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MIB guest talk: Martin Nørgaard

Assistant Professor of Music Education at Georgia State University - School of Music, Atlanta visits Center for Music in the Brain and gives talk on improvisation.

21.02.2018 | Hella Kastbjerg

Dato tor 15 mar
Tid 11:00 12:00
Sted Meeting room 4th floor, DNC Building 10G, Aarhus University Hospital, Nørrebrogade

TITLE:

Why learning to improvise may enhance inhibitory control and cognitive flexibility

ABSTRACT:

In our recent pilot study, middle school concert band students who received instruction in musical improvisation showed far-transfer enhancements in some areas of executive function related to inhibitory control and cognitive flexibility compared to other students in the same ensemble. In the pilot study, 155 seventh and eighth grade middle school band students were divided into two groups. Over two months, both groups received instruction in jazz phrasing, scales and vocabulary but only the experimental group were also asked to improvise. All students were tested before and after instruction on the Wisconsin Card Sorting Task (cognitive flexibility) and the Classic Stroop Task (inhibitory control). Seventh grade students in the experimental group showed enhanced inhibitory control but no differences between the groups were shown on measures of cognitive flexibility. The opposite pattern appeared in eighth grade where the experimental group scored significantly better on cognitive flexibility but not on inhibition. Why does improvisation training enhance executive function over and above standard music experience? Music improvisation involves the ability to adapt and integrate sounds and motor movements in real-time, concatenating previously stored motor sequences in order to flexibly produce a particular auditory experience. The output of improvisation must then be evaluated by the musician in real time based on internal goals and the external environment, which may lead to the improviser modifying subsequent motor acts. I explore how developing these processes could cause the observed far-transfer effects by reviewing our previous qualitative and quantitative research as well as significant theoretical frameworks related to musical improvisation.

Seminar, Forskning, Alle grupper, Musicinthebrain, Musicinthebrain