Encouraging Guidelines in Neuromusicological Research Regarding Classical Music’s Usage in Sonic Therapy - When Science Becomes Magic

Abstract

"In systematic musicology as a branch of music psychology we found an intriguing orientation called cognitive neuroscience of music, or neuromusicology. It studies the function of the brain in music processing, the way music perception and production manifests in brain. Compared to other analytical models of music cognition, the mapping of the brain’s functioning serves to examine the outcome of music rather than its process, and as the music therapy methods discussed reflect, most approaches follow this ontological direction. As recent scientific researches shows, the brain mapping technique differentiates moment of listening, playing classical music or improvising. In the light of the research findings, our main focus was to get to know and understand how our musical brains functions during classical music audition so we could argue from a scientific approach not only the existing therapeutic methods used in music therapy, but the perception of classical music in the present. In the master class “Dialogue of the Arts”, we explore with our students in all grades the possible links between music and other artistic and scientific disciplines. One of the most exciting aspects of this is music and brain research, an incredibly fast-developing field whose results could reinforce the place and role of classical music in contemporary society, reinforcing existing broad-based promotion of classical music education (Kodály, El sistema etc.) Keywords: music cognition, neuromusicology, sonic therapy, classical music, models of therapy. "