chapter 3

THE MUSICAL BRAIN

don a. hodges

How does it happen that all children possess a musical brain? This question forms the focus
of this chapter, which describes the development of the musical brain from before birth
through the teenage years. As early as the last months of pregnancy, the fetus responds to
musical sounds and children naturally engage in musical experiences that shape inherited
neural systems toward the eventual adult musical brain. Children who begin formal music
instruction at an early age develop different brains from those who do not receive such
training. As adults, these musicians will have stronger and faster brain responses to musical
tasks than naïve listeners. It is becoming increasingly apparent that all human beings are
biologically equipped to be musical and that this genetic predisposition for musicality has
important consequences for us not only artistically, but emotionally and socially, as well.
The first section of this chapter describes general brain growth and development, while the
second reviews research literature dealing specifically with the development of the musical
brain.

General brain development

Figures used to describe the adult brain are almost beyond comprehension. For example,
the brain has billions of neurons (brain cells) that may have as many as a quadrillion (1000
trillion) connections with each other (Gopnik et al., 2001). In the motor cortex, a single
neuron may take part in as many as 60 000 synapses (connections) and there are over
200 million fibres in the corpus callosum (a bundle of fibres connecting the two halves
of the brain; it plays a major role in transferring and integrating information between the
two hemispheres; see Figure 3.1) (Ashwell et al., 2000). Just these few figures are enough
to convince one of the enormous complexity of the human brain. But how does it get
that way?
Growing a brain is a dynamic, interactive process that is driven by genetics and shaped
by experiences in living. Some aspects of brain development show a smooth continuous
growth, while others alternate between plateaus with no growth and spurts of rapid growth.
There are also instances of significant overgrowth followed by retrenchment.
At birth, the brain is 30% of adult weight, by age 2 it reaches 70%, and by 6 it is 90% (Berk,
2004). From birth to adulthood the brain quadruples in volume (weight), with most of the
increase coming from growth of dendrites (fibres bringing information into the cell body),
increased synapses (synaptogenesis), fibre bundles, and myelin (a fatty sheath covering

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 (a) Sensorimotor cortex

Parietal lobe
Frontal lobe

Auditory cortex
Cerebellum Temporal lobe

(b) Corpus callosum

Cerebellum

Figure 3.1 Major areas of the brain. (a) The exterior of the right hemisphere. (b) The interior of the brain.

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 the musical brain 53

axons) (Johnson, 1998). Most of the brain cells are in place by the end of the sixth month
of fetal development (Johnson, 2001); in fact, beginning around day 42 after conception
and for the next 120 days, brain cells proliferate at the rate of 580 000 per minute (Bruer,
1999). Even though additional brain cells are not produced in most brain areas after this
time, another contribution to brain growth is that glial cells (which support and nourish
neurons) continue to increase rapidly even after birth.
This overall growth moves in localized spurts, with some parts of the brain growing and
changing rapidly at the same time that other parts are more static. These growth spurts
are connected with changes in cognitive functioning. For example, rapid growth in the
auditory and visual areas in the first year corresponds to dramatic gains in auditory and
visual perception. Peak growth rates in the frontal circuits of the corpus callosum between
the ages of 3 and 6 result in greater ability to sustain focused attention and to plan new
actions (Thompson et al., 2000). Another part of the corpus callosum shows rapid, peak
growth rates (up to 80%) between the ages of 11 and 15, having to do with spatial association
and language development. Ages 6–15 see growth in temperoparietal systems also implicated
in language and spatial relationships.
By studying large samples of children from ages 2 months to early adulthood, researchers
have found overall continuous growth, but many examples of discrete growth spurts in
specific regions at specific times (Thatcher et al., 1987). In general, the right hemisphere
shows more steady, sustained growth, with spurts between birth and 2 and between 8 and
10. Left hemisphere growth is characterized by more abrupt spurts, particularly between
3 and 6. Left hemisphere pairings from front to back reach 90% of adult values by age 5,
but the right hemisphere does not reach this level until age 9. Interestingly, growth patterns
seem to broadly correspond to Piaget’s stages of development.
After age 15, growth is bilateral, primarily in frontal lobe connections, with few changes
found elsewhere (Sowell et al., 1999). The cerebral cortex and hippocampus are the slowest
parts of the brain to develop (Johnson, 2001). As the brain grows, it folds in upon itself as a
means of including more tissue into a constrained space. This cortical folding (gryrification)
begins as early as the 11–16th week of gestation, reaches adult levels soon after birth,
continues until the 38th week when it reaches 118% of adult values, then regresses and
stabilizes by age 20 (Zilles et al., 1997).
As a demonstration of cortical folding, try this simple experiment: cup the hands facing
each other with fingertips touching. Notice the distance from the first knuckle on each
finger to the first knuckle on the finger opposite. Roll the fingers inward so that the first
knuckles on all fingers are touching. This can be repeated so that the second knuckle on
each finger is touching the second knuckle on the finger opposite. Rolling the fingers inward
to make the total hand area smaller roughly approximates how the brain folded in upon
itself as it developed over the millennia from a brain of approximately 500 mL to one of
over 1300 mL (Cowan, 1979).
The next subsections of this review provide information on additional concepts that help
to refine an understanding of brain development, including myelination, plasticity, pruning,
and critical periods. A final subsection in this general discussion covers the development of
the auditory cortex.

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54 the child as musician

Myelination
Myelination is a process of coating the neuronal axons with a fatty sheath that improves
message transfer with respect to accuracy and speed. Axons are fibres that transmit infor-
mation away from a cell body. Myelination begins in the fourth month after gestation and
continues for the next 30 years (Sowell et al., 1999). It occurs in different brain regions at
different times and, in general, proceeds from bottom to top and from back to front. The
brainstem and cerebellum come first and the frontal lobes last. The reticular formation
(which maintains alertness and consciousness) becomes coated throughout childhood into
adolescence (Berk, 2004), accounting for improved concentration. The corpus callosum
does not begin to myelinate until the end of the first year. As indicated previously, there
are spurts of rapid growth in different parts of the corpus callosum at different ages that
continue to age 15 (Thompson et al., 2000). Myelination is related to cognitive functioning
(Webb et al., 2001) and because the process is not a smooth, continuous one, development
of cognitive functioning is also not a smooth, continuous process.

Plasticity
Plasticity refers to the notion that brain structures are not rigidly defined, rather that they
are malleable. Brain structures can change over time as a result of learning experiences.
This has specific relevance for brain injury, in that when a portion of the brain is destroyed
other parts may take over that function (Chugani et al., 1996). This is more likely to be
the case the earlier the damage occurs and the more limited it is. Plasticity, however, is not
just a response to brain injury, but a central feature of the brain development and learning
that persists throughout life as experiences change the brain (Stiles, 2000). Plasticity can be
influenced by both negative (e.g., injury) and positive (e.g., learning) experiences (Nelson &
Bloom, 1997).
Mounting evidence suggests that musicians’ brains are models of neuroplasticity
(Pantev, et al., 2001a, 2003; Schlaug, 2001; Münte et al., 2002; Ross et al., 2003). Studies
of the effects of musical experiences on brain plasticity are reviewed subsequently under
the heading ‘Experiential factors in musicality’.

Pruning
A surprising feature of brain growth is that in the early years, there is a massive overpro-
duction and redundancy of synapses (Berk, 2004), with peaks of synaptic density coming
at different times for different regions (Johnson, 2001). Overproduction is as high as 50%
(Stiles, 2000). This, along with fuel expenditure during the coating of axons, leads to a
doubling of glucose metabolism in the frontal cortex from ages 2 to 4 (Thompson et al.,
2000), which reaches 190% to 226% of adult values between 3 and 8 (Chugani et al., 1993).
Genes and experience work together in a process called neural pruning, whereby the brain
is sculpted into its eventual configuration. There is a severe, spatially localized loss of brain
tissue of up to 50% between the ages of 7–11 and 9–13 (Thompson et al., 2000) and from
20 to 80% of cortical neurons and synapses may be lost in specific regions (Stiles, 2000).
Pruning can be ‘experience-expectant’ or ‘experience-dependent’. In experience-expectant
systems (e.g., language or music), development is based on expectations that experience will

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provide the necessary influences to select the appropriate subset of synaptic connections
(Webb et al., 2001). Experience-dependent systems (e.g., vocabulary or specific musical
skills) are unique to each individual as a result of specific learning experiences. Competition,
particularly in terms of input, leads to both cell death and synaptic reduction (Stiles, 2000).
Synaptic connections that are infrequently or never activated are eliminated, while those
that are frequently used are retained and strengthened (Gopnik et al., 2001). As the brain
learns, it imposes restrictions on itself, such that what is learned influences what can be
learned (Quartz, 2003).
Neural pruning illustrates the interplay between nature and nurture. Genetic instructions
richly endow a youngster’s brain with numerous possibilities. Actual experiences sculpt the
brain toward its eventual adult makeup. For example, a child who is reared in a bilingual
home easily learns two languages. Whether these two are Japanese and Italian or English
and Spanish depends entirely on what she has the opportunity to learn and which sounds
she makes that are constantly reinforced.
Imagine, for a moment, a child growing up in an English-only home. During interactions
with adults, the infant is presented with ‘parentese’ speech with exaggerated visual and aural
models. She gazes at the lips and tongue of the speaker and tries to copy those facial
gestures. Similarly, she listens intently and tries to mimic the sounds she hears. Numerous
faulty attempts may go unacknowledged, but when there is a vocalization that approximates
a real word (e.g., ma-ma, da-da), there is a veritable explosion of reinforcement. The infant
is encouraged to try, try again. Gradually, what the novice speaker learns to do becomes
easier and easier and this, in turn, imposes a structure on awareness. Slowly, the infant
loses the ability either to hear or to produce certain sounds as she gains facility in hearing
and producing the English language. For example, adult English-only speakers are mostly
incapable of hearing or producing the Vietnamese name ‘Ng’ as native speakers can.
This scenario with language is much the same as with music. Thousands of Japanese
children have grown up to be bimusical as they learned both the traditional music of
their culture and Western classical music through Suzuki instruction. Children are born
with the capacity to learn any musical genre (an experience-expectant system); the specific
musical style or styles (experience-dependent systems) depend on the culture in which one
is raised. To an adolescent who has been exposed only to Western music, the microtunings
and polyrhythms inherent in non-Western music may be difficult, if not impossible, to
apprehend or produce (Patel et al., 2004).

Critical periods
As different regions of the brain go through growth spurts, there are critical periods dur-
ing which time appropriate stimulation is vital for normal development (Berk, 2004). If
appropriate stimuli are not provided during critical periods, proper connections will not be
made and deficits will occur. Physical, social, and emotional growth can be severely stunted
when children are raised in abnormal environments. For example, social and economic
problems in Romania in the 1980s caused a large number of infants to be placed in orphan-
ages where they received inadequate care and attention. The result was mild neurocognitive
impairment, impulsivity, and attention and social deficits (Chugani et al., 2001).

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56 the child as musician

In children, critical periods are more clearly marked for basic, species-specific traits, such
as were previously identified as experience-expectant systems. The story of Genie details how
a child who led a severely deprived life until the age of 13 was thereafter extremely limited
in her use of language, even after years of concentrated efforts on the part of therapists
(Curtiss, 1977; Rymer, 1993). However, for experience-dependent systems, the window of
opportunity for learning may never be permanently shut and Bruer (1999) cautions against
an over-reliance on critical periods as rigid determinants of human learning.
In contrast to critical periods, optimal periods are growth phases during which time
learning may come more easily and more quickly. If appropriate experiences do not occur
during optimal periods, learning may still occur at a later time, though it may be more
difficult. (See Flohr & Hodges, 2002, for a discussion of this concept in a musical context.)
Once again, consider first a linguistic, then a musical example. Everyday experiences
teach us that while adults can learn a new language, it is more easily done at a young age.
A monolingual adult is less likely to learn to speak a second language without an accent.
A classic example is an adult Japanese speaker learning to speak English, who is unable to
distinguish ‘l’ from ‘r’ as in pray/play or rake/lake. Such a person is unable to hear or produce
the requisite sounds.
An examination of professional musicians supports the common perception that an early
start is essential to eventual success as a concert artist (D. Moore et al., 2003). Conversely,
It’s never too late (Holt, 1978) documents the author’s experiences in learning to play the
cello as an adult. It can be done, but as with language, it is more easily accomplished in
earlier years. In Tone deaf and all thumbs? An invitation to music-making for late bloomers
and non-prodigies, Wilson (1986) presents a neurological explanation of music learning,
with implications for adult beginners.

Development of the auditory cortex

The auditory cortex follows the general developmental scheme as outlined previously. Neur-
ons are in place and functional such that during the last 3 months of pregnancy the fetus
responds to sounds (Lecanuet, 1996; R. Moore et al., 2001). Cortical evoked potentials
(measuring electrical activity) in response to sound have been recorded in the fetus during
labour (Staley et al., 1990). Musical sounds presented during the last 3 months before birth
can have an effect on subsequent infant behaviour (Olds, 1985), an indication that the fetal
brain is at least able to register and remember musical sounds.
After birth, there is a rapid burst of synaptic development in the auditory cortex between
months 3 and 4, reaching 150% of adult values between 4 and 12 months (Johnson, 1998).
Correspondingly, localized glucose expenditure peaks somewhat later, between ages 3 and
8, with a slower decline from 9 to 15, and eventually reaching adult values (Chugani et al.,
1993). Auditory deprivation leads to less myelination and fewer projections to and from the
auditory cortices. Congenitally-deaf adults have the same total volume of auditory cortex
as hearing controls, although they have higher gray–white matter ratios (Emmorey et al.,
2003). (The outer layer of the cortex is comprised of gray matter, which is involved in more
complex functions of the brain. It is organized in six layers. White matter forms an inner
core of fibres that connect functional areas of the cortex.)

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Neural activity in the auditory cortex that is functional and mature is restricted largely
to the top, outer layer (layer I) of gray matter before 4 months of age; infants’ ability to
process auditory information is thus most likely due to brainstem analysis (J. Moore, 2002;
see Figure 3.2). By age 2, axons are beginning to reach deeper layers (layers IV, V, and
VI), and interconnections increase significantly over the next few years. This development
from 6 months to age 5 reflects transmission of information from inner ear and brainstem
to the auditory cortex and results in increasing perceptual skills (e.g., for language and
music). From age 5 to 11 or 12, mature axons appear in layers II and III connecting the
two hemispheres and areas within hemispheres (e.g., auditory association areas). These
corticocortical connections are reflected in increasingly mature auditory perceptual skills.
For example, the ability to discriminate auditory stimuli has been studied in 2-, 3-, 4-, and
6-month-old infants. Although 2-month-old infants can discriminate between standard
and altered patterns, a clear developmental path was seen in that adult-like responses were
found in 31% of infants at 3 months, 58% at 4 months, and in most infants by 6 months
(Trainor et al., 2003a).
Differences in left and right hemispheric auditory processing are issues of interest with
musical implications that will be discussed subsequently. In 65% of adults, the left auditory
association area is larger than the corresponding area on the right (Johnson, 1998). This
same leftward asymmetry is seen in congenitally deaf adults and suggests that left–right

Figure 3.2 Neurofilament-immunostained sections of cortical tissue. At 40th fetal week (fw) and at 4.5 months’
postnatal age, mature axons are present only in marginal layer. By 2 years of age, mature neurofilament-expressing axons
are entering deeper cortical layers. By 11 years, mature axons are present with adult-like density in all cortical layers.
Reprinted from Moore, J. (2002) Maturation of human auditory cortex: Implications for speech perception. The Annals
of Otology, Rhinology & Laryngology, 111, 7–10. Used with permission.

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differences are not a result of auditory experience but may, in fact, be present from birth
(Emmorey et al., 2003). Development to this state is not smooth. At 29 weeks, the left side is
already larger than the right; however, in many cases the right develops sooner than the left.
Changes in absolute threshold to pure tones can be seen over time, representing development
of the auditory cortex. At 2 weeks, absolute threshold is as much as 50 dB poorer than
adults; at 3 months the gap is 15–30 dB, and from 6 to 12 months it is 10–15 dB (Aslin
et al., 1998). These differences are also reflected in frequency and intensity discriminations,
with 6-month-olds requiring twice the levels of frequency and intensity as adults to detect
changes.
A fundamentally important aspect of auditory processing—segregation of sound
streams—has been studied using EEG measurements of newborn infants (2–5 days old)
and of young adults (18–23 years old) as they listen to a series of tones (Winkler et al.,
2003). Results confirm that newborns are already capable of segregating the sound streams
just as adults are. This means they come into the world able to focus attention selectively on
such tasks as separating the sound of their mothers’ voices from background noise. Follow-
ing a review of hearing in terms of both language and music perception, Aslin et al. (1998)
provide evidence for a general auditory mechanism adapted for both modes, though this
interpretation is not without controversy.

Musical brain development

There is abundant observational evidence indicating that the fetus responds to musical
sounds during the last 3 months of pregnancy and that these prenatal music listening
experiences may have an effect on subsequent behaviour (Lecanuet, 1996). Infants selectively
respond to music at very early ages (Panneton, 1985; Fassbender, 1996; Papoušek, H., 1996),
express preferences for consonance over dissonance (Trainor et al., 2002), and possess
many musical processing skills (e.g., detection of changes in melody, in terms of pitches,
rhythms, tempo, and contour) (Trehub, 2001, 2003, 2004; also see Chapter 2). In turn, infant
preverbal speech and singing show musical qualities (e.g., modulation of timbre, melodic
contour, timing, etc.) at early ages (Fridman, 1973; Papoušek, M., 1996). Development of
musicality continues throughout childhood (Hargreaves, 1996; Sloboda & Davidson, 1996).
Few studies supporting these notions utilize direct measurements of brain responses, though
the brain’s involvement is clearly presupposed. The prevailing notion is that when infants
display listening and musical processing skills it is due more to inborn capabilities and less to
learning (Imberty, 2000; Trehub, 2000). Although learning takes place from the beginning,
infants do not need extensive experience to process musical sounds in adult-like ways.
Neural wiring makes the pathway from the inner ear to the auditory cortex stronger to the
opposite hemisphere than to the same side, with approximately 70% of the fibres crossing
over (Handel, 1989). Strong left ear advantages are evident for music timbre discrimination
in 4-day-old neonates; because of the cross-over connections, this indicates preference for
right hemispheric processing (Bertoncini et al., 1989). These findings were confirmed in 2-,
3-, and 4-month-old infants (Best et al., 1982). Eight-and-a-half-month-old infants demon-
strated more sophisticated responses, with definite preferences for melodic processing, left
ear (right hemisphere) for contour-altered changes and right ear (left hemisphere) for

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contour-preserved changes (Balaban et al., 1998). These hemispheric differences persist as

5–7 year olds had a slight increase in right hemispheric activation in the auditory cortex
for melodic processing as compared with rhythmic processing (Overy et al., 2004). The fact
that these left–right differences are smaller than those found in adults (Samson et al., 2001;
Zatorre, 2001) suggests a developmental trajectory.
Timbre discrimination is an important component of both speech and music perception.
Infants as young as 2 days old can recognize the sound of their mothers’ voices (DeCasper
& Fifer, 1980) and make limited musical timbre judgements at 1 week (O’Connell, 2003),
indicating that they come into the world prepared to make important timbral discrimina-
tions. Eight-month-old infants are able to discriminate spectral slope differences that are
most frequently found in speech and music (Tsang & Trainor, 2002). Timing is important,
too, as newborns from 2 to 6 days old show electrical brain responses to durational changes
in complex, harmonic tones that are similar to older children and adults (Cheour et al.,
2002).
Electrical brain responses (electroencephalogram or EEG) to music have been monitored
in 3-, 6-, 9-, and 12-month-old infants (Schmidt et al., 2002). Three orchestral pieces
representing happiness, sadness, and fear were presented to determine whether there were
differences in responses across age or affect. Although overall EEG power increased from
3 to 12 month olds, the distribution varied across age. Development of the frontal lobe
(implicated in decision-making, planning, and critical thinking) was indicated by the fact
that younger infants (3 and 6 months) showed no differences between frontal and parietal
activity, while older infants (9 and 12 months) had more activation at frontal than parietal
sites. Furthermore, affective music caused a significant increase in brain activity in 3 month
olds, had little effect on 6 and 9 month olds, and caused a decrease in 12 month olds. Seven-
month-old infants display sophisticated music listening skills, in that they can remember
music that they hear (Saffran et al., 2001).
Four-year-old children listened to classical music for 1 hour a day for 6 months
(Malyrenko et al., 1996). At the end of that time, significant positive changes in electrical
brain activity were found in comparison with controls. Likewise, brain responses of 4-year-
old Suzuki-trained students were significantly greater than those who were not taking music
lessons (Trainor et al., 2003b).
Flohr and colleagues have examined EEG in 4–6-year-old children during musical tasks.
In one study, EEG data were gathered from children as they: (1) were in eyes open, quiet
rest; (2) tapped rhythms to classical music; and (3) tapped rhythms to an Irish folk song
(Flohr & Miller, 1993). Alpha levels (brain waves from 8.5 to 12.0 Hz) decreased at all sites,
possibly indicating greater cognitive involvement. In another study, one group of children
from the ages of 4 to 6 received special music instruction while students in a control group
did not (Flohr et al., 1996). These children were monitored during: (1) eyes open, quiet
rest; (2) listening to classical music; and (3) puzzle assembly. The musically trained children
exhibited EEG activations indicating increased cognitive processing and greater relaxation.
Seven- to 9-year-old children who start music instruction between the ages of 3 and
5 perform better on both melodic and prosodic language perception tasks than children
who do not receive musical training; these differences in performance run parallel with
significant differences in electrophysiological brain responses (Magne et al., 2003). Although

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the results as reported are preliminary and should be considered with caution, findings are
comparable with performances of adult trained and untrained musicians. This indicates
that musical training enables these children to detect pitch variations in both music and
language better than those who have not had training. Whether this translates into improved
linguistic competency is still being studied.

Genetic factors in musicality

To what extent do genes shape the musical brain? The issue of nature versus nurture is
always a difficult one because musicality consists of physical, physiological, cognitive, and
dispositional traits in a complex series of interactions. That some aspects are genetic, others
dependent on environment, and many on genetic–environmental interactions is assumed;
however, precise contributions are as yet unknown (Oerter, 2003).
Although the Human Genome Project (http://www.ornl.gov/sci/techresources/Human_
Genome/home.shtml) may have raised expectations that musical genes would be identified,
evidence of genetic instructions creating differences in musical brains remains circum-
stantial. The role of genetic instructions has been studied in those with absolute pitch
(AP) because populations can be divided into those with and without AP. Evidence for
the importance of genes comes from an unequal distribution among populations (there is
a higher incidence among Asians), differences in brain morphology (a more exaggerated
leftward asymmetry of the auditory association cortex), and higher prevalence among sib-
lings and identical twins, with a corresponding deficit for melodic processing among those
with congenital amusia (Zatorre, 2003). Brain activations indicate that AP possessors do
not access working memory, as do those with relative pitch; rather they activate distinctive
areas involved in associative learning. Finally, there is the known importance of early music
learning experiences. Without early training, development of AP is highly unlikely.
Baharloo et al. (1998) studied more than 600 musicians and found that AP tended to
cluster in families, providing support for nature. However, the greater preponderance of
those with AP started their musical training before the age of 4, supporting the notion
that both genes and experience play a part in musicality. Early childhood musical training,
particularly with the use of ‘fixed do’, enhances the probability of AP in genetically susceptible
individuals, but is not an absolute requirement. Factoring out different ethnicities (e.g.,
Chinese, Korean, Japanese) and early onset of music instruction, researchers believe that
persons of Asian descent still have a higher incidence of musical AP (i.e., not AP for tonal
languages) than those of other backgrounds; why this is so is not known (Gregersen et al.,
2001). In a study of identical and fraternal twins, Drayna et al. (2001) estimated heritability
of AP at 0.71–0.80 based upon performances on a distorted tunes test; however, they, too,
acknowledge the important role of learning.
In contrast to studying those with special abilities like AP, one can also study the absence
of such traits. Peretz (2001) has coined the term ‘congenital amusia’ to refer to the fact
that some persons may be born with deficits in musical processing. Amusia refers to the
loss of musical skills due to brain damage. Congential amusia, then, infers that this brain
damage is present at birth. (It is also possible, however, that the deficits are not inborn, but
rather a result of a lack of appropriate stimulation during critical periods.) Just as aphasia,
which deals with loss of language skills due to selective destruction of neural tissue, consists

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of many particularized deficits (e.g., Broca’s aphasia, loss of ability to speak coherently;
Wernicke’s aphasia, loss of speech comprehension, etc.), amusia includes both receptive or
expressive limitations and can involve deficits in pitch, rhythm, timbre processing, and so
on (Hodges, 1996; Brust, 2001).
A number of cognitive impairments, based on known genetic defects, provide insights
into the heritability of musicality. Musical savants may display extraordinary perform-
ance skills, yet be severely limited in other cognitive domains (Miller, 1989). In Williams
syndrome, individuals are mentally asymmetric, often showing proclivities in music and lan-
guage with strong deficits in other cognitive domains (Levitin & Bellugi, 1998); linguistic
and musical skills may be based on more generic acoustical memory skills. Prodigies, of
course, do not have a cognitive impairment, but their situations may be similar in that
their amazing skills appear so early and provide evidence of heritability. It is not yet pos-
sible to explain the exceptional degree of musicality in musical savants, Williams syndrome
musicians, or musical prodigies. However, these behaviours are not merely a result of
learning experiences; clearly neural structures are intact that allow for these specialized
skills. Furthermore, these neural structures appear to be strongly influenced by genetic
instructions.

Experiential factors in musicality

Although genetic influences are important, there are also indications that musical training
changes the brain and that the earlier musical instruction begins, the greater the changes.
These changes can be seen in structure (i.e., morphological or anatomical changes) and
in function (i.e., brain activations in terms of cerebral blood flow, electrophysiological
responses, etc.). Nearly all this research has been conducted on adults; however, when sig-
nificant differences are found between trained and untrained musicians, these data purport
to give evidence of the effects of music learning experiences. This is especially true when
other variables have been factored out and where differences are greater when the inception
of musical studies was at an early age.
When children begin music lessons at a relatively early age, they are often likely to
study piano, a skill that makes relatively equivalent demands of both hands. The results
of these demands are seen in the brains of adult pianists who started studying before the
age of 7, in that they have more symmetrical left and right motor cortices (Amunts et al.,
1997). They also demonstrate increased motor cortex activations, controlling the fingers,
in response to learning piano exercises, both actual and imagined (Pascual-Leone et al.,
1995) or when listening to learned pieces in the absence of actual movement (Haueisen &
Knösche, 2001). In fact, increases in motor activations appeared as quickly as 20 minutes
in beginners who received piano instruction (Bangert & Altenmüller, 2003). In contrast,
professional pianists showed less activation in primary and secondary motor cortex than
controls, suggesting greater efficiency (Jäncke et al., 2000). That is, once the task is learned,
and perhaps habituated (e.g., scales), fewer neural resources are required. Finally, learning
to read music activates an area of the brain (superior parietal cortex on both sides) that is
not activated in non-learners (Stewart et al., 2003).
In contrast to pianists, string players require fine movements in the fingers of the left
hand and relatively gross movements of the right hand. Consequently, they have a larger

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62 the child as musician

and more responsive right primary somatosensory cortex (which controls the fingers of the
left hand) than controls (Elbert et al., 1995). Once again, these effects are larger for those
who start music lessons at an early age.
The concept of use-dependent adaptation is that areas of the brain that are constantly
stimulated and that are required for successful task performance change in response. Thus,
children who begin musical studies at an early age will later show an enlarged corpus
callosum (Schlaug et al., 1995a ; Lee et al., 2003), reflecting the need for hand co-ordination
and for information sharing between the two hemispheres. They will also have a larger
cerebellum (Hutchinson et al., 2003), reflecting the need to synthesize motor, sensory,
and cognitive information and to co-ordinate responses. As trained musicians they will
show increased gray matter (Sluming et al., 2002; Gaser & Schlaug, 2003), reflecting motor
learning and the ability to translate musical notation into motor output.
Studying music at an early age also causes increases in the left auditory association cor-
tex (Schlaug et al., 1995b; Zatorre et al., 1998), reflecting increased auditory processing
demands. An alternative possibility is that left–right ratios are a result of neural pruning
in the right auditory association cortex among musicians (Keenan et al., 2001). Use-
dependency is also seen in the fact that auditory cortex in both hemispheres responding to
piano tones is 25% larger among experienced musicians and, again, the effect is greater for
those who begin musical studies at an early age (Pantev et al., 1998). Also, violinists and
trumpeters are more responsive to the tones of their own instrument (Pantev et al., 2001b).
Numerous studies have shown differences in electrical brain responses between trained
and untrained musicians (e.g., Faita & Besson, 1994; Lopez et al., 2003; Nager et al., 2003;
Tervaniemi & Huotilainen, 2003). In general, musicians show faster and stronger electrical
responses than controls, reflecting a greater ability to process musical information and to
complete musical tasks successfully.

Concluding statement
The development of the musical brain follows general brain development. Certain musical
processing abilities appear very early in life, others come at later stages. Musical abilities
as reflected in the musical brain appear to be influenced by both genetic instructions and
learning experiences. The musical brain is highly plastic, though significant changes are
likely to be smaller and weaker at later ages.
Information presented in this chapter may leave the reader with the impression that a
great deal is known about the development of the musical brain and a considerable amount
is indeed known. However, there is still so much yet to be learned. In fact, so little is known
that so-called brain-based music education is, for the most part, premature. Bruer’s (2002)
comments about brain-based education being no more than folk theory are apropos.
Consider but one example. Previously, it was stated that research supports the common
notion that early inception of music instruction is critical for later success. On that basis,
one might begin to advocate for increased amounts of practice time for young beginners.
However, closer investigation reveals that professional musicians actually practised less as
children than those who later became amateur musicians (D. Moore et al., 2003). What,
then, made the difference? Social factors, such as parental support, teacher’s personality,

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 the musical brain 63

and peer interactions, were central to their success. This clearly illustrates the need to place
neuromusical findings within a larger context. The musical brain does not grow in isolation.
It grows inside a whole person, who lives in a particular home environment, possesses
internal proclivities, experiences external motivations, and so on. Those concerned with the
musical development of children are encouraged to stay abreast of neuromusical literature,
but also to consider the context and to make applications with caution. With patience and
persistence, neuromusical researchers will undoubtedly provide a much better picture of
how children develop a musical brain.

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