9/2/16

“BRAIN AND MUSIC”


Emotion, Creation and Interpretation
A book by
Doctor Osvaldo Fustinoni

Interview & Article: Adriana Rubio
Press Assistance & Photographs:
Courtesy of El Ateneo & Graciela Bruno

This blog has always been devoted to the arts and has published articles and interviews of a vast number of artists, rock musicians, actors, film directors and book authors on a wide scale for several years. This is the first time Arts Publications Music & Films opens up to the medical field with an interview to a renowned Argentinian neurologist, Doctor Osvaldo Fustinoni, who aside from his successful career enjoys playing and listening to classical and other music. We welcome Doctor Fustinoni and his book titled “Brain and Music” to this blog as the leading article of a number of studies that will be exposed here some time soon.

Before to continue, I would like to thank very much El Ateneo and its press representative Graciela Bruno for such a kind and professional assistance. I also want to thank Doctor Darío Lisei, a young Neurologist with a bright future who encouraged me to read this book.




 Excerpts from  the prologue:

“Music, whatever its genre, has been part of all peoples and cultures over centuries. Not essential for survival, though more emotional than other arts, no people has ever been known to give up music”

“Today brain knowledge and research has attained enormous interest, enabling us to better understand our behavior toward that most enjoyable human expression: music”.


Although “ Brain and Music” has been written by a neurologist, he points out  that the writing of the book was not expressly related to his specialty in the medical field in the first place. 


“The genesis of the book has rather more to do with other circumstances. We had a colleague in the Society of Neurology who was also a writer and poet. We were all attending the Annual Congress of Neurology a few years back and he had the idea of getting together in a different environment and time frame out of the rigorous scientific activities of the Congress to share our artistic side with other colleagues who played music, wrote poetry/fiction or  painted art. So “The  Neurology and Art Evening” was created, and new ideas developed later as a result”. 


“Four years ago, another colleague organized a course in a private University about creativity and the brain, which I do mention in the book, and  asked me to develop the subject of music and the brain, not only in relation to creativity but also in other dimensions within the musical  context (composition-interpretation-improvisation-listening)”. 

“With the same motivation and  with another colleague, which I also mention in the book,  we thought it a good idea to put it all together in writing. So we first wrote an article for“Ciencia e Investigación(“Science and Investigation”),  a Journal from Argentina aimed at a broad scientific readership. That article induced us to develop the subject further into book format". 

“The book analyses the relation between brain function and creativity amongst those who compose/play music or simply enjoy listening. Although it does not seek to establish a specific relation between disease and musical creativity, it does mention examples of famous musicians whose musical talent has been conditioned by brain disease".    

“Brain and Music” is a great read and is highly recommended to anyone interested in knowing more about what happens in our brains when listening to, composing or playing music, why we enjoy listening to music and what creativity means amongst many other subjects explained from a different perspective. 




“The effect of music on the human brain is predominantly emotional. Music powerfully stimulates emotion and drives people together. It is a shared  experience whatever the genre or style:  jazz , rock, or classical concert . We follow the rhythm with head, hands and feet. But it is still a mystery why some people like jazz, and others like opera, tango, rock or folk. It probably has to do with the varieties of emotional experience that music induces".

“Opera, for example  which combines music,  literature and drama with  commanding voices acting and singing the story, may drive people to incredible emotional oubursts. One may wonder whether   audiences attending drama without music with a similar subject, would react in the same way. Music is the great emotion enhancer”.

“Brain and Music” –Emotion, Creation and Interpretation - is a 192 pages paperback book authored by Doctor Osvaldo Fustinoni, published in 2015 by El Ateneo. The book counts with eight chapters filled with amazing topics such as “music and memory”, “action and reaction”, “listening in colors: Synesthesia”, “musical cognition”, “music and emotion”, “creation”, “creation and illness”, “interpretation”, “improvisation” , “listening”, and much more. 



Osvaldo Fustinoni is a prestigious doctor from the University of Buenos Aires and a professor of Neurology at the Medical School-University of Buenos Aires. He is  Head of Neurology athe National Forensic  Corps (Supreme Court of Justice) in Argentina, and also an Active  member of the Argentinian Society of Neurology. He has worked in the investigation field in France at INSERM (Institute National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale), also in the area of physiology and vascular physiopathology at Lariboisière Hospital in París. He was a Postgraduate Fellow from the Institute of Neurology, Queen Square, in London and worked hand in hand with Prof. John Marshall. Currently, he is a Member of the Queen Square Alumnus Association. Fustinoni has also worked at Naval and Fernández hospitals in Buenos Aires, and is consultant at the Neuroscience Institute of Argentina (INEBA), just to mention a few accomplishments amongst a very long list of professional titles and positions. 


For more information on how to purchase this book, please contact the publisher directly at the link below:


 Or by E-mail at:  editorialelateneo@elateneo.com
 
Thank you Doctor!