

871
00:41:33,800 --> 00:41:35,760
They're developing.
So the brain's already going

872
00:41:35,840 --> 00:41:38,680
undergoing a lot of structure.
It's not hard to get used to,

873
00:41:39,120 --> 00:41:41,480
you know, to remodel itself and
get used to listening to a

874
00:41:41,480 --> 00:41:43,520
cochlear implant.
But let's say you're an older

875
00:41:43,520 --> 00:41:44,960
person getting a cochlear
implant.

876
00:41:44,960 --> 00:41:48,000
Well, it is going to be harder
to train your brain to hear now

877
00:41:48,000 --> 00:41:50,440
with this device instead of, you
know, your ears.

878
00:41:50,440 --> 00:41:54,040
And so we are trying to look at
what how do music, how do

879
00:41:54,040 --> 00:41:56,480
cochlear implant users hear
music?

880
00:41:56,720 --> 00:41:59,200
And how is that different from
something like a hearing aid?

881
00:41:59,200 --> 00:42:01,480
You know, so the cochlear
implant actually replaces all

882
00:42:01,480 --> 00:42:03,960
those thousands of hair cells in
your cochlea, right?

883
00:42:04,360 --> 00:42:06,680
A hearing aid is different.
It just amplifies.

884
00:42:06,680 --> 00:42:09,240
It's like an acoustic signal
just amplifies what you might

885
00:42:09,240 --> 00:42:11,360
not hear very well.
And then that's really different

886
00:42:11,360 --> 00:42:14,120
from someone who's deaf.
So I've learned recently that

887
00:42:14,120 --> 00:42:17,000
how the deaf experience music is
also very unique.

888
00:42:17,000 --> 00:42:19,680
So people are like, well, deaf
individuals can't hear music.

889
00:42:19,960 --> 00:42:22,760
Maybe they don't hear music.
They don't perceive music the

890
00:42:22,760 --> 00:42:25,400
way you and I would, but they
definitely hear music.

891
00:42:25,400 --> 00:42:27,640
And the reason what they would
do it is they can feel the

892
00:42:27,640 --> 00:42:29,400
vibrations.
For example, I've seen a lot of

893
00:42:29,400 --> 00:42:32,400
deaf individuals hold like
balloons or things like that on

894
00:42:32,400 --> 00:42:33,880
there and they can feel the
vibrations.

895
00:42:33,880 --> 00:42:36,880
Particularly if you go to a show
like Stomp or, you know, taiko

896
00:42:36,880 --> 00:42:39,080
drumming, something that has
really good rhythm, they can

897
00:42:39,080 --> 00:42:41,400
feel that.
But I've also learned from my

898
00:42:41,400 --> 00:42:44,680
colleague Annabelle Monahan that
the deaf community, you know,

899
00:42:44,680 --> 00:42:47,080
will sign music.
And what they do is they sign

900
00:42:47,080 --> 00:42:50,120
the music very differently for
music versus something like

901
00:42:50,120 --> 00:42:52,720
poetry or language, like their
expression in using sign

902
00:42:52,720 --> 00:42:55,120
language.
So really this idea of music in

903
00:42:55,120 --> 00:42:59,000
the hard of hearing is really
fascinating because it's not

904
00:42:59,000 --> 00:43:01,840
that they don't hear music, they
don't hear it the way we do,

905
00:43:02,080 --> 00:43:04,800
basically.
Cool, that's amazing.

906
00:43:04,880 --> 00:43:12,000
I I while you're speaking, I was
curious when you were describing

907
00:43:12,000 --> 00:43:14,960
the issue with the cochlear
implant that the fact that you

908
00:43:14,960 --> 00:43:18,120
know, it's using 1212 electrode
electrodes is that.

909
00:43:18,120 --> 00:43:20,880
Yeah, 12, like 12 to 24
electrodes that are trying to

910
00:43:20,880 --> 00:43:23,960
replace the thousands of hair
cells that you would normally

911
00:43:23,960 --> 00:43:27,040
have.
But the but but kids seem to be

912
00:43:27,040 --> 00:43:29,560
able to adapt faster.
Would that indicate that there's

913
00:43:29,560 --> 00:43:35,920
more than just the, the, the,
the cochlear that there's more,

914
00:43:35,920 --> 00:43:39,600
there's more to the way that we
perceive music than just that.

915
00:43:39,600 --> 00:43:42,120
It's also about our, our brains
ability to translate that.

916
00:43:42,120 --> 00:43:44,920
And so if you're a kid, you
might be more likely to be able

917
00:43:44,920 --> 00:43:48,480
to do more with less.
And when you're adult or getting

918
00:43:48,480 --> 00:43:52,120
older, your brain already has
learned at that point to not use

919
00:43:52,120 --> 00:43:55,400
that part of your brain your.
Body, yeah, think about it this

920
00:43:55,400 --> 00:43:57,560
way, you know so if you think
about hearing as a peripheral

921
00:43:57,560 --> 00:44:00,400
thing so it's not just that the
the cochlear implant, there's a

922
00:44:00,400 --> 00:44:03,960
signal your brain, your cortex
has to interpret these signals,

923
00:44:03,960 --> 00:44:05,960
right.
And in many ways, you know, a

924
00:44:05,960 --> 00:44:09,800
lot of kids will often be very
happy with their cochlear

925
00:44:09,800 --> 00:44:13,000
implants have high device
satisfaction because they don't

926
00:44:13,000 --> 00:44:14,800
really have anything to compare
it to, right?

927
00:44:14,800 --> 00:44:18,640
If they never heard music, quote
UN quote, normally music still

928
00:44:18,640 --> 00:44:22,480
sounds great in a code, right
but but then pretend you are an

929
00:44:22,480 --> 00:44:26,320
adult and you were a musician
for example and then you lost

930
00:44:26,320 --> 00:44:28,120
your hearing because you
suddenly had an illness or

931
00:44:28,120 --> 00:44:29,880
something and you have to get a
cochlear implant.

932
00:44:30,120 --> 00:44:32,760
Well, then you have all this
lived experience too, right?

933
00:44:32,920 --> 00:44:36,360
Trying to compare what music
sounds like now with your

934
00:44:36,360 --> 00:44:38,880
cochlear implant versus what it
used to sound like, right?

935
00:44:38,880 --> 00:44:41,240
And that's like any sort of
prosthetic device.

936
00:44:41,240 --> 00:44:43,800
If you were used to having your
arms and your legs, and now you

937
00:44:43,800 --> 00:44:46,560
have to adjust to a device,
you're gonna be comparing it to

938
00:44:46,560 --> 00:44:48,120
what it used to feel like,
right?

939
00:44:48,600 --> 00:44:51,720
And so that's the music.
Expression different among among

940
00:44:51,760 --> 00:44:56,600
those kids is do they learn.
What we find is that the kids, a

941
00:44:56,600 --> 00:44:59,720
lot of the research shows that
kids have better music

942
00:44:59,720 --> 00:45:01,960
perception than adult cochlear
implant users.

943
00:45:01,960 --> 00:45:05,640
So like not only are they better
able to hear music with their

944
00:45:05,640 --> 00:45:08,200
devices, but you can train them
too.

945
00:45:08,200 --> 00:45:11,360
So let's say I use musical
training as like a targeted like

946
00:45:11,360 --> 00:45:13,760
intervention to see if I can
increase your music person.

947
00:45:13,760 --> 00:45:15,840
Like, OK, you're, you're bad at
hearing melody.

948
00:45:15,840 --> 00:45:18,360
Let me give you lots of melodies
to listen to and then test and

949
00:45:18,360 --> 00:45:20,680
see how you do.
Kids do way better.

950
00:45:20,680 --> 00:45:23,080
They've had much bigger
experiment like effects of

951
00:45:23,080 --> 00:45:26,200
learning from these music
interventions compared to

952
00:45:26,200 --> 00:45:28,120
adults.
And so we do think there is this

953
00:45:28,120 --> 00:45:31,000
kind of plasticity, just like,
you know, how kids can learn

954
00:45:31,000 --> 00:45:33,040
languages very easily when
they're young.

955
00:45:33,040 --> 00:45:36,680
This is like critical period for
us to learn language well, and

956
00:45:36,680 --> 00:45:37,920
it's harder when you're an
adult.

957
00:45:37,920 --> 00:45:40,840
Not that you can't learn a new
language, but it's a lot more

958
00:45:40,840 --> 00:45:43,120
effort, that sort of thing.
That's kind of the same thing

959
00:45:43,120 --> 00:45:45,680
that we're seeing.
Kids can just adapt so easily

960
00:45:45,880 --> 00:45:48,360
compared to those of us who
would have to adapt later and

961
00:45:48,360 --> 00:45:50,240
work harder for the same same
results.

962
00:45:50,960 --> 00:45:52,400
That's so interesting.
It's really cool.

963
00:45:52,400 --> 00:45:54,160
So what?
So if I'm understanding

964
00:45:54,160 --> 00:45:58,800
correctly, adults seem to
struggle.

965
00:45:58,840 --> 00:46:01,040
There are people, you know,
people that have already got had

966
00:46:01,080 --> 00:46:05,560
associations and and and
memories and expectations have a

967
00:46:05,560 --> 00:46:10,080
harder time using the cochlear
implants because they already

968
00:46:10,080 --> 00:46:13,640
have a perception of what things
should be and the are not

969
00:46:13,640 --> 00:46:17,160
creating that and won't have
such an issue.

970
00:46:17,520 --> 00:46:20,800
And so they are not as dependent
on.

971
00:46:20,800 --> 00:46:24,560
So it sounds like the implants
are more of a bridge than they

972
00:46:24,560 --> 00:46:28,680
are actual means to actually
hear processor.

973
00:46:28,920 --> 00:46:31,240
Yeah.
And I feel, feel like we

974
00:46:31,240 --> 00:46:34,000
haven't, you know, Charles and I
have talked about this like if

975
00:46:34,000 --> 00:46:37,080
we had to lose any sense
hearing, you know, sight,

976
00:46:37,080 --> 00:46:39,200
whatever.
I mean, even though I'm a

977
00:46:39,200 --> 00:46:42,640
musician, I would still want to
lose hearing simply because

978
00:46:42,640 --> 00:46:45,600
we've gotten the farthest in
terms of perfect sensory

979
00:46:45,600 --> 00:46:48,760
restoration, Right.
So the cochlear implants are

980
00:46:48,760 --> 00:46:51,080
remarkable devices.
They really like change your,

981
00:46:51,080 --> 00:46:53,680
your life in terms of being able
to not hear and then suddenly

982
00:46:53,680 --> 00:46:56,080
you can hear.
But where we are is it's not

983
00:46:56,080 --> 00:46:59,120
perfect yet, right?
And so there are things you can

984
00:46:59,120 --> 00:47:01,000
do, right?
So there are technical logical

985
00:47:01,000 --> 00:47:03,480
limitations, but cochlear
implant manufacturers are

986
00:47:03,480 --> 00:47:06,200
constantly playing with, well,
can we change the programming?

987
00:47:06,400 --> 00:47:09,160
How do we update the processor?
Can we do other things that will

988
00:47:09,160 --> 00:47:10,520
improve it?
And you know, then there's

989
00:47:10,520 --> 00:47:12,520
researchers like me who are
like, well, if we put you

990
00:47:12,520 --> 00:47:14,280
through training, can we change
things?

991
00:47:14,680 --> 00:47:17,520
But then there's also what we
call other determinants of

992
00:47:17,520 --> 00:47:19,360
health.
So something that my lab now

993
00:47:19,360 --> 00:47:22,200
studies with Doctor Nicole Jim,
she and I run a lab together in

994
00:47:22,200 --> 00:47:25,600
otolaryngology is we're looking
specifically at this early

995
00:47:25,600 --> 00:47:28,960
auditory rehabilitation period.
So what are you like right

996
00:47:28,960 --> 00:47:31,000
before you go in for your
surgery and you get your implant

997
00:47:31,000 --> 00:47:33,680
versus one month, three months,
six months, right?

998
00:47:33,880 --> 00:47:35,760
And there's actually a lot of
variability.

999
00:47:35,760 --> 00:47:38,680
So some people, let's just say
even adults, some people do

1000
00:47:38,680 --> 00:47:41,760
great with their device.
They're like, they work very

1001
00:47:41,760 --> 00:47:44,160
hard.
They do they go to every single

1002
00:47:44,160 --> 00:47:47,560
follow up appointment, you know,
they spend time listening to

1003
00:47:47,560 --> 00:47:49,960
sound, watching subtitles,
really working and trying to get

1004
00:47:49,960 --> 00:47:52,480
used to their their cochlear
implant.

1005
00:47:52,720 --> 00:47:54,840
But then there's others who
don't do as well.

1006
00:47:54,840 --> 00:47:57,600
Maybe this could be a case too.
You hear it, it doesn't sound

1007
00:47:57,600 --> 00:47:59,440
good to you.
So you feel like, oh, was this

1008
00:47:59,440 --> 00:48:01,360
worth me going through this
painful surgery?

1009
00:48:01,560 --> 00:48:03,920
Now I'm upset with this device.
I don't want to use it, so I

1010
00:48:03,920 --> 00:48:06,080
take it off and I don't use it.
Well, if you don't use it,

1011
00:48:06,080 --> 00:48:07,600
you're never going to get better
at it, right.

1012
00:48:07,760 --> 00:48:10,360
So this is something that I
often counsel people is like,

1013
00:48:10,360 --> 00:48:14,600
yes, it's a huge transition to
go through the surgery, but it's

1014
00:48:14,680 --> 00:48:17,920
like music, you know, when we
sit down and play as musicians,

1015
00:48:17,920 --> 00:48:19,720
we don't sound perfect right off
the bat.

1016
00:48:19,720 --> 00:48:22,600
We sound like beginners every
time we learn a new piece.

1017
00:48:22,840 --> 00:48:24,960
Practice makes perfect.
You have to practice to get

1018
00:48:24,960 --> 00:48:26,720
better.
Same thing with your cochlear

1019
00:48:26,720 --> 00:48:28,280
implant.
You're going to have to practice

1020
00:48:28,280 --> 00:48:31,960
using it to get better at it.
So if you get frustrated right

1021
00:48:31,960 --> 00:48:34,520
off the bat and take it off and
don't use it, well, you're never

1022
00:48:34,520 --> 00:48:36,880
going to get better, right?
And so we're really starting to

1023
00:48:36,880 --> 00:48:40,320
learn about like, how can we
counsel patients to better set

1024
00:48:40,320 --> 00:48:43,120
up expectations?
And normally that maybe we will

1025
00:48:43,120 --> 00:48:45,360
have predictors of like we'll,
we'll maybe we'll have

1026
00:48:45,360 --> 00:48:47,680
eventually like these kind of
like, you know how when you take

1027
00:48:47,680 --> 00:48:50,360
your kid to the doctor and they
have growth curves.

1028
00:48:50,360 --> 00:48:53,880
So you can be like, OK, your kid
is on track to be 6 foot 2 and

1029
00:48:54,000 --> 00:48:57,080
then a percentile, right?
We don't have any sort of those

1030
00:48:57,080 --> 00:48:59,920
kind of developmental curves for
cochlear implant users.

1031
00:48:59,920 --> 00:49:02,280
We can't say like, OK, you're on
track to be a really good

1032
00:49:02,280 --> 00:49:04,560
performer or you're on track and
you're not doing as well as you

1033
00:49:04,560 --> 00:49:07,080
should be at this, this
rehabilitation, Mark, we need to

1034
00:49:07,200 --> 00:49:09,640
intervene and do better, right?
So that's the kind of work that

1035
00:49:09,640 --> 00:49:12,560
our lab is doing now.
Like imagine if we could have

1036
00:49:12,560 --> 00:49:15,320
that analogous, you know, growth
curve and we could tell

1037
00:49:15,320 --> 00:49:18,200
patients, OK, I can see you're
not doing as well as you need to

1038
00:49:18,200 --> 00:49:20,680
right now at the one month mark.
Let's intervene now so that

1039
00:49:20,680 --> 00:49:22,400
you'll do better at the three or
six months.

1040
00:49:22,400 --> 00:49:24,400
And then or someone's doing
really I'd be like, you're doing

1041
00:49:24,400 --> 00:49:25,320
great.
You know, I think you're

1042
00:49:25,320 --> 00:49:27,520
starting to hit the limit of
what we can expect right now

1043
00:49:27,520 --> 00:49:28,640
with the cochlear implant,
right?

1044
00:49:28,880 --> 00:49:31,800
These are all things that would
help be help patients,

1045
00:49:31,800 --> 00:49:36,000
especially if you think it's a
huge decision to get a cochlear

1046
00:49:36,000 --> 00:49:37,600
implant.
In fact, there's still a divide.

1047
00:49:37,600 --> 00:49:40,920
There are, you know, the deaf,
deaf community who don't ever

1048
00:49:40,920 --> 00:49:43,520
want to use cochlear implants
that just want to remain sign

1049
00:49:43,520 --> 00:49:45,520
language only, which is, you
know, totally.

1050
00:49:45,520 --> 00:49:47,440
But then there's the people who
get cochlear implants.

1051
00:49:47,440 --> 00:49:49,640
So there's even like a culture
difference between these two

1052
00:49:49,640 --> 00:49:52,000
groups.
And so our lab is is trying to

1053
00:49:52,000 --> 00:49:53,960
start navigating some of these
issues.

1054
00:49:54,600 --> 00:49:57,280
I would be, I'd be really
curious and if you haven't done

1055
00:49:57,280 --> 00:50:01,320
it, I would be curious to look
into this, if what the

1056
00:50:01,320 --> 00:50:07,080
difference as far as adjusting
would be to cochlear impact,

1057
00:50:07,360 --> 00:50:10,920
cochlear patients who have a
history of playing music as

1058
00:50:10,920 --> 00:50:12,080
opposed to those who.
Don't.

1059
00:50:12,280 --> 00:50:14,160
Yeah.
And unfortunately, there haven't

1060
00:50:14,160 --> 00:50:17,000
been enough yet.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.

1061
00:50:17,040 --> 00:50:18,840
That's a problem with a small
pool like this, right?

1062
00:50:19,320 --> 00:50:21,840
Emerging science.
Yeah, it's a small subject pool.

1063
00:50:21,840 --> 00:50:25,200
I think the first cochlear
implant was done at UCSF and I

1064
00:50:25,200 --> 00:50:29,400
want to say it wasn't even that
long ago, like 1950s, sixties,

1065
00:50:29,400 --> 00:50:30,800
something like that.
I have to look it up.

1066
00:50:30,800 --> 00:50:33,080
It's not it hasn't been a new
technology.

1067
00:50:33,320 --> 00:50:35,560
It was, but one of the first
ones was done here on the West

1068
00:50:35,560 --> 00:50:37,840
Coast.
And so, so far, we don't even

1069
00:50:37,840 --> 00:50:40,840
have enough data yet.
I I realized that I mean, it's.

1070
00:50:41,360 --> 00:50:42,960
Really good.
Because I mean, the way that

1071
00:50:42,960 --> 00:50:44,960
you're describing, it almost
sounds like you have to kind of

1072
00:50:44,960 --> 00:50:47,680
prep your brain for.
And if and if your brain is

1073
00:50:47,680 --> 00:50:49,960
already plastic from playing
different types of music, or

1074
00:50:49,960 --> 00:50:51,720
playing different types of
instruments, or doing things

1075
00:50:51,720 --> 00:50:55,040
along the way, then it might be
quicker to adapt to such a YEAH

1076
00:50:55,280 --> 00:50:56,480
transition.
Yeah.

1077
00:50:56,560 --> 00:50:59,720
And you know something I have.
So I've given a whole keynote to

1078
00:50:59,720 --> 00:51:03,200
the Hearing Loss Association of
America because we were giving

1079
00:51:03,200 --> 00:51:06,520
this expert panel in 2023.
It's called The Joy of Music.

1080
00:51:06,720 --> 00:51:09,000
And it was for all these
individuals with hearing loss

1081
00:51:09,400 --> 00:51:12,160
and as part of the expert panel,
these these people with hearing

1082
00:51:12,160 --> 00:51:14,480
less could come up and ask
specific questions, right?

1083
00:51:14,480 --> 00:51:17,560
So I would get questions like I
used to be in a choir.

1084
00:51:17,560 --> 00:51:21,520
I used to be in a a band before
I got the surgery or my hearing

1085
00:51:21,520 --> 00:51:23,080
aid.
And now everything sounds awful.

1086
00:51:23,080 --> 00:51:25,480
What should I do?
And I was like, well, you know,

1087
00:51:25,480 --> 00:51:27,320
you kind of have to go back and
practice.

1088
00:51:27,360 --> 00:51:29,320
You know, one thing I recommend
is practice the way we would

1089
00:51:29,320 --> 00:51:32,240
have as beginner, you know,
isolate, you know, practice by

1090
00:51:32,240 --> 00:51:34,240
yourself first.
Don't go straight back to the

1091
00:51:34,240 --> 00:51:35,800
group.
That's a really complex acoustic

1092
00:51:35,800 --> 00:51:37,600
situation.
Just practice by yourself.

1093
00:51:37,880 --> 00:51:42,160
Use tools right Metro gnomes
recording yourself teachers

1094
00:51:42,160 --> 00:51:43,840
right to help you get as you
adjust.

1095
00:51:43,840 --> 00:51:46,960
You can't just expect that you
will be at the top of your game

1096
00:51:46,960 --> 00:51:49,000
right away.
And, you know, I think people

1097
00:51:49,000 --> 00:51:53,120
think that musicians are, are
just naturally good and

1098
00:51:53,120 --> 00:51:56,200
naturally talented at music.
No, the fact is we work really

1099
00:51:56,200 --> 00:51:58,280
hard.
Musicians spend like for me,

1100
00:51:58,280 --> 00:52:01,840
when I was a performer, I spent
a lot of, I never relied on my

1101
00:52:01,840 --> 00:52:04,440
own ears actually.
Like, because for example, when

1102
00:52:04,440 --> 00:52:07,880
I'm playing up at the piano,
what I hear is really different

1103
00:52:07,880 --> 00:52:10,200
from what they hear at the back
of the concert hall, right?

1104
00:52:10,200 --> 00:52:12,520
Because of reverb and, and
acoustics.

1105
00:52:12,520 --> 00:52:16,240
And so I always had teachers or
recorders to help me.

1106
00:52:16,240 --> 00:52:18,800
We didn't rely on these.
And I spent a lot of time like

1107
00:52:19,000 --> 00:52:21,240
with really complex pieces.
No, you have to sit there

1108
00:52:21,440 --> 00:52:24,760
spending a lot of time isolating
the lyrics, isolating the sound,

1109
00:52:24,920 --> 00:52:28,880
right hand only, left hand only,
rhythm only, melody only, right.

1110
00:52:29,000 --> 00:52:33,440
Like we spend a lot of time
taking a very complex thing and

1111
00:52:33,440 --> 00:52:36,600
putting it together.
And so basically at this hearing

1112
00:52:36,600 --> 00:52:40,000
loss Association of America
talk, I was like, OK, maybe we

1113
00:52:40,000 --> 00:52:42,880
can learn from the kind of
practice techniques that

1114
00:52:42,880 --> 00:52:46,680
musicians use to get used to
using our cochlear implant, You

1115
00:52:46,680 --> 00:52:49,400
know, And you know, it's not
perfect, but it's like, I don't

1116
00:52:49,400 --> 00:52:52,440
think people just like I used to
think in prov was like this

1117
00:52:52,440 --> 00:52:53,920
magical thing that just comes
out of nowhere.

1118
00:52:54,080 --> 00:52:56,560
People think when I sit down at
the piano, that's this magical

1119
00:52:56,560 --> 00:52:58,440
thing.
It's not though, it's hard work,

1120
00:52:58,440 --> 00:53:00,360
right?
It's hours and hours and years

1121
00:53:00,360 --> 00:53:02,840
and years of hard work.
And I'm sure you've read about

1122
00:53:02,840 --> 00:53:05,160
it, right?
This the old adage that 10,000

1123
00:53:05,160 --> 00:53:06,640
hours to become an expert,
right?

1124
00:53:06,640 --> 00:53:09,600
Like it's lots of practice.
It's not it doesn't come

1125
00:53:09,600 --> 00:53:12,040
naturally.
And then even an experienced

1126
00:53:12,040 --> 00:53:14,520
pianist like me, when I learn a
new piece and back to being a

1127
00:53:14,520 --> 00:53:17,000
beginner again, right?
It's like, all right, I have to

1128
00:53:17,000 --> 00:53:20,520
go super slow and I'm going to
go one note at a time.

1129
00:53:20,520 --> 00:53:22,240
I'm going to listen to the I
don't know what I'm doing.

1130
00:53:22,240 --> 00:53:23,800
I have to start all over again,
right?

1131
00:53:24,120 --> 00:53:27,320
And I think that's actually
humbling, but good to remember

1132
00:53:27,320 --> 00:53:30,480
right, that that's just the
experience of doing art.

1133
00:53:30,640 --> 00:53:32,560
We also.
Yeah, and then eventually you

1134
00:53:32,560 --> 00:53:36,200
come to cherish that process.
And I know that, you know that

1135
00:53:36,320 --> 00:53:39,160
I've, I've started to, in the
last bunch of years, I've had a

1136
00:53:39,160 --> 00:53:42,560
lot of firsts to my life, you
know, getting married, first

1137
00:53:42,560 --> 00:53:46,600
time having a kid, first, first,
first guitar lesson, first open

1138
00:53:46,600 --> 00:53:48,840
mic.
And every single time I do all

1139
00:53:48,840 --> 00:53:52,920
these First things, first
podcast, I, you know, I, I, I

1140
00:53:52,920 --> 00:53:56,880
have an enormous sense of fear,
but I've come to, I've come to

1141
00:53:56,880 --> 00:54:00,800
appreciate the process and, and
I've found that people are so

1142
00:54:00,800 --> 00:54:04,520
forgiving and, and saying it's
good that you're starting this

1143
00:54:04,520 --> 00:54:05,880
from the beginning.
And it, and, you know, and it's

1144
00:54:05,880 --> 00:54:08,160
really something that's more
commendable than it is that

1145
00:54:08,160 --> 00:54:11,040
everyone expects you to be a
expert at anything you do the

1146
00:54:11,040 --> 00:54:13,040
first time you pick it up.
And it's, you know, so I think

1147
00:54:13,080 --> 00:54:16,280
that's something in general that
if people in, if anyone

1148
00:54:16,280 --> 00:54:20,640
listening and people in general
want to grow and want to advance

1149
00:54:20,880 --> 00:54:23,640
to embrace the this starting
something beginning and be OK

1150
00:54:23,640 --> 00:54:26,360
with with being a beginner and
then, you know, get better.

1151
00:54:26,800 --> 00:54:27,880
Absolutely.
You know, that's something that

1152
00:54:27,880 --> 00:54:30,280
I hear all the time, right?
As someone who researches the

1153
00:54:30,280 --> 00:54:33,320
arts and music and the brain and
they're, and I very much

1154
00:54:33,320 --> 00:54:36,400
advocate everyone should do the
arts and play every day, right?

1155
00:54:36,440 --> 00:54:38,440
And they're like, but I suck at
the arts.

1156
00:54:38,440 --> 00:54:41,480
I have no talent whatsoever.
I'm like, it's not about talent,

1157
00:54:41,480 --> 00:54:45,120
it's about doing it anyway.
So like for me, I mean, OK, I'm,

1158
00:54:45,120 --> 00:54:48,840
I'm, I'm a musical expert, but
when I sit down and like

1159
00:54:49,080 --> 00:54:52,920
drawing, I draw like a musician.
I mean, I don't, it doesn't come

1160
00:54:52,920 --> 00:54:55,280
out good.
I'm back to coloring because I'm

1161
00:54:55,280 --> 00:54:57,760
learn trying to learn color
theory and shading and things

1162
00:54:57,760 --> 00:54:59,560
like that.
And that's good for me, right?

1163
00:54:59,560 --> 00:55:02,840
Like, I, I mean, how boring
would life be if we were only

1164
00:55:02,840 --> 00:55:05,840
doing the things we're good at?
I personally think it's good for

1165
00:55:05,840 --> 00:55:09,720
our ourselves and our brains to
try new things that are scary.

1166
00:55:09,960 --> 00:55:12,600
But everyone, no one, it's, it's
kind of a false belief to think

1167
00:55:12,600 --> 00:55:14,760
that you would be good at
something the first time you,

1168
00:55:14,880 --> 00:55:16,840
you do it right.
And I know that that's like a, a

1169
00:55:16,840 --> 00:55:20,040
culture of that's very like goal
oriented.

1170
00:55:20,040 --> 00:55:23,040
But if you look at the arts as a
process, the process is being

1171
00:55:23,040 --> 00:55:24,520
uncomfortable and trying new
things.

1172
00:55:24,520 --> 00:55:26,080
And it is good for your brain
because.

1173
00:55:26,360 --> 00:55:28,920
Yeah, the first time I learn a
new language, I'm going to

1174
00:55:28,920 --> 00:55:31,760
struggle.
But that struggle is part of why

1175
00:55:31,760 --> 00:55:34,840
it helps my brain, you know?
So the struggle is inherent to

1176
00:55:34,840 --> 00:55:36,120
it.
And that's, there's the beauty

1177
00:55:36,120 --> 00:55:38,160
of the struggle that is actually
good for you.

1178
00:55:38,160 --> 00:55:40,480
You know, I mean, not so hard
that you feel really

1179
00:55:40,480 --> 00:55:42,360
demotivated.
But I guess I would encourage

1180
00:55:42,360 --> 00:55:46,560
anyone who's listening that it's
always OK to try and make

1181
00:55:46,560 --> 00:55:48,080
mistakes.
And you know, here's the thing

1182
00:55:48,080 --> 00:55:49,400
too.
That's something I learned from

1183
00:55:49,400 --> 00:55:52,080
improv.
I was, you know, I, as I told

1184
00:55:52,080 --> 00:55:54,160
you, I'm a classical pianist,
and so I'm not used to

1185
00:55:54,160 --> 00:55:55,920
improvising.
But every now and then Charles

1186
00:55:55,920 --> 00:55:57,600
would be like, come on, just
come play with me.

1187
00:55:57,960 --> 00:56:00,560
And I was like, I don't like it.
What if I make a mistake, you

1188
00:56:00,560 --> 00:56:02,400
know?
And he'd be like, so make a

1189
00:56:02,400 --> 00:56:05,640
mistake and then do it again and
then do it again and then do it

1190
00:56:05,640 --> 00:56:07,160
again.
And it's no longer a mistake,

1191
00:56:07,160 --> 00:56:08,320
right?
And that's something my husband

1192
00:56:08,320 --> 00:56:10,840
also echoes, right?
The idea of improv is it just

1193
00:56:10,840 --> 00:56:13,680
kind of take it as it comes.
There are no mistakes.

1194
00:56:13,680 --> 00:56:15,000
You did it.
You did it again.

1195
00:56:15,000 --> 00:56:17,040
Just do it again deliberately
until it gives you your next

1196
00:56:17,040 --> 00:56:19,280
idea, right?
And I think that's a very

1197
00:56:19,280 --> 00:56:22,600
beautiful philosophy, right,
that there are no mistakes.

1198
00:56:22,600 --> 00:56:25,960
You just try and you try again.
And you know, I think, and maybe

1199
00:56:25,960 --> 00:56:29,160
this is a nice leading to my my
study with the kids is like, you

1200
00:56:29,160 --> 00:56:31,320
know, we watch kids who are
really creative.

1201
00:56:32,040 --> 00:56:34,200
I don't know about your kids.
My kids love doing like it

1202
00:56:34,200 --> 00:56:37,200
doesn't matter that he doesn't
know how to bake or be an

1203
00:56:37,200 --> 00:56:39,720
architect or guard and he's
going to do it anyways.

1204
00:56:39,720 --> 00:56:42,320
And he finds it fun, right?
And we noticed that kids are

1205
00:56:42,360 --> 00:56:44,880
just kind of very creative in a
way that's different from

1206
00:56:44,880 --> 00:56:46,960
adults, right?
Like obviously adult has lived

1207
00:56:46,960 --> 00:56:49,640
experiences and voice and domain
knowledge, right?

1208
00:56:49,840 --> 00:56:52,080
Like if you're at Esperanza
Spalding, you've been doing

1209
00:56:52,080 --> 00:56:54,800
music for a long time.
So you obviously are drawing on

1210
00:56:54,800 --> 00:56:57,000
that where as a kid who's like,
well, I'm just going to go bang

1211
00:56:57,000 --> 00:56:58,840
on the piano.
They don't have that, but

1212
00:56:58,840 --> 00:57:01,000
they're still like willing to
try and be creative, right?

1213
00:57:01,000 --> 00:57:04,120
So in one one of our studies
that just came out last year in

1214
00:57:04,120 --> 00:57:07,280
Scientific Reports, we were
like, well, yeah, we really want

1215
00:57:07,280 --> 00:57:09,960
to know what happens when kids
are being musically creative,

1216
00:57:09,960 --> 00:57:11,800
right?
So we took these elementary age

1217
00:57:11,800 --> 00:57:15,800
kids, 7 to 9 year olds and we
had them do this paradigm where

1218
00:57:15,800 --> 00:57:18,240
they either played a scale for
the control.

1219
00:57:18,240 --> 00:57:21,440
So they they play the five black
note keys of the keyboard just

1220
00:57:21,440 --> 00:57:25,280
da da, da da da da da da, da, da
da.

1221
00:57:25,320 --> 00:57:28,960
Like very wrote over and over
again, or we had them improvised

1222
00:57:28,960 --> 00:57:31,680
melodies, like play them now in
whatever order you want and

1223
00:57:31,680 --> 00:57:33,920
you're improvising.
And we made it sound really cool

1224
00:57:33,920 --> 00:57:36,240
because we gave them a backtrack
that went with all it.

1225
00:57:36,240 --> 00:57:38,760
So as long as they're playing
the black note keys, they always

1226
00:57:38,760 --> 00:57:40,520
sound good.
It's like impossible to make a

1227
00:57:40,520 --> 00:57:42,520
mistake.
It then sounds really musical.

1228
00:57:42,520 --> 00:57:44,080
There's like a whole backtrack
to it.

1229
00:57:44,320 --> 00:57:46,680
So the only difference is, you
know, play same tempo, same

1230
00:57:46,680 --> 00:57:49,400
speed, everything, but either
you're playing a scale or you're

1231
00:57:49,400 --> 00:57:52,160
making up, moving your fingers
and making up melodies.

1232
00:57:52,200 --> 00:57:54,040
You know, you just put those in
whatever order.

1233
00:57:54,360 --> 00:57:58,280
And what we found is that kids
improvisation and is again, a

1234
00:57:58,280 --> 00:58:02,240
really cool distinct activity
for kids that you have, you

1235
00:58:02,240 --> 00:58:04,840
know, it doesn't look the same
as when the control condition.

1236
00:58:05,160 --> 00:58:07,520
And really when you're
improvising for them, it's a lot

1237
00:58:07,520 --> 00:58:09,280
about deactivating parts of
their brain.

1238
00:58:09,280 --> 00:58:12,840
So kids would deactivate these
structures known as like the

1239
00:58:12,840 --> 00:58:15,440
singular cortex, the angular
gyres, precanious.

1240
00:58:15,720 --> 00:58:19,280
And all of those structures are
sensory hubs that are actually

1241
00:58:19,280 --> 00:58:22,200
implicated in adult creativity.
So it's like when we look at

1242
00:58:22,200 --> 00:58:24,960
kids and they're being creative,
they're using some of the same

1243
00:58:24,960 --> 00:58:27,240
structures that you would later
as adults.

1244
00:58:27,320 --> 00:58:29,960
So it's almost like you have the
roots, the beginning roots of

1245
00:58:29,960 --> 00:58:32,160
this like neuro creativity
network, right?

1246
00:58:32,480 --> 00:58:36,640
But what was also really cool is
that improvising, we found that

1247
00:58:36,640 --> 00:58:39,680
there was more connections
between reward areas of the

1248
00:58:39,680 --> 00:58:43,080
brain when they were improvising
compared to not doing like the

1249
00:58:43,080 --> 00:58:45,360
scale.
Now, I will caveat that, say it

1250
00:58:45,360 --> 00:58:48,120
wasn't all positive.
So for example, we found that

1251
00:58:48,120 --> 00:58:50,240
the amygdala deactivates during
improv.

1252
00:58:50,280 --> 00:58:52,560
Well, that's good.
The amygdala often deactivates

1253
00:58:52,560 --> 00:58:54,560
for good things like, you know,
when the fight or flight is

1254
00:58:54,560 --> 00:58:57,440
over, we're good, right?
But then we also saw that like

1255
00:58:57,440 --> 00:59:00,200
the nucleus accumbens and some
other areas deactivated, which

1256
00:59:00,200 --> 00:59:02,920
is not necessarily a positive
valence thing.

1257
00:59:03,120 --> 00:59:06,920
So it's almost like reward
structures are used for improv,

1258
00:59:06,920 --> 00:59:09,240
but it has kind of a mixed
emotional content.

1259
00:59:09,440 --> 00:59:11,840
It's not just positive, it's
positive and negative.

1260
00:59:11,880 --> 00:59:13,360
And so I thought about that for
a while.

1261
00:59:13,360 --> 00:59:15,040
I'm like, why would there be
mixed?

1262
00:59:15,200 --> 00:59:18,440
Why isn't just purely rewarding?
Well, for one, I was sticking

1263
00:59:18,440 --> 00:59:20,680
kids in a scanner.
That's kind of an odd thing.

1264
00:59:20,680 --> 00:59:24,000
You know, putting kids in a
scanner was probably a little

1265
00:59:24,000 --> 00:59:25,720
scary to them.
They we have their parents

1266
00:59:25,720 --> 00:59:27,160
nearby, but it's a strange
thing.

1267
00:59:27,560 --> 00:59:29,760
But then I also thought about
him, like maybe it shouldn't be

1268
00:59:29,760 --> 00:59:32,520
purely positive.
I mean, music for many of us,

1269
00:59:32,520 --> 00:59:34,520
like we listen to music that's
sad, right?

1270
00:59:34,520 --> 00:59:38,200
I often music the music that's
sad or angry or negative, right?

1271
00:59:38,400 --> 00:59:41,480
And the idea is that music is a
safe place to process all those

1272
00:59:41,480 --> 00:59:43,760
emotions, right.
So maybe the whole point isn't

1273
00:59:43,760 --> 00:59:45,800
that it should just be all
positive reward.

1274
00:59:45,800 --> 00:59:47,640
It could be positive and
negative reward, right?

1275
00:59:47,840 --> 00:59:50,680
But either way, we really liked
this experience because it kind

1276
00:59:50,680 --> 00:59:52,920
of gets to as we were talking
about the beginner mind, like

1277
00:59:52,920 --> 00:59:55,400
what's happening when you're a
true beginner, right?

1278
00:59:55,400 --> 00:59:57,680
Because many of these kids had
never even seen a keyboard

1279
00:59:57,680 --> 00:59:59,560
before.
I sat down and be like, OK,

1280
00:59:59,560 --> 01:00:01,640
curve your fingers, put your
hands here.

1281
01:00:01,800 --> 01:00:03,720
Now we're going to have you do
this in the scanner, you know,

1282
01:00:04,320 --> 01:00:05,880
and it was amazing.
They weren't scared.

1283
01:00:05,960 --> 01:00:08,520
They did it right.
So whenever someone tells me,

1284
01:00:08,520 --> 01:00:11,080
you know, we, we were kind of
catchling like the neural

1285
01:00:11,080 --> 01:00:12,920
correlates of the, the beginner
mind.

1286
01:00:12,920 --> 01:00:14,560
And I, I don't know if you've
ever heard this term, but the

1287
01:00:14,560 --> 01:00:17,040
beginner's mind is something
that comes from meditation,

1288
01:00:17,040 --> 01:00:19,040
right?
So in meditation, they are

1289
01:00:19,040 --> 01:00:21,200
saying like, you know, the
expert has, is kind of

1290
01:00:21,200 --> 01:00:22,760
solidified in their way of
thinking.

1291
01:00:22,760 --> 01:00:26,320
But in the beginner's mind, it's
very open to experience.

1292
01:00:26,320 --> 01:00:27,240
It's very plastic.
It's.

1293
01:00:27,320 --> 01:00:30,120
Very like whatever happens
happens, you're not set in your

1294
01:00:30,120 --> 01:00:32,160
ways, right?
And so I kind of think of this

1295
01:00:32,160 --> 01:00:34,640
as like this was a beautiful
illustration of the beginner

1296
01:00:34,640 --> 01:00:36,360
minds.
You know, kids creativity does

1297
01:00:36,360 --> 01:00:39,920
have that raw, raw kind of
quality to it.

1298
01:00:39,920 --> 01:00:42,880
It's very different from adult
creativity, but they're still

1299
01:00:42,880 --> 01:00:45,960
able to be a creative.
And you know, if, if being

1300
01:00:45,960 --> 01:00:48,680
creative, like improvising is
rewarding, well, maybe that's

1301
01:00:48,680 --> 01:00:50,920
why kids are so drawn to be
creative, right?

1302
01:00:50,920 --> 01:00:52,520
They they don't have a lived
experience.

1303
01:00:52,520 --> 01:00:53,640
They aren't comparing it to
anything.

1304
01:00:53,640 --> 01:00:54,920
So they might as well do it,
right?

1305
01:00:54,920 --> 01:00:56,440
They might as well be creative,
right.

1306
01:00:56,720 --> 01:00:59,080
So that was a study that we did
last year.

1307
01:00:59,080 --> 01:01:01,520
Now, of course, there's a huge
difference between like

1308
01:01:01,600 --> 01:01:04,920
untrained kids who have never
played piano and jazz experts,

1309
01:01:04,920 --> 01:01:06,080
right?
So that kind of shows you

1310
01:01:06,080 --> 01:01:09,040
already in our field how there's
a lot of like points to fill in

1311
01:01:09,040 --> 01:01:11,360
in between.
But it was really cool because I

1312
01:01:11,360 --> 01:01:14,000
think that study was, at least
to my knowledge, the first like

1313
01:01:14,280 --> 01:01:17,640
neuroimaging experiment to look
at creativity, so.

1314
01:01:18,280 --> 01:01:20,880
It's really, I wanted to just
ask one question just on that

1315
01:01:20,880 --> 01:01:25,520
whole, the whole idea was when
you mentioned that it was not

1316
01:01:25,520 --> 01:01:30,840
all positive responses.
Yeah, I want to be clear.

1317
01:01:30,840 --> 01:01:34,200
Does that mean that they didn't
only feel good things or does

1318
01:01:34,200 --> 01:01:36,400
that mean that not only good
things are happening to the

1319
01:01:36,400 --> 01:01:37,240
brain?
I'm not.

1320
01:01:37,240 --> 01:01:39,520
I just wanted.
To Yeah, So what I mean more

1321
01:01:39,720 --> 01:01:41,680
it's a little bit more specific
than that, right.

1322
01:01:41,680 --> 01:01:44,680
So whenever we talk about
reward, we talk about valence,

1323
01:01:44,680 --> 01:01:46,920
valence being positive or
negative, right.

1324
01:01:47,200 --> 01:01:51,280
So what we saw specifically is
that the amygdala deactivates

1325
01:01:51,280 --> 01:01:53,560
and that when the amygdala
deactivates, if you look at all

1326
01:01:53,560 --> 01:01:56,320
the literature that's associated
with positive valence, that's a

1327
01:01:56,480 --> 01:01:58,160
that's a positive thing.
And when it's.

1328
01:01:58,160 --> 01:02:00,360
Activated, we're fearful.
We tend to be like fearful or

1329
01:02:00,360 --> 01:02:01,880
cautious.
Yeah, yeah, your amygdala is

1330
01:02:01,880 --> 01:02:04,200
really, really active if you're
running away from a lion, for

1331
01:02:04,400 --> 01:02:06,520
example.
And so we I think there was

1332
01:02:06,520 --> 01:02:10,560
remember the movie, I don't know
if you saw free solo that this

1333
01:02:10,640 --> 01:02:13,480
guy that he was on Netflix, Alex
something he climbed like the

1334
01:02:13,480 --> 01:02:15,600
high.
He's a he's a climber.

1335
01:02:15,840 --> 01:02:18,480
And and and they found and they
stuck him in one of those

1336
01:02:18,640 --> 01:02:20,160
scanners and they found that his
amygda.

1337
01:02:20,160 --> 01:02:23,000
I don't think it was not not
working, but it was not working

1338
01:02:23,000 --> 01:02:25,720
to the full capacity.
And so he's he had a, you know,

1339
01:02:25,720 --> 01:02:29,400
he had a very muted sense.
Yeah, very philosophical sense

1340
01:02:29,400 --> 01:02:33,120
of like if I die, I die be had a
very muted sense of this kind of

1341
01:02:33,120 --> 01:02:34,840
internal fight or flight
instinct.

1342
01:02:35,120 --> 01:02:38,760
That he said and you know, that
same kind of result has been

1343
01:02:38,760 --> 01:02:41,360
seen with expert in like expert
meditators.

1344
01:02:41,360 --> 01:02:44,040
So there was a study, I think of
Buddhist monks, I'll have to

1345
01:02:44,040 --> 01:02:45,960
look this up.
But there was a study of monks

1346
01:02:45,960 --> 01:02:49,400
who are expert meditators and
they noticed when they meditate

1347
01:02:49,400 --> 01:02:52,520
in the scanner, they can
literally calm down their dad.

1348
01:02:52,520 --> 01:02:55,280
Like they have the ability to
like just kind of, and the,

1349
01:02:55,560 --> 01:02:58,280
these are like deep structures
in the brain that are kind of

1350
01:02:58,280 --> 01:03:01,760
like, like I said, it's kind of
a primal thing when the amygdala

1351
01:03:01,760 --> 01:03:03,680
activated because he's like,
you're scared, you can't, you

1352
01:03:03,680 --> 01:03:07,080
know, but these people can with
their thoughts actually bring it

1353
01:03:07,080 --> 01:03:09,440
down.
And so when I say these reward

1354
01:03:09,440 --> 01:03:12,280
areas, So what we saw was
amygdala caudate and nucleus

1355
01:03:12,280 --> 01:03:16,160
accumbens, Those are all reward
areas of the brain, but only the

1356
01:03:16,160 --> 01:03:18,520
amygdala deactivating is
considered positive.

1357
01:03:18,520 --> 01:03:21,280
When the caudate and the nucleus
accumbens deactivate, that's

1358
01:03:21,280 --> 01:03:22,760
actually a little bit negative.
So so.

1359
01:03:22,760 --> 01:03:24,760
What happens then?
What's the consequence of that

1360
01:03:25,880 --> 01:03:27,760
emotion?
I guess it was an emotional

1361
01:03:27,760 --> 01:03:28,840
thing or what?
What's the context?

1362
01:03:28,840 --> 01:03:30,040
Yeah, it's usually an emotional
thing.

1363
01:03:30,040 --> 01:03:32,960
So for example, the caudate
deactivates when you miss a

1364
01:03:32,960 --> 01:03:34,400
reward.
So like, let's say you were

1365
01:03:34,400 --> 01:03:36,880
doing a prediction thing and you
were like trying to get a reward

1366
01:03:37,200 --> 01:03:40,000
or a treat or something, it
would deactivate and then the

1367
01:03:40,080 --> 01:03:40,880
nucleus.
Yeah.

1368
01:03:40,880 --> 01:03:43,400
And the nucleus accumbens, it
deactivates when you're trying

1369
01:03:43,400 --> 01:03:46,760
to avoid harm or when you just
don't feel a lot musically or

1370
01:03:46,760 --> 01:03:49,440
when you're depressed, Right.
So this is what I mean is like

1371
01:03:49,800 --> 01:03:52,600
the caudate and the nucleus
accumbens deactivating is not

1372
01:03:52,600 --> 01:03:55,880
necessarily a good thing.
Only the nygdala deactivate is a

1373
01:03:55,880 --> 01:03:58,680
positive valence.
So this makes me feel like, OK,

1374
01:03:58,680 --> 01:04:00,760
it's mixed.
There's some positives that come

1375
01:04:00,760 --> 01:04:02,400
negative.
And I was like, but that's

1376
01:04:02,400 --> 01:04:04,240
really interesting.
I mean, First off, it is a

1377
01:04:04,240 --> 01:04:07,000
really complex task, right?
You're trying to do this like

1378
01:04:07,240 --> 01:04:10,280
cognitive motoric thing and the
scanner is really loud and I'm

1379
01:04:10,280 --> 01:04:13,160
my mom's out there and I'm
trying to, maybe it's just too

1380
01:04:13,160 --> 01:04:14,440
hard.
It's not natural, right?

1381
01:04:14,440 --> 01:04:16,680
It's not like a little kid being
with mommy and daddy.

1382
01:04:16,680 --> 01:04:19,360
It's not purely positive, right?
But then like I said, I think

1383
01:04:19,360 --> 01:04:22,840
there's this also this idea that
music can also be a safe place

1384
01:04:22,840 --> 01:04:25,600
to experience the whole gamut of
emotion, right?

1385
01:04:25,600 --> 01:04:28,200
I don't just play music that's
positive.

1386
01:04:28,200 --> 01:04:32,080
Sometimes I watch a movie or
play music that's sad on

1387
01:04:32,080 --> 01:04:35,640
purpose, and I like that whole
spectrum of complexity and

1388
01:04:35,640 --> 01:04:37,600
emotions, right?
So it's not just that has to be

1389
01:04:37,600 --> 01:04:39,240
all positive.
So that's kind of the

1390
01:04:39,240 --> 01:04:42,280
clarification.
And also to clarify, just to

1391
01:04:42,280 --> 01:04:45,320
build on that idea.
And you said that when they're

1392
01:04:45,320 --> 01:04:47,880
improvising, it's against a
backdrop of music.

1393
01:04:47,920 --> 01:04:50,240
That makes that that makes
sense, right?

1394
01:04:50,320 --> 01:04:51,800
Yeah, that makes them sound
good, Yeah.

1395
01:04:52,040 --> 01:04:54,600
Yeah.
So I'm so I wonder if the, if

1396
01:04:54,680 --> 01:04:57,360
that, if the those quote UN
quote negative experiences that

1397
01:04:57,360 --> 01:05:01,600
they had was because, and I, I
did a podcast episode with the

1398
01:05:01,600 --> 01:05:04,880
gentleman Kurt Ellenberger,
who's a professor of music and

1399
01:05:04,880 --> 01:05:07,080
jazz.
And one thing they said was that

1400
01:05:07,080 --> 01:05:10,120
our brains automatically can
detect what's right or wrong

1401
01:05:10,120 --> 01:05:12,120
about music.
And like, if you like, we

1402
01:05:12,120 --> 01:05:14,960
subconsciously can just fill in
a musical note.

1403
01:05:14,960 --> 01:05:18,200
Just intuitive.
I'm curious that if the kids are

1404
01:05:18,200 --> 01:05:21,400
given a backdrop of music that
makes sense and they're given

1405
01:05:21,400 --> 01:05:23,800
these 5 keys that could all be,
you know, played within that

1406
01:05:23,800 --> 01:05:27,040
with their brains are detecting
like while they're improvising

1407
01:05:27,040 --> 01:05:28,680
or while they're just messing
around or tinkering.

1408
01:05:29,120 --> 01:05:31,200
Hey, they didn't, they didn't
belong where it's supposed to

1409
01:05:31,200 --> 01:05:32,880
go.
And so it's picking up on that.

1410
01:05:33,160 --> 01:05:34,800
Yeah.
Well, so the whole thing is it

1411
01:05:34,800 --> 01:05:37,040
shouldn't pick up that right.
Like the the whole point of us

1412
01:05:37,040 --> 01:05:40,440
giving the music and the
backdrop we gave them is so that

1413
01:05:40,440 --> 01:05:43,000
it will never sound bad.
As long as you play the notes we

1414
01:05:43,000 --> 01:05:44,800
gave you, it'll sound good.
So actually.

1415
01:05:45,040 --> 01:05:46,520
There's no wrong note you.
Mean, yeah.

1416
01:05:46,520 --> 01:05:48,280
So there is no wrong note.
It's not pause.

1417
01:05:48,280 --> 01:05:51,400
Like I can even send you the
files later to listen to, but

1418
01:05:51,400 --> 01:05:52,720
it's like, there's no wrong
note.

1419
01:05:52,720 --> 01:05:56,840
Like if you play the flag black
notes and we've put all 5 black

1420
01:05:56,840 --> 01:05:59,160
note harmonies, there's
literally no mistake you can

1421
01:05:59,160 --> 01:06:00,840
make.
If you just played the same note

1422
01:06:00,840 --> 01:06:02,680
over and over again, it would
sound good.

1423
01:06:03,880 --> 01:06:06,520
Expectations meant then maybe
like what you would be expecting

1424
01:06:06,520 --> 01:06:08,960
the next.
I know that when I'm oodling on

1425
01:06:08,960 --> 01:06:15,000
my guitar where I, I, I start to
play like a little riff and I

1426
01:06:15,000 --> 01:06:18,160
don't, and if I and I don't know
my guitar fret board well enough

1427
01:06:18,160 --> 01:06:21,600
to know where that next sound
that I want to make will come

1428
01:06:21,600 --> 01:06:24,120
from, right.
I have a general idea, you know,

1429
01:06:24,400 --> 01:06:26,600
you know, lower down is a little
higher and higher up is a little

1430
01:06:26,600 --> 01:06:29,440
deeper, but I don't really know.
And so like I'm, I'm noodling,

1431
01:06:29,440 --> 01:06:32,040
I'm playing and then I hear like
a date there and I, oh, shoot,

1432
01:06:32,360 --> 01:06:35,080
that was totally wrong.
I was expecting something else

1433
01:06:35,280 --> 01:06:37,360
and, and I didn't know where to
find it.

1434
01:06:37,600 --> 01:06:40,840
And so like you, you're saying
that there's that it's

1435
01:06:40,840 --> 01:06:43,240
objectively can't be wrong, but
I'm curious if they're trying to

1436
01:06:43,240 --> 01:06:45,680
follow their own kind of pattern
maybe and.

1437
01:06:45,680 --> 01:06:47,200
Maybe.
Not letting themselves down in

1438
01:06:47,200 --> 01:06:49,480
that kind of sense.
Yeah, so while they literally

1439
01:06:49,480 --> 01:06:51,560
can't make a mistake, that
doesn't mean they don't have

1440
01:06:51,560 --> 01:06:54,080
their own anxiety about trying
to figure out what notes should

1441
01:06:54,080 --> 01:06:55,760
go right.
Like, so I've done this myself

1442
01:06:55,760 --> 01:06:59,240
too, and I'm a pianist and I'm
used to be using my 5 notes and

1443
01:06:59,480 --> 01:07:00,960
I'm like, I don't know which one
I'm going to move.

1444
01:07:00,960 --> 01:07:02,680
So there is a little bit of
things like which finger should

1445
01:07:02,680 --> 01:07:06,120
I move next and what happens?
And then what do I do if I don't

1446
01:07:06,120 --> 01:07:08,800
know what to do after that note?
So there is that little bit of a

1447
01:07:08,800 --> 01:07:10,440
thought process, at least even
for me.

1448
01:07:10,640 --> 01:07:12,800
So it's entirely possible that,
well, they couldn't make a

1449
01:07:12,800 --> 01:07:14,040
mistake.
That doesn't mean they didn't

1450
01:07:14,040 --> 01:07:16,560
have some anxiety about trying
to figure out what they should

1451
01:07:16,560 --> 01:07:19,200
do next, you know, and that
might have been why there was a

1452
01:07:19,200 --> 01:07:21,760
little bit of negative.
Or even expectations of what

1453
01:07:21,760 --> 01:07:23,720
they want the next sound to
sound like, and maybe they

1454
01:07:23,760 --> 01:07:25,920
weren't meeting that.
Yeah, it's like, I know what I

1455
01:07:25,920 --> 01:07:28,040
want it to sound like, but I'm
such a beginner.

1456
01:07:28,040 --> 01:07:30,240
Oh, I hit something that wasn't
what I wanted, you know,

1457
01:07:30,440 --> 01:07:32,320
entirely possible.
And, you know, I didn't really

1458
01:07:32,320 --> 01:07:34,800
do interviews or anything to
figure out what they were

1459
01:07:34,800 --> 01:07:36,360
feeling when they were doing
this.

1460
01:07:36,720 --> 01:07:39,480
But that would also be something
that, yeah, we could get more.

1461
01:07:39,480 --> 01:07:41,360
And, like, were you?
Because they didn't say they

1462
01:07:41,360 --> 01:07:42,960
were scared.
Everyone thought it was really

1463
01:07:42,960 --> 01:07:45,960
cool to be in this experiment.
They felt like they were helping

1464
01:07:45,960 --> 01:07:48,120
science.
You know, no one was scared per

1465
01:07:48,120 --> 01:07:50,320
SE, but I didn't ask them, Well,
what was it like when you're

1466
01:07:50,320 --> 01:07:52,680
improvising versus, you know, I
didn't get into that little

1467
01:07:52,680 --> 01:07:54,560
detail.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.

1468
01:07:54,560 --> 01:07:59,400
Because and you know something
and a key theme for a lot and I

1469
01:07:59,400 --> 01:08:02,520
had to learn this really because
I thought I was going crazy, you

1470
01:08:02,520 --> 01:08:06,400
know, was that with a lot of
great improv bands is that not

1471
01:08:06,400 --> 01:08:08,160
every time that they play is
going to sound good.

1472
01:08:10,160 --> 01:08:12,800
Days, you know, it's like.
I don't know why I don't work

1473
01:08:13,080 --> 01:08:14,200
song.
And I was like, dude, that song

1474
01:08:14,200 --> 01:08:15,440
sucks.
Of course you don't like it.

1475
01:08:15,480 --> 01:08:16,640
They didn't play love that
night.

1476
01:08:16,640 --> 01:08:18,840
I'm like, oh, I thought I was
nuts the whole time.

1477
01:08:18,840 --> 01:08:21,279
You know, I didn't realize.
You have to look at everyone's

1478
01:08:21,279 --> 01:08:23,200
output.
We always used to joke in

1479
01:08:23,200 --> 01:08:25,040
Conservatory.
Even Beethoven had to learn how

1480
01:08:25,040 --> 01:08:27,439
to be Beethoven.
His early Beethoven doesn't

1481
01:08:27,439 --> 01:08:30,760
sound like his, you know, Ode to
Joy, like Ninth Symphony, right?

1482
01:08:31,000 --> 01:08:35,600
Like we have everyone who's a
musician goes through their own

1483
01:08:35,720 --> 01:08:38,560
period of development.
So if you're a performer, some

1484
01:08:38,560 --> 01:08:40,240
days are good, some days are
bad.

1485
01:08:40,240 --> 01:08:43,479
In fact, another thing that I'm
doing with the NEA Research lab

1486
01:08:43,479 --> 01:08:46,319
is I'm interviewing these NEA
jazz masters.

1487
01:08:46,319 --> 01:08:49,479
So these are, it's the largest
of the highest award our country

1488
01:08:49,479 --> 01:08:52,000
gives towards jazz musicians.
So we're talking about really

1489
01:08:52,000 --> 01:08:53,760
amazing.
And I asked them about their

1490
01:08:53,760 --> 01:08:57,319
creative process and I asked
them, hey, do you still have bad

1491
01:08:57,319 --> 01:08:59,160
days?
Do you ever have performance

1492
01:08:59,160 --> 01:09:01,240
anxiety still?
And many of them are like, you

1493
01:09:01,240 --> 01:09:03,840
know what, I'm too old.
I don't I don't have that kind

1494
01:09:03,840 --> 01:09:06,760
of performance anxiety anymore,
but they of course, they say

1495
01:09:06,760 --> 01:09:09,120
some days are bad.
Some days you're just not going

1496
01:09:09,120 --> 01:09:12,560
to play as well as other days.
And when everything aligns

1497
01:09:12,560 --> 01:09:14,960
nicely, that's an amazing
performance.

1498
01:09:14,960 --> 01:09:17,800
But you can't always control
that, you know, just like I'm

1499
01:09:17,800 --> 01:09:20,359
sure you have Daisy.
It's like going to the gym or or

1500
01:09:20,359 --> 01:09:22,359
teaching, right?
Some days feel like it's going

1501
01:09:22,359 --> 01:09:24,200
really nicely.
It flows easily.

1502
01:09:24,200 --> 01:09:27,560
You feel like on top of your
work and other days not so much.

1503
01:09:29,319 --> 01:09:32,040
I think that happens even to
great musicians too, you know,

1504
01:09:32,040 --> 01:09:35,240
it's just that we don't always
see their worst days.

1505
01:09:35,240 --> 01:09:37,680
And here's the thing, too.
Let's say you are a Coltrane.

1506
01:09:37,680 --> 01:09:40,399
Even your bad day probably
sounds pretty good, you know,

1507
01:09:40,439 --> 01:09:43,640
compared to what it could be.
So I think that that's something

1508
01:09:43,640 --> 01:09:47,800
I've learned too, is that expert
artists also know how to, you

1509
01:09:47,800 --> 01:09:50,960
know, how how to do things in a
way that make it work towards

1510
01:09:50,960 --> 01:09:53,120
their favor, right?
Like I said, if they did have a

1511
01:09:53,120 --> 01:09:56,120
bad day and they're making a ton
of steaks, maybe they just keep

1512
01:09:56,120 --> 01:09:58,200
using those mistakes.
And so you don't even notice it

1513
01:09:58,200 --> 01:10:00,240
was a mistake.
You notice something's a little

1514
01:10:00,240 --> 01:10:03,320
off, but they used it cook, you
know, in an impressive enough

1515
01:10:03,320 --> 01:10:04,960
way that other people wouldn't
notice.

1516
01:10:04,960 --> 01:10:07,720
Or I used to do ballet when I
was in high school and I would

1517
01:10:07,720 --> 01:10:10,320
notice the really senior
dancers, they could fall, make

1518
01:10:10,320 --> 01:10:12,040
falling look really graceful,
right?

1519
01:10:12,040 --> 01:10:15,920
So I think it's not so much that
they don't have bad days, that

1520
01:10:15,920 --> 01:10:18,960
people don't fall as though they
know how to cover, recover and

1521
01:10:18,960 --> 01:10:22,160
get back up and use it somehow
and recover quickly.

1522
01:10:22,400 --> 01:10:25,080
I mean, when I played piano, I
would make mistakes all the

1523
01:10:25,080 --> 01:10:27,000
time.
My, my, my.

1524
01:10:27,400 --> 01:10:30,200
I guess the thing that would
always make ruin my performance

1525
01:10:30,200 --> 01:10:32,120
is I would have memory slips.
Like, all of a sudden I'm

1526
01:10:32,120 --> 01:10:33,640
playing and I forget what I'm
supposed to do.

1527
01:10:33,960 --> 01:10:35,960
But the older I got and
realizing it was going to

1528
01:10:35,960 --> 01:10:38,080
happen, I just learned to
recover really quickly.

1529
01:10:38,080 --> 01:10:40,640
So if you don't know the music
as well as I do, you wouldn't

1530
01:10:40,640 --> 01:10:42,400
know that I had a memory slip,
you know?

1531
01:10:42,400 --> 01:10:44,560
But I know that wasn't a good
performance, right?

1532
01:10:44,560 --> 01:10:46,120
Oh, yeah.
I think that's the difference

1533
01:10:46,120 --> 01:10:48,880
between domain expertise.
Like, OK, that wasn't great, but

1534
01:10:48,880 --> 01:10:51,600
I covered well enough, you know,
whereas the kids like, I don't

1535
01:10:51,600 --> 01:10:54,000
even know if what I'm hitting
next is going to be what I think

1536
01:10:54,000 --> 01:10:55,600
it is.
So this, that's a very different

1537
01:10:55,600 --> 01:10:57,520
kind of artistic experience.
Really cool.

1538
01:10:57,520 --> 01:11:00,360
And it's super different, I'm
sure, as far as psychology and

1539
01:11:00,360 --> 01:11:02,680
their and their brain and their
brain development goes.

1540
01:11:02,680 --> 01:11:04,000
Too.
Yeah, absolutely.

1541
01:11:04,000 --> 01:11:05,840
I think there's, you know,
artists will.

1542
01:11:06,040 --> 01:11:08,280
If you think about artists now
as adults, they're they're

1543
01:11:08,280 --> 01:11:10,480
expressing their own artistic
voice, right.

1544
01:11:10,480 --> 01:11:13,720
You can't help but have a lived
experience and inject your own

1545
01:11:13,720 --> 01:11:16,560
experience and your culture and
your artistic voice into your

1546
01:11:16,560 --> 01:11:18,840
expression.
But kids don't have that level

1547
01:11:18,840 --> 01:11:20,840
of domain.
They don't have years and years

1548
01:11:20,840 --> 01:11:22,960
of experience.
They're just doing it in a very

1549
01:11:22,960 --> 01:11:25,320
raw, unfiltered way that's
different from what adults do.

1550
01:11:26,000 --> 01:11:28,360
Yeah, it's really cool.
It's really, really awesome.

1551
01:11:28,560 --> 01:11:31,120
I, I love, I love that you're
doing this research and I love

1552
01:11:31,120 --> 01:11:35,920
that I, I love that it's that
because this is something that

1553
01:11:35,920 --> 01:11:38,200
could really go, this could be
something that could really

1554
01:11:38,200 --> 01:11:41,960
change education and development
and the way that we even

1555
01:11:41,960 --> 01:11:46,080
perceive what learning is and
what self-expression is.

1556
01:11:46,120 --> 01:11:50,240
And I think it's really, really
crucial to be able to do this

1557
01:11:50,240 --> 01:11:53,160
kind of research and really be,
you know, scientific and fun and

1558
01:11:53,160 --> 01:11:55,840
serious about fun and serious
about in the same, in the same

1559
01:11:55,840 --> 01:11:56,280
breath.
Yeah.

1560
01:11:56,920 --> 01:11:59,200
Well.
Yeah, I think something we have

1561
01:11:59,200 --> 01:12:01,400
felt as scientists is obviously
I'm preaching to the choir.

1562
01:12:01,400 --> 01:12:04,560
I believe the arts are amazing
but in abundant themselves,

1563
01:12:04,560 --> 01:12:06,000
right.
But we, you know, as a teacher

1564
01:12:06,000 --> 01:12:09,040
in public school systems, the
arts are being defunded in many

1565
01:12:09,040 --> 01:12:11,120
education systems across the
country.

1566
01:12:11,400 --> 01:12:15,320
And I think what we hope is that
by having all this rigorous

1567
01:12:15,320 --> 01:12:19,880
scientific research, we show why
the arts are important and how

1568
01:12:19,880 --> 01:12:21,480
they can be leveraged to help
us.

1569
01:12:21,480 --> 01:12:23,440
Right.
Like, you know, I think if all

1570
01:12:23,440 --> 01:12:25,640
of us could figure out a way to
be more creative, wouldn't that

1571
01:12:25,640 --> 01:12:26,880
be great?
You know, that's good for

1572
01:12:26,880 --> 01:12:28,000
humanity.
I mean, if you think about

1573
01:12:28,000 --> 01:12:31,760
creativity being the bedrock of
innovation and, you know,

1574
01:12:31,760 --> 01:12:34,120
development and things like
that, then everyone wants to be

1575
01:12:34,120 --> 01:12:36,120
more creative.
Whether you're a Fortune 500

1576
01:12:36,120 --> 01:12:39,480
company or teachers or, you
know, musicians, everyone wants

1577
01:12:39,480 --> 01:12:41,440
to be more creative.
So we think at this science is

1578
01:12:41,440 --> 01:12:44,160
trying to support that.
But moreover, showing like, OK,

1579
01:12:44,160 --> 01:12:47,160
but when you are being creative,
it's a very unique brain

1580
01:12:47,160 --> 01:12:49,040
pattern.
It's good for you to do these

1581
01:12:49,040 --> 01:12:52,440
things, be doing creative
artistic tasks is good for the

1582
01:12:52,440 --> 01:12:55,320
longevity of your brain, you
know, and that you will continue

1583
01:12:55,320 --> 01:12:58,360
to develop if you keep doing
these things versus, you know,

1584
01:12:58,360 --> 01:13:02,320
slipping into cognitive and
neurodegenerative decline,

1585
01:13:02,320 --> 01:13:03,880
right?
Like it's one maybe that we can

1586
01:13:03,880 --> 01:13:06,080
maybe combat some of the normal
things that would happen.

1587
01:13:06,080 --> 01:13:09,400
So I think many of us hope that
this science helps with

1588
01:13:09,400 --> 01:13:13,400
advocacy, that it helps show how
important the arts are by

1589
01:13:13,400 --> 01:13:15,880
themselves, but also because of
what we can do for us.

1590
01:13:16,120 --> 01:13:17,680
Yeah, maybe we got to keep on
having these type of

1591
01:13:17,680 --> 01:13:21,200
conversations.
I know, I know.

1592
01:13:21,520 --> 01:13:25,400
And I want to kind of end our.
This has been so much fun.

1593
01:13:25,400 --> 01:13:30,520
I want to end our conversation
talking about a topic you just

1594
01:13:30,520 --> 01:13:35,160
brought up, aging, longevity.
And specifically I am curious

1595
01:13:35,160 --> 01:13:36,440
too, and I don't know if you do
any of this.

1596
01:13:36,440 --> 01:13:37,920
I want to talk about dementia
for sure.

1597
01:13:38,120 --> 01:13:39,440
Yeah.
You've done any kind of research

1598
01:13:39,440 --> 01:13:41,840
as far as stroke victims go
because?

1599
01:13:42,360 --> 01:13:45,520
I myself have not, but I I can
tell you about some of the

1600
01:13:45,520 --> 01:13:47,640
literature, but go ahead first.
Yeah, because I was going to.

1601
01:13:47,640 --> 01:13:50,480
So I I know that, I know that.
I know, for example, Jerry

1602
01:13:50,480 --> 01:13:54,040
Garcia famously had a stroke and
I had to relearn pretty much

1603
01:13:54,040 --> 01:13:57,640
guitar from scratch and what you
know, and what happens and how

1604
01:13:57,640 --> 01:13:59,920
that works.
I know that my my grandfather,

1605
01:13:59,920 --> 01:14:02,240
my mom's father, before he
passed away had a stroke.

1606
01:14:02,560 --> 01:14:05,800
And obviously that affects, that
affects our ability to speak.

1607
01:14:05,800 --> 01:14:09,560
And you know, the, we know that
it does something to a good

1608
01:14:09,560 --> 01:14:14,240
chunk of our brain.
What do we know about music?

1609
01:14:15,480 --> 01:14:18,680
Is there a difference in
consuming versus playing as far

1610
01:14:18,680 --> 01:14:20,720
as aging goes?
And and what and what?

1611
01:14:20,720 --> 01:14:22,440
What does some of that look
like, if you don't mind?

1612
01:14:22,680 --> 01:14:25,600
Yeah, so let's start with the
the stroke and traumatic brain

1613
01:14:25,600 --> 01:14:27,320
injury.
I think so the systematic

1614
01:14:27,320 --> 01:14:29,760
reviews do show that using music
therapy.

1615
01:14:29,760 --> 01:14:33,960
So music therapy is when you
have do music in the context of

1616
01:14:33,960 --> 01:14:36,640
a therapeutic relationship with
like a board certified music

1617
01:14:36,640 --> 01:14:38,840
therapist.
So you have like goals much like

1618
01:14:38,840 --> 01:14:41,040
you would as if you went to talk
therapist, right?

1619
01:14:41,480 --> 01:14:44,360
So what they find is that music
therapy really does help with

1620
01:14:44,360 --> 01:14:46,520
traumatic brain injury.
So like with if you're

1621
01:14:46,520 --> 01:14:49,320
recovering from stroke, you may
gain your limb use better or you

1622
01:14:49,320 --> 01:14:50,960
know things like that.
So there's a lot.

1623
01:14:50,960 --> 01:14:54,080
So music therapy is very
powerful for brain injury.

1624
01:14:54,400 --> 01:14:56,280
Now what we see too is actually
music therapy.

1625
01:14:56,280 --> 01:15:00,040
The most robust and rigorous
research that we've seen is in

1626
01:15:00,520 --> 01:15:03,520
older in, in older adults.
So we've signed that music can

1627
01:15:03,520 --> 01:15:06,040
really help with things like
Parkinson's disease because

1628
01:15:06,040 --> 01:15:07,680
music has a beat.
So let's say you have

1629
01:15:07,680 --> 01:15:11,640
Parkinson's disease and you're
struggling just to get walkie to

1630
01:15:11,640 --> 01:15:13,320
find this inner beat to start
walking.

1631
01:15:13,320 --> 01:15:16,360
When you play music and work
with a music therapist, it helps

1632
01:15:16,360 --> 01:15:18,800
you get back into that so that
you can maybe start walking by

1633
01:15:18,800 --> 01:15:21,280
yourself.
And what we see with dementia is

1634
01:15:21,280 --> 01:15:24,320
there's an amazing movie.
If people haven't seen it, it's

1635
01:15:24,320 --> 01:15:26,400
called Alive inside.
It used to be on Netflix.

1636
01:15:26,400 --> 01:15:29,720
It's probably on Prime now.
But basically it's it's it was a

1637
01:15:29,720 --> 01:15:32,920
nonprofit organization that was
doing what was called the iPod

1638
01:15:32,920 --> 01:15:35,200
Project.
And they brought little iPods to

1639
01:15:35,200 --> 01:15:37,880
nursing homes and older adults
and gate let them listen to

1640
01:15:37,880 --> 01:15:40,440
whatever music they wanted.
And, you know, these were

1641
01:15:40,440 --> 01:15:43,240
dementia patients who were very
inert, you know, maybe not

1642
01:15:43,240 --> 01:15:45,520
moving, maybe not always
remembering their old family

1643
01:15:45,520 --> 01:15:47,680
couldn't speak that well.
And all of a sudden when you

1644
01:15:47,680 --> 01:15:50,480
play them the music they like,
they become alive again right

1645
01:15:50,480 --> 01:15:52,400
there.
They are articulate and they

1646
01:15:52,400 --> 01:15:55,600
have opinions and they, you
know, they're alert and, you

1647
01:15:55,600 --> 01:15:57,800
know, engaging.
And so we see that music is

1648
01:15:57,800 --> 01:16:01,440
really amazing for dementia.
In fact, for a lot of people

1649
01:16:01,440 --> 01:16:04,480
with dementia, specifically
among Alzheimer's disease,

1650
01:16:04,760 --> 01:16:07,600
memory for music is actually
pretty well preserved.

1651
01:16:07,880 --> 01:16:11,240
And So what you can use, you can
take advantage of that, right?

1652
01:16:11,240 --> 01:16:14,240
And, and bring use music to
bring people into themselves and

1653
01:16:14,240 --> 01:16:17,440
help them remember things.
Now, we still don't know why it

1654
01:16:17,440 --> 01:16:20,440
works, you know, like, what is
the mechanism that music helps

1655
01:16:20,440 --> 01:16:22,760
people with Alzheimer's disease?
But there's a theory.

1656
01:16:23,280 --> 01:16:25,720
The theory is that in dementia,
if you think about it, parts of

1657
01:16:25,720 --> 01:16:28,000
the brain are kind of going
offline and they're starting to

1658
01:16:28,000 --> 01:16:30,640
become isolated, like little
islands, your brains not talking

1659
01:16:30,640 --> 01:16:33,240
to each other.
But music brings it all back

1660
01:16:33,240 --> 01:16:36,680
together into right.
So that's a working hypothesis,

1661
01:16:36,680 --> 01:16:39,120
a working theory.
More research is being done.

1662
01:16:39,360 --> 01:16:41,640
But yeah, there's actually some
research, you know, people are

1663
01:16:41,640 --> 01:16:45,200
trying to figure out like, OK,
can music, you know, along with

1664
01:16:45,200 --> 01:16:47,960
dementia, there are a lot of
what we call behavior on

1665
01:16:47,960 --> 01:16:50,640
psychological symptoms of
dementia.

1666
01:16:50,640 --> 01:16:54,120
So let's say depression,
anxiety, agitation, lethargy,

1667
01:16:54,120 --> 01:16:55,640
right?
We're starting to try to very

1668
01:16:55,640 --> 01:16:58,360
systematically be like, OK, when
can we use music?

1669
01:16:58,360 --> 01:17:01,800
And how does it help with
agitation or lethargy or

1670
01:17:01,800 --> 01:17:04,040
depression or anxiety, right?
We're kind of at that stage Be

1671
01:17:04,040 --> 01:17:07,400
like, imagine if eventually we
could prescribe music the way we

1672
01:17:07,400 --> 01:17:09,080
would prescribe an
antidepressant.

1673
01:17:09,160 --> 01:17:12,040
Might be like OK I want you to
go and I want you to your choir

1674
01:17:12,040 --> 01:17:14,920
three times a week 30 and we're
going to see you know and see

1675
01:17:14,920 --> 01:17:17,920
how that affects your behavior
and your these what we call

1676
01:17:17,920 --> 01:17:20,080
behavior on psychological
symptoms of dementia.

1677
01:17:20,080 --> 01:17:23,160
So there's a lot of work that's
being done on it In fact that's

1678
01:17:23,160 --> 01:17:26,720
why two of my grants are
actually I recently got an NIA

1679
01:17:26,720 --> 01:17:30,480
from the NIHI got AK 01 Thank
you It's a career development

1680
01:17:30,480 --> 01:17:35,280
grant to study the use of improv
based music therapy help people

1681
01:17:35,280 --> 01:17:37,120
with dementia and their care
partners.

1682
01:17:37,120 --> 01:17:39,040
I want to look at like, does it
help that, you know, because

1683
01:17:39,040 --> 01:17:43,200
care as a unit, yeah, as a unit,
caregivers have a lot of burden

1684
01:17:43,200 --> 01:17:45,120
when and you're taking care of
someone who's sick, right?

1685
01:17:45,320 --> 01:17:49,160
So can we use improv based music
therapy to reduce stress, reduce

1686
01:17:49,160 --> 01:17:52,320
depression, introduce.
To my grandparents, I would love

1687
01:17:52,560 --> 01:17:53,960
to.
Yeah.

1688
01:17:53,960 --> 01:17:55,400
I mean and.
I think, yeah.

1689
01:17:55,400 --> 01:17:57,960
And I think one of the benefits
of doing something like this is

1690
01:17:57,960 --> 01:18:01,120
it's non pharmacological, right?
Like I could you know, people

1691
01:18:01,240 --> 01:18:03,480
obviously there is medication to
help things, but if you think

1692
01:18:03,480 --> 01:18:06,280
about medication can often have
side effects, right?

1693
01:18:06,480 --> 01:18:09,360
Whereas if you pick the right
music, you're working with board

1694
01:18:09,360 --> 01:18:12,200
certified music therapist,
there's not likely to be adverse

1695
01:18:12,200 --> 01:18:14,080
events.
And so it's it's like a good

1696
01:18:14,080 --> 01:18:15,760
frontline first.
Low risk.

1697
01:18:16,320 --> 01:18:19,520
Low risk, a good way to try
starting to help someone who's

1698
01:18:19,520 --> 01:18:21,840
dealing with dementia.
And granted, again, this is for

1699
01:18:21,840 --> 01:18:23,760
early dementia.
We're not talking about late

1700
01:18:23,760 --> 01:18:26,760
stage dementia yet or but you
know, this is where, you know,

1701
01:18:26,760 --> 01:18:29,520
that's one of the research areas
that I'm looking into that I'm

1702
01:18:29,520 --> 01:18:31,040
starting.
I'm at the beginning of it.

1703
01:18:31,400 --> 01:18:35,360
It's so amazing, it's so cool.
I and I mentioned to you that

1704
01:18:36,080 --> 01:18:38,240
that I think I mentioned to you
that I used to visit the

1705
01:18:38,240 --> 01:18:40,320
assisted living homes back when
I was in college.

1706
01:18:40,320 --> 01:18:42,680
And one of the things they used
to do was I used to just sing

1707
01:18:42,680 --> 01:18:45,640
and, and people that and, and
people and, and, and the

1708
01:18:45,640 --> 01:18:49,920
residents in the in these homes,
you know, it doesn't even make a

1709
01:18:49,920 --> 01:18:51,800
difference.
It was, it was So it almost

1710
01:18:51,800 --> 01:18:54,680
felt, and obviously I'm sure it
wasn't, but it almost felt

1711
01:18:54,680 --> 01:18:58,040
unanimous.
As far as anecdotally, everyone

1712
01:18:58,040 --> 01:18:59,840
remembers the pink Sinatra songs
that we would sing.

1713
01:18:59,920 --> 01:19:02,600
Everyone remember the classic
show tunes that we would sing.

1714
01:19:02,920 --> 01:19:05,600
And it would and and what I'm
and I and what I would imagine

1715
01:19:05,600 --> 01:19:10,000
is is also brings back a whole
bunch of series of associations

1716
01:19:10,000 --> 01:19:11,960
and memories.
Exactly like a.

1717
01:19:12,480 --> 01:19:14,560
Yeah, drawback.
You know, I know, for example,

1718
01:19:14,560 --> 01:19:16,880
that I have a very strong
association with James Taylor

1719
01:19:17,200 --> 01:19:20,400
that you know, like I, you know,
my wife and I had gone to his

1720
01:19:20,400 --> 01:19:23,800
concert in Tinglewood and you
know, and and and and, you know,

1721
01:19:23,800 --> 01:19:25,600
the drive there and and and and
the music.

1722
01:19:25,600 --> 01:19:28,520
But even being introduced to his
music in college, college, I

1723
01:19:28,520 --> 01:19:31,880
have very, very strong and and
so I I play music and parts of

1724
01:19:31,880 --> 01:19:35,520
myself that I haven't even
thought about in years.

1725
01:19:35,520 --> 01:19:38,200
Just come rushing to the
Chicago.

1726
01:19:38,480 --> 01:19:40,960
You know, you're the inspiration
was like breakup song in high

1727
01:19:40,960 --> 01:19:43,880
school and I didn't listen to it
in like a decade and it came on

1728
01:19:43,880 --> 01:19:46,920
on the radio and I just was
transported back and I thought

1729
01:19:46,920 --> 01:19:49,360
about the girl that a girl that
I hadn't thought about.

1730
01:19:49,720 --> 01:19:53,040
For years. 20 years and like all
these memories and associates,

1731
01:19:53,120 --> 01:19:54,920
so, so I'm sure that that has a
lot to do with it.

1732
01:19:54,920 --> 01:19:57,360
It's really, really.
I mean, they, they call this a

1733
01:19:57,360 --> 01:19:59,440
music cognition.
We joke the phenomena is like

1734
01:19:59,440 --> 01:20:01,520
they're playing our song.
So think about it.

1735
01:20:01,520 --> 01:20:05,320
Let's say you're 8090 years old,
but you remember the song you

1736
01:20:05,320 --> 01:20:08,040
dance to at your wedding, right?
It brings you back right there.

1737
01:20:08,040 --> 01:20:11,920
And that's the thing, Music.
Has an amazing way to pull on

1738
01:20:11,920 --> 01:20:14,680
all these associations and you
know something else we're trying

1739
01:20:14,680 --> 01:20:16,320
to start doing again.
We're still trying to find

1740
01:20:16,320 --> 01:20:18,040
funding.
So we haven't done it much yet,

1741
01:20:18,040 --> 01:20:21,000
but we're trying to bring
personalized playlists to older

1742
01:20:21,000 --> 01:20:23,200
adults who are treated in the
emergency room.

1743
01:20:23,240 --> 01:20:24,360
Right.
So the emergency room is a

1744
01:20:24,360 --> 01:20:27,560
really stressful place enough so
that many older adults will feel

1745
01:20:27,560 --> 01:20:29,160
delayed.
They won't they'll get confused.

1746
01:20:29,160 --> 01:20:31,880
They don't know where they are
or those get angry and start

1747
01:20:31,880 --> 01:20:34,520
getting agitated And right like
normally maybe you would have to

1748
01:20:34,520 --> 01:20:36,000
use medication to calm them
down.

1749
01:20:36,000 --> 01:20:39,480
But if we give them a pot, you
know, modify with their

1750
01:20:39,640 --> 01:20:41,880
headphones, you know, we often
do like, what do you want to

1751
01:20:41,880 --> 01:20:43,680
listen to?
You know, and anecdotally we

1752
01:20:43,680 --> 01:20:47,280
joke OK, well, take when they
were born and add 18 to 25

1753
01:20:47,280 --> 01:20:49,000
years.
We all remember the music of our

1754
01:20:49,000 --> 01:20:51,360
youth, right.
And so if you do that like, like

1755
01:20:51,360 --> 01:20:53,320
it's a Frank Sinatra is that,
you know, it's like if you add

1756
01:20:53,320 --> 01:20:56,640
the the songs of their youth, it
often does calm them down or at

1757
01:20:56,640 --> 01:20:59,280
least it takes a very stressful
medical situation like the

1758
01:20:59,280 --> 01:21:02,080
emergency room and makes it so
they can function again and

1759
01:21:02,080 --> 01:21:04,920
remember who they are right.
So this is all work that's being

1760
01:21:04,920 --> 01:21:07,240
done right now.
It's all ongoing.

1761
01:21:07,240 --> 01:21:09,560
Still.
Still being studied, but I, I do

1762
01:21:09,640 --> 01:21:13,320
think so I think that's why that
music has, you know, music isn't

1763
01:21:13,320 --> 01:21:15,360
the only domain.
You know, scent is also one of

1764
01:21:15,360 --> 01:21:17,040
those that has a very strong
association.

1765
01:21:17,040 --> 01:21:20,920
But music has a very strong
association with memory.

1766
01:21:20,920 --> 01:21:23,360
And like I said, specifically in
Alzheimer's disease, it's

1767
01:21:23,360 --> 01:21:25,640
amazing that they might forget
their name.

1768
01:21:25,640 --> 01:21:27,760
They might forget their, their
family members.

1769
01:21:27,760 --> 01:21:30,400
They don't know why they're
here, but they hear that song

1770
01:21:30,400 --> 01:21:33,440
and they're like, oh, I went to
prom on that was the song at

1771
01:21:33,440 --> 01:21:36,400
prom or I danced to that at my
wedding and I went to see that

1772
01:21:36,400 --> 01:21:37,560
show.
The tickets were really

1773
01:21:37,560 --> 01:21:39,800
expensive.
And right, it brings back all

1774
01:21:39,800 --> 01:21:41,920
this what we call
autobiographical memory.

1775
01:21:41,920 --> 01:21:44,840
Like if you think about it, as
you know, everyone in our life,

1776
01:21:44,840 --> 01:21:47,920
we all have these soundtracks
that accompany our lives, right?

1777
01:21:47,920 --> 01:21:49,960
The soundtrack of our own
personal life, right?

1778
01:21:50,240 --> 01:21:53,440
And so when you play that back
when you're 80 or 90, it brings

1779
01:21:53,440 --> 01:21:56,000
you back into these
autobiographical memories.

1780
01:21:56,680 --> 01:22:00,760
Is there research on the impacts
of someone with dementia or some

1781
01:22:00,760 --> 01:22:03,720
kind of neurodegenerative
disease playing as opposed to

1782
01:22:03,720 --> 01:22:06,360
consuming music?
We're still looking at that

1783
01:22:06,360 --> 01:22:08,200
right now.
So I they, you know, in music

1784
01:22:08,200 --> 01:22:10,600
therapy, they considered
listening to music is something

1785
01:22:10,600 --> 01:22:13,560
known as receptive music therapy
compared to playing an

1786
01:22:13,560 --> 01:22:15,360
instrument that's active music
therapy.

1787
01:22:15,560 --> 01:22:18,760
So, you know, we're trying both.
I think there's benefits to

1788
01:22:18,760 --> 01:22:22,360
both, likely higher benefits to
actually playing because it's

1789
01:22:22,360 --> 01:22:25,320
again, a more complex process,
but that is that's something for

1790
01:22:25,320 --> 01:22:27,680
example, my KO1 will do because
they're going to be playing

1791
01:22:27,680 --> 01:22:30,000
marimbas.
And then I also am a Co

1792
01:22:30,000 --> 01:22:33,440
investigator on an R61 with
Doctor Julene Johnson here at

1793
01:22:33,440 --> 01:22:37,160
UCSF, where we're teaching older
adults with mild cognitive

1794
01:22:37,160 --> 01:22:38,880
impairment.
That's like the preclinical

1795
01:22:38,880 --> 01:22:41,680
stage to Alzheimer.
It's like what directly precedes

1796
01:22:41,680 --> 01:22:44,560
Alzheimer's disease.
And we're offering them improv

1797
01:22:44,560 --> 01:22:47,360
lessons, piano improv lessons.
They were trying to see how does

1798
01:22:47,360 --> 01:22:49,320
this affect it.
Again, all in progress right

1799
01:22:49,320 --> 01:22:51,200
now.
So I can't speak too much to the

1800
01:22:51,200 --> 01:22:53,680
findings since we're still
gathering the data, but that is

1801
01:22:53,680 --> 01:22:55,280
the type of research we are
doing right now.

1802
01:22:55,760 --> 01:22:57,080
It's so exciting.
That means they have to be in

1803
01:22:57,080 --> 01:23:01,080
touch about, about, about like
when you, when you, while you

1804
01:23:01,080 --> 01:23:03,480
keep on doing all this research
because this is all awesome

1805
01:23:03,480 --> 01:23:04,480
stuff.
I love all this.

1806
01:23:04,520 --> 01:23:07,760
Stuff, you know, thank, you
know, it's like science is not

1807
01:23:07,760 --> 01:23:11,760
an easy path by any way and by
any means, particularly now in

1808
01:23:11,760 --> 01:23:14,080
this funding climate.
But it's really nice to get to

1809
01:23:14,080 --> 01:23:16,720
talk to people and realize that,
you know, most people care about

1810
01:23:16,720 --> 01:23:18,280
this.
Because I mean, something I

1811
01:23:18,320 --> 01:23:21,080
think about too is that we know
from music cognition is that

1812
01:23:21,080 --> 01:23:24,280
literally every culture on this
planet has had music.

1813
01:23:24,560 --> 01:23:27,920
The oldest instruments are from
40,000 years ago, and they

1814
01:23:27,920 --> 01:23:30,440
predate visual art.
They come before the caves of

1815
01:23:30,440 --> 01:23:33,000
Lesco and things like that.
So it's amazing.

1816
01:23:33,000 --> 01:23:35,360
I'm like, well, that really
speaks to the importance of

1817
01:23:35,360 --> 01:23:39,680
music for human society, right?
And so I think whenever I talk

1818
01:23:39,680 --> 01:23:42,280
about this research, well, it
can be hard when I'm in the

1819
01:23:42,280 --> 01:23:45,320
throes of writing a grant or a
manuscript, music is something

1820
01:23:45,320 --> 01:23:48,240
that's very accessible to pretty
much all of us, many of us,

1821
01:23:48,240 --> 01:23:49,080
right?
So.

1822
01:23:49,320 --> 01:23:50,920
Yeah.
I'm really, yeah.

1823
01:23:50,920 --> 01:23:53,440
And I'd be curious, you know,
one thing that I've, I've

1824
01:23:53,440 --> 01:23:57,320
noticed recently as I've kind of
been blowing more music is

1825
01:23:58,360 --> 01:24:02,800
Speaking of ancient or older
types of music, is that there's

1826
01:24:02,800 --> 01:24:06,080
some genres like bluegrass or,
you know, some types of, I guess

1827
01:24:06,080 --> 01:24:09,400
maybe Irish or traditional music
that don't have to such heavy

1828
01:24:09,440 --> 01:24:13,880
emphasis on the, on the rhythm
section or any kind of, you

1829
01:24:13,880 --> 01:24:16,280
know, percussion in particular.
And it's much more of a string

1830
01:24:16,280 --> 01:24:17,960
sound.
And they kind of depend on a

1831
01:24:17,960 --> 01:24:21,840
bass or some kind of other heavy
instrument to create that, that

1832
01:24:21,840 --> 01:24:24,080
sense of rhythm.
But I think that, that, that,

1833
01:24:24,080 --> 01:24:27,320
but I always felt, at least
again, anecdotally, that the,

1834
01:24:27,400 --> 01:24:29,800
that, that the percussion was
almost like the heartbeat, like,

1835
01:24:29,800 --> 01:24:35,080
like the really, really a core
primal aspect of the music that

1836
01:24:35,080 --> 01:24:39,360
just kind of sweeps people up
almost as much as as anything

1837
01:24:39,360 --> 01:24:40,720
else.
It's almost like the, the whole

1838
01:24:40,720 --> 01:24:42,640
like backdrop.
And then everything else is kind

1839
01:24:42,640 --> 01:24:45,240
of just flares and colours
coming from that.

1840
01:24:45,720 --> 01:24:48,320
And, and, and, and it was
curious to see, you know, the

1841
01:24:48,320 --> 01:24:50,720
difference between, you know, I
again, I love Springsteen's

1842
01:24:50,720 --> 01:24:54,760
drummer, Max Max Weinberg and,
and the way that he drums in

1843
01:24:54,760 --> 01:24:57,640
particular really feels because
Springsteen was known for

1844
01:24:57,640 --> 01:25:03,440
changing the tempo a lot, even
mid song, you know, So what do I

1845
01:25:04,000 --> 01:25:06,680
do?
Especially when you're jogging

1846
01:25:06,680 --> 01:25:09,160
and you feel like, you know,
like, and it gets you that in

1847
01:25:09,160 --> 01:25:11,280
that place that runner's high.
But then you listen to Billy

1848
01:25:11,280 --> 01:25:13,680
Strings, man, and you're like,
there is no percussion.

1849
01:25:13,680 --> 01:25:17,040
And there's somehow still find a
way to keep that, to keep that

1850
01:25:17,040 --> 01:25:18,200
going.
And how does that work?

1851
01:25:18,200 --> 01:25:19,560
I all that stuff to me is
awesome.

1852
01:25:19,960 --> 01:25:22,680
In that there in in the Billy
stream, for example, it's

1853
01:25:22,680 --> 01:25:24,480
implied beats.
So even though there's not a

1854
01:25:24,480 --> 01:25:27,720
percussion there, they're
setting the meat from a music

1855
01:25:27,720 --> 01:25:29,840
theory standpoint, they're
setting the meter strongly

1856
01:25:29,840 --> 01:25:31,760
enough that you feel it.
So it's implied.

1857
01:25:32,360 --> 01:25:35,000
But yes, is the percussion and
often a grounding thing?

1858
01:25:35,000 --> 01:25:37,720
Yeah, absolutely.
So, for example, an improv music

1859
01:25:37,720 --> 01:25:41,520
therapy, the base, the music
therapist often will pay play a

1860
01:25:41,520 --> 01:25:44,560
lower xylophone to set the beat.
And that's grounding.

1861
01:25:44,560 --> 01:25:47,320
It's to help set a foundation
and everyone else layers on top

1862
01:25:47,320 --> 01:25:49,200
of it.
And you know, it's, it's very

1863
01:25:49,200 --> 01:25:51,960
much tied to Physiology.
Something music cognition people

1864
01:25:51,960 --> 01:25:55,160
have found is that the tempos we
tend to like, so the tempos that

1865
01:25:55,160 --> 01:25:59,760
music fall in tend to be the
same physiological tempos as our

1866
01:25:59,760 --> 01:26:01,480
heart rate and our breath rate,
right?

1867
01:26:01,480 --> 01:26:04,960
Like, you know, like I and if
you think music is human created

1868
01:26:04,960 --> 01:26:08,680
right, we have created tempos
that mimic our own physiological

1869
01:26:08,680 --> 01:26:10,800
rates.
So yes, absolutely, you're

1870
01:26:10,800 --> 01:26:13,320
probably running right to a
certain beat, permit it, and

1871
01:26:13,320 --> 01:26:16,280
then it changes and it does mess
with your Physiology, right.

1872
01:26:16,600 --> 01:26:19,240
So yes, that music is this is
again, this idea that music is

1873
01:26:19,240 --> 01:26:22,320
very time to to culture and
biology and things like that.

1874
01:26:22,320 --> 01:26:24,560
And those are the type of things
that music cognition in trying

1875
01:26:24,560 --> 01:26:26,240
to understand.
Awesome.

1876
01:26:26,360 --> 01:26:30,360
And my last question for you,
which I like to end now on every

1877
01:26:30,360 --> 01:26:34,480
podcast on now is what are you
excited and hopeful for as far

1878
01:26:34,480 --> 01:26:36,160
as your research in the future
and everything?

1879
01:26:36,240 --> 01:26:40,160
Else, you know, I really hope
that I can continue to keep

1880
01:26:40,160 --> 01:26:43,640
doing research on music, you
know, music work or arty arts

1881
01:26:43,640 --> 01:26:46,360
space work has always been
really kind of underfunded and

1882
01:26:46,360 --> 01:26:48,520
undervalued, right?
Certainly it's not Cancer

1883
01:26:48,520 --> 01:26:51,480
Research, absolutely that you
know, but you know, I do think

1884
01:26:51,480 --> 01:26:54,400
it's really important and I
think we're starting their scene

1885
01:26:54,400 --> 01:26:56,760
that the public is starting to
know more and more about using

1886
01:26:56,760 --> 01:26:58,960
the arts and music.
So what I'm really hopeful for

1887
01:26:58,960 --> 01:27:03,320
is that I really hope more
people start to see why the arts

1888
01:27:03,320 --> 01:27:07,680
are valuable, but then also help
advocate for funding sources

1889
01:27:07,680 --> 01:27:10,680
and, you know, philanthropy that
does support work like this on

1890
01:27:10,680 --> 01:27:12,520
the arts.
You know, because up until now,

1891
01:27:12,520 --> 01:27:15,400
I think I've always considered
what I do very niche.

1892
01:27:15,640 --> 01:27:17,920
And I am still considered niche,
particularly even at like a

1893
01:27:17,920 --> 01:27:21,640
medical school like UCSF.
So I hope, I'm very hopeful

1894
01:27:21,640 --> 01:27:23,640
though, that in the future,
people will continue to see how

1895
01:27:23,640 --> 01:27:25,880
important the arts are and fund
work like this.

1896
01:27:26,240 --> 01:27:28,920
And then I hope that kind of
work will eventually help

1897
01:27:28,920 --> 01:27:30,640
artists, right?
We have all these artists

1898
01:27:30,640 --> 01:27:33,040
graduating from school and
showing that they can have

1899
01:27:33,040 --> 01:27:35,640
careers that are not just being
in the arts.

1900
01:27:35,640 --> 01:27:39,080
Maybe you become an arts
therapist or a music

1901
01:27:39,080 --> 01:27:41,720
practitioner or things like
that, using your talent and your

1902
01:27:41,720 --> 01:27:45,480
skills for health or for, you
know, aging or working community

1903
01:27:45,480 --> 01:27:47,320
homes.
So, so that's what I'm hopeful

1904
01:27:47,320 --> 01:27:48,960
for.
That's like my pipe dream is

1905
01:27:48,960 --> 01:27:51,200
eventually we get to that point.
I love that.

1906
01:27:51,200 --> 01:27:56,400
I just, I think I was talking
again to talked to Kurt Ellen

1907
01:27:56,400 --> 01:27:59,640
Morgan about this, but he said
that there's a real disconnect

1908
01:27:59,640 --> 01:28:04,240
between the research world of
music and the university type of

1909
01:28:04,240 --> 01:28:07,920
world and academia and the
actual performance world.

1910
01:28:08,120 --> 01:28:10,400
And he said there's a real,
there's a real gap between them

1911
01:28:10,400 --> 01:28:12,240
that means that, that, that he
thinks should be bridged.

1912
01:28:12,240 --> 01:28:15,120
And I would love to find, I
would love to encourage that.

1913
01:28:15,120 --> 01:28:18,200
I would love to, you know, for,
for great musicians to want to

1914
01:28:18,200 --> 01:28:21,440
go to universities and want to
go to you guys and want to go

1915
01:28:21,720 --> 01:28:24,440
and say, hey, you know, how can,
how can we work together and

1916
01:28:24,440 --> 01:28:26,560
understand this?
And, and you know, and, and

1917
01:28:26,600 --> 01:28:29,640
provide mutual, you know,
beneficial research for

1918
01:28:29,680 --> 01:28:32,080
everyone.
And I think that I would love

1919
01:28:32,080 --> 01:28:33,120
that.
That's something I'm really I'm

1920
01:28:33,120 --> 01:28:34,840
really hopeful for and I would
love for that to happen.

1921
01:28:35,160 --> 01:28:36,840
Yeah.
And I've been really lucky with

1922
01:28:36,840 --> 01:28:38,840
my National Endowment for the
Arts funds.

1923
01:28:38,840 --> 01:28:41,400
I've been very lucky that
musicians have been buying in,

1924
01:28:41,400 --> 01:28:44,360
that we've been able to get as
far as Small and Colin Mockery

1925
01:28:44,360 --> 01:28:47,840
and Zakir Hussein and these
amazing greats to come in

1926
01:28:47,840 --> 01:28:49,520
because they do think it's
important.

1927
01:28:49,760 --> 01:28:52,280
But yeah, this work doesn't
happen unless musicians and

1928
01:28:52,280 --> 01:28:54,560
artists buy in and help us
support it.

1929
01:28:54,560 --> 01:28:56,800
And I think some something that
I have personally found as a

1930
01:28:56,800 --> 01:28:59,560
scientist, it really helps that
I do have this music background

1931
01:28:59,560 --> 01:29:02,240
because I can go into
conservatories and say, no, I'm

1932
01:29:02,240 --> 01:29:04,440
not just some weird
neuroscientist that was study

1933
01:29:04,440 --> 01:29:06,000
your brain.
I'm one of you.

1934
01:29:06,040 --> 01:29:08,040
This is what's going to happen.
Like I can speak.

1935
01:29:08,360 --> 01:29:10,560
They they take me seriously
because I have music training,

1936
01:29:10,560 --> 01:29:11,600
right?
Or art screening.

1937
01:29:12,000 --> 01:29:14,960
So I, I do think I am hopeful
that there's going to be more

1938
01:29:14,960 --> 01:29:17,480
and more of this
interdisciplinary work and

1939
01:29:17,480 --> 01:29:19,720
that's going to be more and more
public so that people realize

1940
01:29:19,720 --> 01:29:22,560
how important it is.
But yeah, I mean, I think we all

1941
01:29:22,560 --> 01:29:24,440
know it.
Like we all have aging parents

1942
01:29:24,440 --> 01:29:26,680
or grandparents and want to use
what we can.

1943
01:29:26,680 --> 01:29:29,680
And so I think these are the
more we bring this into our real

1944
01:29:29,680 --> 01:29:33,080
lives, I think the better.
So I I'm hopeful for that too.

1945
01:29:34,080 --> 01:29:36,440
Doctor Karen Barrett, thank you
so much for coming on.

1946
01:29:37,800 --> 01:29:40,000
This is such a blast.
I really appreciate your time

1947
01:29:40,000 --> 01:29:42,240
and this is and I hope, I hope,
I can't wait.

1948
01:29:42,240 --> 01:29:44,200
I hope to do this again.
This is a really ton of fun.

1949
01:29:44,200 --> 01:29:46,400
Yeah, this was so much fun.
I at first, as I didn't know

1950
01:29:46,400 --> 01:29:47,600
which studies we'd be talking
about.

1951
01:29:47,600 --> 01:29:49,800
I love that.
It was like a conversation that

1952
01:29:49,800 --> 01:29:52,960
we got to have and it's great.
And I, it did seem very like we

1953
01:29:53,000 --> 01:29:55,360
were able to flow from top and
top and very cohesively.

1954
01:29:55,360 --> 01:29:57,080
So, so good job.
Thank you, Efra.

1955
01:29:57,120 --> 01:29:58,720
I.
Appreciate it, this is a ton of

1956
01:29:58,720 --> 01:29:59,600
fun.
Have a great day.

1957
01:29:59,600 --> 01:30:01,360
Thank.
You let me know if you need

1958
01:30:01,360 --> 01:30:02,040
anything else.