1. Describe Levitin's argument linking a love of music to evoulutionary theory. What claim does he make? How does he support this claim? Cite excerpts to support your response.
2. Describe Oliver Sack's anecdote regarding Tony Cicoria. What does his story suggest about music and the brain? Cite excerpts to support your response.
3. Accoring to Sacks, is the iconic profile of the "blind musician" substantiated or unsubstantiated ? Explain.
4. How has Radiohead's rogue release of In Rainbows changed the music industry? What might this represent to producers and consumers of music?
36 comments:
3. The image of being a blind musician is almost like God has given them the gifts of music and poetry. Basically, if you are a blind musician, you are automatically going to be famous and "liked." Blind musicians are like everyone else, but they sing something that actually means something through many cultures, religions, etc.
2. Tony Cicoria was a former college football player, who later became a surgeon. He did not like music at all, and had no pleasure in even listening to it. One day, he wen tot a local payphone to call his mother, when a bolt of lightening struck him in his head. He ended up going intoa breif cardiac arrest. He also had slight memory loss, and other small issues. A while after, he returned back to normal but realized that something had changed about him..He suddenly had the urge to listen to music/the piano. People believed that he was having music hallucinations, but really Tony believed somehting else. He believed that he lived through the lightening olt because he was meant to be musically inclined. He loved music suddenly. It was a miracle! Everyone has some sort of liking towards music, even if you dont know it. Tony hated music before, but after a near death experience, he realised that he never actually hated it. He became so interested and entertained by it. Music does something good to your brain and should be a part of everyones life.
~Chelsie Corbeil period B
2. Tony Cicoria was a former college football player who became an orthopedic surgeon. When he went outside one day at a family gathering, he was hit in the face by a strike of lightening. Cicoria had urns on his face and foot and some memory issues. He went through many surgeries to fix his memory. When his life went back to normal, he started listening to piano music. The doctors believe that Cicoria was having musically hallucinations; he would get up at 4 and play till he had work. Cicoria thought he only survived the lightening strike to be destined to be musically inclined. Later in his life, he had a patient who underwent surgery and recovered being interested in music just like Tony. She would listen to classical music, but before the surgery she thought music was annoying and “irritating.” In the 70’s, David Bear suggested that a sensory- limbic hyperconnection might be the basis for the emergence of the unexpected artistic , sexual, mystical, or religious feeling that sometimes occurs in people with temporal lobe epilepsy. His story suggests that music and the brain are connected. Also, that sometimes after undergoing surgery people tend to have desires for music and other interests.
-tori bravetti
4. Radiohead’s release of In Rainbows changed the music industry in a huge way. Instead of selling CDs/putting it onto iTunes thinking no one will pirate the album, Radiohead accepted the fact that their album will be leaked and will be downloaded for free from a lot of different programs. They made it so people could download their album for however much they thought it was worth and cut out the middleman of selling the CD’s and giving money to iTunes to sell their songs. This shows that a lot of musicians and artist are now used to the idea of people pirating music, and don’t care anymore. People should pay for what they think its worth. This was of people paying what they want and cutting out the other people involved, turned out in a good way and they made so much more money than they would if they released it normally. This shows to consumers of music and producers a like that you don’t need the big release dates and advertising to get a lot of money, and that they only do this to make money for themselves and not for the artists.
2. The anecdote of Tony Cicoria, an orthopedic surgeon, was from him being at a party, and then a sudden strike of lightning hitting him in the head. This caused severe burns to his face and he went into cardiac arrest. He had slight memory loss but when we became normal again, he had the desire to listen/play piano music from Vladimir Ashkenazy, and Chopin. There was also a story about Salimah M., after surgeon, found an interest in music which she hadn’t before. This shows a big connection to the music and the brain because people who don’t have an interest in music can be triggered by certain events, such as the lightning or surgery. Music seems to be part of everyone, even hidden in the brain somewhere. People that are heavily into music must have it released at an early age, by an event or maybe a song. The people who found no interest in music seem to not have found a specific music that they like, or something that helped make them want to listen to them. The connection between music and the brain is still looked out, but I think there is a lot of proof that it is directly related.
Ariel Monat
2. Oliver Sacks and Tony Cicoria suggest that the brain relates music as a way of remembering. When he had his accident years later he had a desire to listen to music. His “life had returned to normal, seemingly, when “suddenly, over two or three days, there was this insatiable desire to listen to music”. This shows how music affects the brain and is a way or remembrance. In previous years he had taken piano lessons but stopped because he didn’t like it and now after his accident he wanted to listen to piano music as a way to remember.
4. In the first month about a million fans downloaded In Rainbows. Radiohead was able to license the album for a record label to distribute the old-fashioned way – on CD. This might represent that there are new ways to listen to music and other ways to get music than buying a CD. Also Radiohead is an old band and for them to have a new way to get their CD without buying it in stores shows that older bands are adapting to new ways to get music.
Radiohead releases their latest album a different way from what is expected. They didn’t put it on a CD or an album. They put it online free to download. And you could make donations. You paid what you think the album was worth. This shows that Radiohead isn’t out to get big or make money. They just want to be heard and the customers making donations paid more than a regular album because they feel that’s how good Radiohead is.
Griff Harlow
Question One:
Levitin’s argument that music is a part of evolution is based on the idea that music is powerfully ingrained in memory and that music allows people to communicate in a unique way. He claims that music is as powerful as fire in the development of human society. Music is a way of communication, one that is easier to remember and longer lasting than simply words. Before print people had no way of copying words for past generations; music he claims allows for people to remember what they wanted to save. Also music is a way of communicating harsh ideas and things you could not say otherwise. Levitin argues that the symbolism that is included in music allowed for people to communicate ideas better. The idea that music was so important in the past was also strengthened by his argument that music has an incredible effect on memory. Levitin uses the examples of people with Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of brain damage who can no longer remember many things that they knew but usually the things that they do remember are music they heard or enjoyed. Levitin also uses his encounter with music on a rainy day as an example of the power of music on the memory. The rain alone was enough to spark Levitin’s memory and he recalled many, many songs about the rain. He claims that if music was not truly important in our past and in our evolution then music would not have such a strong ability on the memory.
Question two:
Oliver Sack’s anecdote regarding Tony Cicoria was the story of a man who found music annoying before in an accident was struck by lightning. In the story Tony had recovers from the lightning strike and having had to deal with the brain damage caused by the lightning. After his recovery he found no interest in his job as a surgeon; he began to believe he had musical talent and began to focus on music. His focus on music was so strong he gave up his job, his wife, and a considerable amount of money to pursue music. In the story one of the theories was that his brain after suffering the damage had been rewired. This story suggests that certain regions of the brain might be linked directly to music. The lightning strike had changed Tony’s brain somehow and it is possible that the effect of the change in his brain is his sudden interest in music.
2. Oliver Sacks' anecdote regarding Tony Cicoria, told how Cicoria suffered from sudden musicophilia. He stated how Cicoria had never really been interested in music, in fact could have even possibly been somewhat annoyed by it. One day when he went to use a payphone at a wedding, he was struck by lightning. He underwent MRIs and EEGs but no one could find anything wrong with him. There may not have been anything necessarily wrong, just different. Cicoria was "suffering" from sudden musicolphilia. He lived and breathed music. It was all he cared about. Music controlled his life. This story suggests that parts of the brain are undoubtedly connected to music. Cicoria stated that he always heard music in his head after the accident. Where he says "the first time, it was in a dream... I was playing something I had written. I woke up, startled, and the music was still in my head..." This shows that even his subconcious yearned to play music, for the first time in his life. Where Sacks says "once an easygoing, family man, almost indifferent to music- was inspired, even possessed by music.." it shows that somehow, Cicoria went from being indifferent to music, to being controlled by it. Somehow, music takes up a large portion of the brain and it just so happens that a reaction to the lightning set off a trigger in Circoia's brain to live his life immersed in music.
-Victoria Ayer
2. Oliver Sack’s explains an accident that happened to Tony Cicoria. He explains how Tony was on a pay phone one day and got struck by lightning and hit him in the face. After the accident he had a few minor memory issues and burns on his face and foot. Once his life pretty much went back to normal, he had a sudden desire to listen to piano music. Sacks believes that he was having musically hallucinations, which gave him a desire to play and listen to piano music. Tony believes that the only reason he survived was because he was destined to study into and play the piano. Sacks found quite a few similarities between what happened in his brain to music.
-Jamie T.
3. According to Sacks, the iconic profile of the “blind musician” is substantiated. Because of their loss of sight, blind people have stronger hearing senses than the typical person. Blind musicians are more immensely sensitive to music because of their hearing abilities. Partially sighted children show a heightened interest in music. Some blind children hold the ability to play music without being formally taught first. The article states that 60% of blind musicians have absolute pitch, when sighted musicians have only around 10% pitch.
4. Radiohead’s release of In Rainbows has changed the industry. They proved that they didn’t need a record deal to release an album and make a lot of money. When artists release an album under a record label, a lot of the money earned goes to the companies and stores; only a small fraction of the profits go to the band. The article displays how certain music contracts could take away a lot from the band and their digital rights. Music artists could still be greatly successful without a producer; it all depends on the music consumers.
- Amanda Arns
2. Describe Oliver Sack's anecdote regarding Tony Cicoria. What does his story suggest about music and the brain? Cite excerpts to support your response.
Oliver Sack’s illustrates Tony Cicoria’s story as a tragic tale due to the fact that Cicoria was initially very talented before the lightning strike. However, the life of Tony was full after he was struck by lightning due to an “’insatiable desire to listen to piano music’” (Sacks, 5) and “his heart and mind now centered on music”(Sacks, 7). Cicoria believed that the only reason he survived the lightning strike was to play the piano, and this gave him a new reason to live. Sack’s story suggests that after a temporary lobe-epilepsy, one might experience an unexpected change in their sensory-limbic hyper connection. In the case of Tony Cicoria, after a short cardiac arrest, his views and desires for music were much different than previously.
2. Describe Oliver Sack's anecdote regarding Tony Cicoria. What does his story suggest about music and the brain? Cite excerpts to support your response.
Oliver Sack’s explains the story of a young man named Tony Cicoria who has a very tragic story but which then led him to a “happy ending.” Cicoria started off as a very talented man, he was a former football player in college and then later became an orthopedic surgeon. After this his life was full of interesting events such as getting struck by lightning, resulting in a brief cardiac arrest. After these events in his life he found the great love for music, he become good at composing and playing music. During this time he went through a divorce but “continued to work on his piano playing and his composition” (Sack 7). His story really explains how music helped Cicoria get through life. He really turned to it during these hard times. Because of Cicoria’s story it can really go to show that through music you can be somehow “healed” it takes your mind off of the past and you just listen.
Radiohead releases their latest album a different way from what is expected. They didn’t put it on a CD or an album. They put it online free to download. And you could make donations. You paid what you think the album was worth. This shows that Radiohead isn’t out to get big or make money. They just want to be heard and the customers making donations paid more than a regular album because they feel that’s how good Radiohead is.
Griff Harlow
Question 3:
According to Sacks the iconic profile of the “blind musician” is defiantly substantiated. The lack of one sense simply improves another. Sacks states that “the gods have given the gifts of music or poetry in compensation for the sense they have taken away.” Over time there have been countless musicians that have been able to perform and even excel despite their disability. Without being forced to rely on reading music these musicians are able to create music simply by the way it sounds. Relying on hearing is the best way to become a true musician.
3. In Letvin's research, the iconic profile of a blind musician is substantiated. Parents of children with this unfortunate cercumstance, have noticed that it is a passion for those kids,"Her music is always with her. If there is not music playing, she is singing." It has been proven that children without the sense of sight, have a remarkable sense of touch. This makes it easier for them to learn how to play instruments. Their lack of sight has been reallocated to other sensory inputs, especially touch and hearing. Exceptional musical abilities have been observed only in blind children, these abilities have surfaced spontaneously, without any teaching. The im age of blind musicians and poets has almost a mythic resonance. It has been explained as gods giving these people the gift of music as a substitute for the sense that had been taken away from them.
Melissa Cash
4. Radiohead's rogue realise in Rainbows changed the music industry. Instead of going through a normal record company, which most poeple do, Radioheads put there music on the internet. they told people that they do not have to pay, but if they do pay as much as they want. People would pay about $6, which is more than they would get going through a record company because the record company keeps most of the money made. This made people realize they don not have to go through the record company to get their music heard, they can go through the internet. It changed the industry also because more artists saw that the Radioheads were successful, so they stopped going through the record companies. This affected the producers because more people were just getting the music from the internet rather through their companies.
-tori bravetti
2. In Oliver Sacks’ “A Bolt from the Blue: Sudden Musicophilia” describes the story of Tony Cicoria, an orthopedic surgeon, whose life changed drastically after being struck by lightning. After undergoing surgeries and procedures, Cicoria survived. The incident, however, left Cicoria with memory issues and an inclination to play music. The man “once an easygoing, genial family man, almost indifferent to music – was inspired, even possessed, by music, and scarcely had time for anything else”(pg 6). Cicoria had become a completely different man, a transformed man. His life suggests that somewhere within the brain is a portion dedicated to music. It is a fact that music is held strongest in the human memory, for many use songs or jingles to help in remembering something. There very well may be a distinct portion of the brain that was linked to Cicoria’s transformation toward the love of music. This portion of the brain must have been reshaped or reconstructed in Cicoria’s brain.
4. Radiohead's In Rainbows has lead a new trend in the modern music industry. The internet download has been criticized for many years because of all of the illegal file sharing cases of many websites such as Napster. However, a new trend in music sales is the use of the internet to sell downloadable music files. Radiohead chose to create their album instead of a perhaps more suitable E.P. or large set of singles so that they could sell the album almost solely on the internet so as to take advantage of the decreases in cd sales from stores which has nearly destroyed the wellbeing of the record industry. This is a trend which has revolutionized the recording industry and their means of genertaing revenue. This will create very easy access to music by consumers so they they are able to buy music quite conveniently from the internet for a fair price.
Radiohead releases their latest album a different way from what is expected. They didn’t put it on a CD or an album. They put it online free to download. And you could make donations. You paid what you think the album was worth. This shows that Radiohead isn’t out to get big or make money. They just want to be heard and the customers making donations paid more than a regular album because they feel that’s how good Radiohead is.
Griff Harlow
2. In Oliver Sacks’ “A Bolt from the Blue: Sudden Musicophilia” describes the story of Tony Cicoria, an orthopedic surgeon, whose life changed drastically after being struck by lightning. After undergoing surgeries and procedures, Cicoria survived. The incident, however, left Cicoria with memory issues and an inclination to play music. The man “once an easygoing, genial family man, almost indifferent to music – was inspired, even possessed, by music, and scarcely had time for anything else”(pg 6). Cicoria had become a completely different man, a transformed man. His life suggests that somewhere within the brain is a portion dedicated to music. It is a fact that music is held strongest in the human memory, for many use songs or jingles to help in remembering something. There very well may be a distinct portion of the brain that was linked to Cicoria’s transformation toward the love of music. This portion of the brain must have been reshaped or reconstructed in Cicoria’s brain.
2) Tony Cicoria was a former college football player who became an orthopedic surgeon. He was on the phone with his mother when he was stuck by lightening, and they had thought he went through cardiac arrest. He had several memory issues where he could not recall names and or any surgical procedures. He underwent an MRI and EEG. He didn’t live an easy life; he ends up burning his face and his left foot. After all the struggles he went through in his life, his life returned to normal. He suddenly had a desire to listen to piano music, his favorite being Vladimir Ashkenazy, Chopin. Because of his prior illnesses they thought that he was having musically hallucinations. Cicoria would get up at 4 and play until he had to go to work. He had set in his brain that the only reason why he survived was because he was destined to be musically inclines. He became very spiritual and read about very book he could find on near death experiences. More life struggles entered into his life. He later got divorced and had a motorcycle accident but none of this affected his compassion for playing and composing music. Tony had a patient Salimah. Salimah was a chemist, she underwent surgery as well. After the surgery and became interesting in music just like Tony did. She would listen to classical music on the radio or even cds that she had owned. Because this happened, David Bear suggested that such sensory-limbic hyper connection might be the basis for the emergence of the unexpected artistic, sexual, mystical, or religious feelings that sometimes occur in people with temporal lobe epilepsy.
3. According to Sacks, is the iconic profile of the "blind musician" substantiated or unsubstantiated? Explain.
According to Sacks, the iconic profile of the “blind musician” is substantiated. Most blinds are immensely sensitive to music and possess an extraordinary power of musical memory and imagery. When you are blind, you focus more on sounds of all sorts, especially voices and music. In history, blinds have played a special role in many cultures such as wandering minstrels, court performer, religious cantors and so on. Many blind musicians exist in the worlds of gospel. Many children who are blind are usually more drawn to music and are more motivated to make it the center or their lives. People who are blind generally have perfect pitch unlike most people who can see. Also, blind people, if they become blind at an early age, are better than sighted people at judging the direction of pitch. Which is why, the iconic profile of the “blind musician” is substantiated.
-David Aranjo
1. Describe Levitin's argument linking a love of music to evoulutionary theory.
2. What claim does he make?
3. How does he support this claim?
4. Cite excerpts to support your response.
a. Levitin has a good argument for linking music to the evolutionary theory. He describes the connections between the feelings between the two at the time.
b. He makes the claim that as people have evolved so had the music. For example in the 1920’s when people were celebrating the prosperity of the country, the music too was happy and had a bounce feeling.
c. Levitin supports this claim by giving examples from different periods of time. When the country was going though war, music changed and became to either support or protest against war.
d. “We are a musical, poetic, and artistic species today because our ancerstors were, going back tens of thousands of years”(22)
-Katie Rogers
2) Oliver Sack's story about Ton Cicoria was that he was a former college football player who became an orthopedic surgeon. One day he went outside and was making a call on a payphone and a flash of lightning came through the phone and hit him in the face. After going to the hospital, he had slight memory issues. Once his life was back to normal, Tony suddenly had an interst in music and a desire to play the piano. Psychologists soon began to beleive that he was having music hallucinations. Tony began to beleive that the only reason he had survived was because he was destined to be musical inclined. Later on his life turned downhill and got a divorce and got into another accident. This motercycle accident did not affect his compassion for playing music. There was also another story where another woman had surgery and she became interested in music just like Tony. Tony's story suggests that sensorylimbic hyperconnection might be the basis for the emergency of the unexpected artistic, sexual, mystical, or religious feelings that could sometimes occur in people.
4) Radioheads release of their new album In Rainbows changed the music industry greatly. The idea of putting their music online gained them more money then they would usually recieve. Radiohead released their new album online and told people that they could pay as much as they want. Some people didnt pay but the average price was around $6 that people paid for. This is more money that they would receive with going through a record company because the record company would take most of the percentage. This changed the industry because now more artists are realizing that this idea was very successful. This new idea will hurt the producers. The producers will soon realize that many artists will take this idea adn they will begin to lose business. Consumers may learn from this that record companys get most of the percentage even though the artists should. Before reading this i did not know that the records company took most of the percentage. After reading this i beleive that being an artist you should do what Radiohead did because if people truly do love your music they will pay for it because you deserve it.
-Kristina Fogg
The band Radiohead did not intend to start a revolution, but there is no way to deny that what they did has the definite potential to completely change the music industry. To release their album In Rainbows, the band decided to put the entire album up for sale online. The trick, however, was that the consumer could pay whatever they wanted for the album. For the first time, the band owned the master recording and didn’t have a tricky record deal that “strips you of all your digital rights, so that when you sell something on iTunes you get absolutely zero.” This little experiment worked for Radiohead because it had an eager fan following that appreciated the music that they made. People paid an average of $6 an album and the band grossed nearly $3 million. This really shows how corrupt the music industry is. Radiohead was able to break away from the trend where the record label gets more money than the band itself. Although this worked for Radiohead and there is possibility that it can work for other bands, “it’s hard to imagine the model paying off for Miley Cyrus- aka chart-topping teenybopper Hannah Montana.” With this in mind, what Radiohead did with In Rainbows can change the way we sell and buy music.
-- Erica Callahan
3. According to Sacks, is the iconic profile of the "blind musician" substantiated or unsubstantiated? Explain.
According to Sacks, the iconic profile of the “blind musician” is substantiated. Most blinds are immensely sensitive to music and possess an extraordinary power of musical memory and imagery. When you are blind, you focus more on sounds of all sorts, especially voices and music. In history, blinds have played a special role in many cultures such as wandering minstrels, court performer, religious cantors and so on. Many blind musicians exist in the worlds of gospel. Many children who are blind are usually more drawn to music and are more motivated to make it the center or their lives. People who are blind generally have perfect pitch unlike most people who can see. Also, blind people, if they become blind at an early age, are better than sighted people at judging the direction of pitch. Which is why, the iconic profile of the “blind musician” is substantiated.
-David Aranjo
2. Describe Oliver Sack's anecdote regarding Tony Cicoria. What does his story suggest about music and the brain? Cite excerpts to support your response.
In his article A Bolt From The Blue: Sudden Mucicophilia Oliver Sack follows the story of Tony Cicoria. Tony was an orthopedic surgeon who was suddenly struck by lightning and very strangely developed a passion for the piano. He called the music that he heard in his head “the music from heaven” he also said that it came in an “absolute torrent.” Before the lightning strike he had almost no passion for music at all. This strange case shows that just as some people are born with a passion for music that is innate within them, there can be outside forces that reveal a hidden or subconscious passion for music. Tony specifically said that he had “no real interest” in music or playing music before his accident. I think that this case proves that musicality is innate within all humans, in some people it is evident from birth, but for others an outside force can reveal it.
Scott Coleman
3. According to Sacks, blind musicians seem to have been granted with a gift for music. He states that “the blind musician or the blind poet has an almost mythic resonance.” There are many blind musicians. Many of them are drawn to music and motivated to make it central to their lives. In one study, a man named Ockelford found that “40 to 60 percent of the blind children he taught had absolute pitch as opposed to sighted musicians.
-Molly
Second half of the quiz finished at home:
4) The release of In Rainbows changed the music industry because after watching Radiohead’s actions people realized that they didn’t have to go through the music industry to sell their music and become famous. The Radiohead’s would sell their music on the internet and find that several people where buying it on the internet just as they would buy it from the record company. For example “In the first month, about a million fans downloaded In Rainbows. Roughly 40 percent of them paid for it, according to comScore, at an average of $6 each, netting the band nearly $3 million.” The Radiohead’s saw this was a better idea because they were making more money than going through a record company itself. Yorke says “These days there’s so much paper to fill, or digital paper to fill, that whoever writes the first few things gets cut and pasted. Whoever gets their opinion in first has all that power. It just seems wildly unfair, I think.” Which, I completely agree with Yorke because not all bands are very well liked, like Yorke says there are tons of bands and its totally the luck of the draw whether that person is into them or not. Producers, whom are the buyers and sellers of the music would most likely become very annoyed with this decision of bands because they would be out a lot of money. Consumers would find this as a downfall and a good thing. A downfall because it will be their responsibility to have to download the music which some people prefer not to do. Several prefer to just walk into a store and buy the music that they enjoy listening too.
4. How has Radiohead's rogue release of In Rainbows changed the music industry? What might this represent to producers and consumers of music?
Before the release of Radiohead’s “pay-what-you-will digital download” (Wired Magazine, 1), those in the music industry, be it bands, producers or artists, sold their music in order to gain a profit. However, Radiohead’s new idea to sell their music digitally while allowing the consumer to determine the price of the band’s album In Rainbows, had a distinct change on the music industry. At first, the industry was unsure of this initiative and they “thought the band had gone communist” (Wired Magazine, 1) because they had not sold an album for over four years and the fans of Radiohead had been waiting during this time. “It turns out the gambit was a savvy business move” (Wired Magazine, 2) due to the fact that the music did not have to undergo the review process and was able to go “straight to the fans” (Wired Magazine, 4). In the grand scheme of music and the music industry, the idea of “pay-what-you-will” represents the real reason that music is produced. The enjoyment of the listeners is the main reason for the creation of music in this day and age. Therefore, the new plan to have the listeners decide the price may symbolize the distribution of music in future years.
4. How has Radiohead's rogue release of In Rainbows changed the music industry? What might this represent to producers and consumers of music?
The release of Radiohead's "In Rainbows" majorly changed the music industry. First off, the release of Radiohead's album over the internet made them more money than their other albums combined. This is because they, "didn't sign a contract that strips you [them] of all your [their] digital rights...". When you sign with a major label, it's usually stated in your contract that you don't receive any profit off of any digital downloads. Also, doing this experiment made them feel like they had a more direct connection with their fans. This experiment represents that what these major labels are doing to these artists isn't fair. They did not do this experiment for that reason but after they did it, they had realized that not being able to make any money off of their digital downloads was not fair. Also, they wanted people to realize genius of putting all of the music into an album. They wanted everyone to see this because all of the songs coincide with one another thus creating the masterpiece of the album. Radiohead's experiment was a shocking discovery which majorly changed the music industry.
Throughout this article I believe that it represents more or a substantiated opinion then an unsubstantiated one. He has great evidence that blind folks are more focused on the sounds of all sorts especially voices and music. One of his blind friends stated that “he did not come from a musical family but that he was born with congenital cataracts” (171). With this said i do believe that blind people are more able to hear the "incorrect" sounds then a person that can hear just for the reason that they relay on that one sense rather then both. For these reasons I believe that this artical represents more of a substantiated opinion.
3. Many people know of the iconic “blind musicians” who have what can only be described as an enhanced sense of hearing and inclination to music. There is a large amount of blind musicians that have indescribable talents, including artists such as Stevie Wonder and Ray Charles. Oliver Sacks, writer of An Auditory World: Music and Blindness, says that this theory is very much substantiated. Adam Ockelford, a music teacher for the blind, has done several studies that show that blind and partially sighted children took much more of an interest in music than fully sighted children. Although, he noticed that only the blind children showed extraordinary musical abilities. Ockelford, as well as a separate study, found the 40-60 percent of blind children had absolute pitch, compared to the 10 percent among sighted musicians.
There is also evidence that the brain of a blind person who is blind adapts itself to focus on other senses such as hearing. Sacks says that, “a third or more of the human cortex is concerned with vision, and if visual input is suddenly lost…remapping may occur in the cerebral cortex”. Here Sacks is saying that when a person can no longer see, the part of the brain dedicated to sight is able to reorganize itself to concern different senses. The cerebral cortex, “…far from remaining functionless, is reallocated to other sensory inputs, especially hearing and touch.” This, Sacks claims, is hard evidence that the blind have the possibility to have better musical abilities then the sighted.
-- Erica Callahan
2. Oliver Sack's anecdote concerning Tony Cicoria someone who finds music annoying can suddenly be struck and find the urge to listen to it constantly. Somewhere within the brain, the love for music is there. But unfortunatly for Cicoria that required to get struck by lighting. Now to doctors at first this whole situation was confusing because to have someone who finds music extremely annoying and have an accident and all of a sudden can play it and have a strong connection to music is puzzling. The only positive indication that this has a connection to the brain is the in the seventies, David Bear, found that, " sensory-limbic hyperconnection (Cicoria's diagnosis) might be the basis for the emergence of the unexpected artistic, sexual, mystical or religious feelings that sometimes occur in people with temporal lobe epilepsy"(11). This quote helps explain that there is a connection to the brain and this all has a reason for its' occurrence.
4. They released Rainbows with a whole different approach; something no one has ever tried before. And it worked because one it drew people's attention to the situation; a form of publicity. So people could start listening and saying 'hey this is a great idea!' and buy their album. This in my opinion, brilliant idea sparked so many people's interest per swaying them to come check it out. Also they kept their morals, they don't want to be a "normal band" that is involved with the dog-eat-dog music industry, they just want to do what they love to do. They accomplished that by selling albums for "free". Radiohead also set an example for other bands that don't have a record label and think that they cannot make it big; now they can. This changed the music industry in many ways. Showing them you don't need a contract to make it big, you can do what you love without be a rich snob and teaching the music industry a new, productive way of advertising your artist.
3. According to Sacks, is the iconic profile of the "blind musician" substantiated or unsubstantiated? Explain.
I think that everyone has something that they are good at for one reason or another. I believe that blind people are more sensitive to music because they are more sensitive to all sounds. This is not to say that all blind people are more musically talented than people who aren’t blind. I simply believe that some people are more talented than others for some unknown reason.
Scott Coleman
2. Tony Cicoria graduated as an orthopedic surgeon. Tony was at a family gathering in 1994, and he went outside to call his mother on a payphone. Unfortunately a flash of lightning came through the phone and hit him in the face. They thought he went into cardiac arrest. He had slight memory issues he forgot the names of surgical procedures that he would perform. He had burns to his face and his left foot. When life returned to normal Tony had a desire to listen to piano music, Classical piano music by Vladimir Ashkenazy, and Chopin. The doctors believed he was having musically hallucinations. This was very rare they didn’t understand why all of a sudden he liked this type of music when he never did before. He thought the only reason why he survived was because he was destined to be musically inclined. Tony would stay up all night and play the piano and he would wake up at four in the morning to play the piano until he had to go to work. When Tony was younger he had no interest in playing the piano when he use to take piano lessons. Also Cicoria became very spiritual and he would read about every book he could find on the near death experiences having to do with getting hit by lightning. Tony had a patient Salimah M. She was a research chemist, and had a surgery done to her and she also became very interested in music just like Tony. She would listen to classical music on the radio. Even though Salimah had never liked music before and found it very irritating, people would find her listening to music in her lab as loud as it could turn up. In the 70’s David bear suggested that a sensory-limbic hyper connection might be the basis for the emergence of the unexpected artistic, sexual, mystical or religious feeling that sometimes occur in people with temporal lobe epilepsy. The other day I was watching a CSI show and I found it very ironic. The show was about a guy on Rascal Flatts a country band, and he experienced and electric shock to his face. When he went to the hospital he heard the music that he wrote for Rascal Flatts and told them to shut it off because he hated country music. This is kind of like Tony because he never liked music and now he does, but the guy from Rascal Flatts wrote country music and performed country music and then he hated it.
According to Sacks iconic profile of “blind musician” is substantiated. Most blinds are immensely sensitive to music. Blinds focus on more sounds and all sorts of voices and music. I myself know a blind musician and I sang with him once. He is an amazing musician who can play the piano also. I don’t understand how he does it but he never messes up on the piano and he always sings in tune all the time. He sings with such heart and soul like he spends all day working on songs just to make sure they are perfect. People who are blind usually have perfect pitch and this an amazing talent that I wish I had as a singer. Sometimes I am jealous of blind musicians because it naturally comes to them and it is an amazing to see and hear.
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