The Relationship Between Music and Brainwaves – Part One


Nuance Crusaders by Mark R. Baldridge, Tuesday, November 19, 2019

The correlation between music and brainwaves is tempo, also called Beats Per Minute (BPM). As the BPM increases, activity in brain waves changes from Alpha to Beta. The reason is that the brain is an electrochemical organ with billions of interconnected nerve cells, and is influenced by frequencies (Scientific American, 1997). My purpose of this article is to focus on a study conducted by Hurless et. al. in 2013.
The reason why this study is important they demonstrate how Alpha and Beta brainwaves are affected differently by BPM. The reason is that different frequencies in music, due to changes in BPM, affect Hertz (Hz) differently in the brain. Alpha waves (8-13 Hz) are located in the occipital region of the brain when a person is awake and relaxed and Beta waves (13 -30 Hz) are associated with a more attentive mental state (Hurless et. al. in 2013). The importance of this is that, in order to treat people with different health conditions, you have to utilize different styles of music and specific BPM for treatment.
The CD Reflections by Nuance  Crusaders (Mark R. Baldridge producer & Steven Hashimoto co-producer) on the Blujazz label (Greg Pasenko,  President) has several features that makes it beneficial for therapeutic music.
·      The music is not just jazz, but it is also fused with pop and world music, utilizing a contemporary sound which has the potential to appeal to a larger audience.
·      My compositions do not sound all the same, minimizing repetition.
·      They are also performed at different BPM which can be utilized for different applications and treatment.

Nicole Hurless, Aldijana Mekie, Sebastian Pena, Ethan Humphries, Hunter Gentry, and David F. Nichols, 2013, Music genre preference and tempo alter alpha and beta waves in human non-musicians. Impulse: The Premier Undergraduate Neuroscience Journal.

Scientific American (December 22, 1997), What is the function of the various brainwaves?


Blujazz Lable:

Nuance Crusaders by Mark R. Baldridge, Thursday, October 3, 2019
#nuance4health, #health, #brainresearch, #music, #musictherapy, #relax, #relaxataion,

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