I was reading an article online the other day (February of the current year does qualify for “the other day” in my opinion, for those of you that were wondering.) written by BBC science reporter Victoria Gill on the use of melodic intonation therapy.   I was interested in this article because it was about music and science, two of my favorite topics!  Here’s what the article said, in basic, non-medical/non-scientific language:

-We use different parts of our brains to speak and sing
-We use the left side of our brain to speak
-There is a corresponding area of our right brain that we use to sing
-If one has a stroke and cannot speak due to damage from the stroke, often one can still sing
-Doctors are using what they call “melodic intonation therapy” (okay, so a little science-type language, it couldn’t be avoided) to teach people to communicate after damage to the speaking centers of their brains
-Melodic intonation therapy is learning to put words to simple melodies and rhythms

I strongly suggest anyone who is interested in this read the original article (see link above), or visit one of the following articles on melodic intonation therapy.  The article by Helen Fields is one of the most interesting and well written (better than the BBC article by far) I read on the subject, although if you’re looking for a scientific paper to read on the subject you might enjoy reading this paper by Andrea Norton, Lauryn Zipse, Sarah Marchina, and Gottfried Schlaug.

I think this is a very interesting topic and just the tip of the iceberg as far as what science is learning about the impact music can have outside of the “usual” benefits of music.