--Ludwig Wittgenstein, Lectures and Conversations on Aesthetics, Psychology & Religious Belief, p.11
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I'm always looking for good news items for the Friday post and this certainly qualifies: Playing an instrument linked to better brain health in older adults
The paper, "The relationship between playing musical instruments and cognitive trajectories: Analysis from a UK aging cohort," is published in International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry.
The findings show that playing a musical instrument, particularly the piano, is linked to improved memory and the ability to solve complex tasks—known as executive function. Continuing to play into later life provides even greater benefit. The work also suggests that singing was also linked to better brain health, although this may also be due to the social factors of being part of a choir or group.
None of that comes as a surprise.
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New dangers for buskers: Silencing a Piano Man.
In London these days, if you’re lucky enough not to be hounded on the street by mobs of virulent pro-Hamas protesters, you just might find yourself assaulted by a gaggle of arrogant Chinese Communists. At least, that is, if you make your living by playing boogie-woogie on public pianos.
That’s what happened the other day to British piano man Brendan Kavanagh, whose YouTube channel has 2.4 million subscribers. Until this dustup occurred, I was unfamiliar with him. He comes off as a totally easygoing type, a middle-aged bloke who enjoys his music, loves sharing it online, and doesn’t take himself too seriously. In brief, a free spirit.
Alas, there are people moving among us in the Western world who, far from being free spirits, are agents of the planet’s largest terror regime. The other day Kavanagh was livestreaming while tickling the ivories at St. Pancras Station in London – on a Yamaha upright donated to the station, as it happens, by Elton John – when a half-dozen or so of them approached him. They were all wearing identical red scarves and carrying small Chinese flags.
At first it appeared as if one of them wanted to play the piano. But no: she said something in broken English about a “disclosure form” and about recording for Chinese TV. Then one of her male comrades told Kavanagh to turn off his camera, insisting that it was the group’s “right” not to have their images recorded. Kavanagh replied, firmly but pleasantly, that “we’re in a free country…..We’re not in Communist China.” To which the young man shot back: “Sorry, this is racist now!” And when Kavanagh’s hand grazed against one young woman’s flag, the Chinese guy exploded: “Don’t touch her!”
Read the whole thing.
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Here's a weird one: Extreme metal guitar skills linked to intrasexual competition, but not mating success
New research sheds light on the relationship between guitar skills in extreme metal music, mating success, and male competition. The study, focusing on male heterosexual guitar players, reveals intriguing connections between the time spent practicing certain guitar techniques and the psychological aspects of mating motivation and intrasexual competition, challenging traditional notions of artistic displays in human courtship and social status. The findings have been published in Evolutionary Behavioral Sciences.
One of the most significant findings was that the speed of guitar playing was a significant predictor of intrasexual competition. This indicates that guitarists who perceive themselves as playing faster than their peers tend to have higher levels of intrasexual competitiveness. Moreover, this fast-playing speed was specifically linked to the superiority enjoyment aspect of intrasexual competition, suggesting that these guitarists derive pleasure from feeling superior in their skill compared to other male guitarists.
Now, if you will excuse me, I have to go practice some scales...
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I sometimes criticize Ted Gioia when it comes to musicology and music history, but regarding the current scene, he really knows his stuff. Have a look at this piece on the struggle over copyright: Nine Ugly Truths about Copyright.
Maybe you’re starting to realize that battles over copyright law have nothing to do with nurturing creativity. It’s all about cold, hard cash.
But the combatants can’t say that openly—they must pretend that they care about fairness and virtue and your favorite indie rock band and all that claptrap. They spread this nonsense via
- their huge legal teams
- public relations
- friendly media outlets (many of which they own or indirectly control).
- lobbyists (they employ armies of them)
- donations to politicians.
That’s why you never hear a straight story about copyrights. These people are paid to prevent it from happening.
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Music journalism today: Who cares...
Sample text: "With the internet swirling with theories about Megan’s lyrics, Minaj took to X (formerly Twitter) to voice her displeasure with the song and announce her follow-up 'Big Foot,' which she released on Monday. The title appeared to be a reference to Megan’s 5-foot-10 height and the fact that she was shot in the foot...."
And let's move on quickly from that!
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Norman Lebrecht writes Soothing sounds in time of war
Grainy photographs exist of Leonard Bernstein playing piano in the desert with a small orchestra. In 1967 Daniel Barenboim brought moral support, and Bernstein conducted Mahler’s Resurrection symphony on the Mount of Olives. In 1973, Leonard Cohen camped out with a tank division.
My favourite eyewitness story concerns Toscanini and Huberman, caught by a torrential downpour on the road from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. Turning into a tented kibbutz, they sheltered in the only tin-roofed structure, a communal dining hall.
Word spread that Toscanini was drinking coffee, and kibbutzniks in blue overalls besieged him with questions in German about metronome markings in Brahms’s first symphony and Berlioz’s Fantastique. “Extraordinary country,” he beamed. “Even the peasants know music.”
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We haven't posted them in a while, so let's listen to Toscanini with Brahms' Symphony No. 1:
And Daniel Barenboim with Berlioz' Symphonie fantastique:
And as a musical footnote to the photo of Eric Clapton and George Harrison, here is Badge written by George Harrison with Eric Clapton, anonymously, (even though George's wife Patti ran off with Eric):
2 comments:
"One of the most significant findings was that the speed of guitar playing was a significant predictor of intrasexual competition. This indicates that guitarists who perceive themselves as playing faster than their peers tend to have higher levels of intrasexual competitiveness."
Who considered this a significant finding? That men who play metal have intrasexual competitiveness about who plays faster could have been established anecdotally alone across the last fifty years. Ted Nugent claiming that BIlly GIbbons thought he could play faster than him but Nugent saying Gibbons was suffering delusions of grandeur vaguely comes to mind.
The evolutionary psychological surmise that the reason people attempt to excel in the arts if for mating success seems like the unexamined assumption that skews the premise of the study. I don't blame feminists for a counter-surmise that a good deal of evolutionary psychology can come across as a 21st century just so story that verifies rudimentary gender stereotypes.
Anyone who has met guitarists obsessed with shredding knows they don't do it for mating success. :)
In fact, many guitarists spend so much time working on their technique they really don't have time for much mating success!
Many times on the blog I have commented that studies like these are very misleading because of flawed premises, as in this one, or extremely limited samples. This study, for example, was based on talking to forty-four (44!) guitarists. They are really just hunting around for data to plausibly support their assumptions. "Science!"
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