#98 Daniel Levitin, musician, neuroscientist, and best selling author - a podcast by Planetary Gigs Society

Dan played music at school growing up in California, and was in several bands, but also conducted music. He says music education is very important, like team sports, but it is not competitive, and helped him get in touch with his emotions while growing up. Although he dropped out of college to be in the music industry as a session musician and record producer, he eventually went back to get his degree and became a college professor primarily researching the neuroscience and psychology of music. His bestseller This is Your Brain on Music opened many doors for him, including meeting and becoming friends with Victor Wooten. 

He says that recent research on music and the brain confirms that music activates pretty much every region of the brain that has been mapped. Music also can reduce pain and pre-operative anxiety in hospital settings. Music can also combat depression and has great therapeutic benefits, including reducing anxiety in people with dementia. Dan says that preforming, writing, or even appreciating music requires very complex memory modulations and sophisticated brain mechanisms that other animals don’t have; it requires being able to hold an idea in one’s mind that is not in front of you.

Dan says that music can lead to mutual cooperation, passing on education through schools, and creating systems of justice. When people play or listen to music, their brain waves synchronize, which also can lead to cooperation.

Dan Levitin is truly a trailblazer in the science of music and has a new book coming out titled Successful Aging. Please check out www.daniellevitin.com. 

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