Neuroarchitecture

89
Neuromusicology—
Neuroarchitecture
Music as Experience of Movement
In the same way that people’s movements in space are motivated by
good architecture, movement can be recognized as the essence of music.
When it comes to describing music, there are probably just two aspects
that need special consideration here: movement and sound. Areas of musical
activity can then be read as neurobiological processes that, especially in
the field of composed music, show similarities to maps and literary texts.
Both are intentionally understood in terms of periods of time and both can
be internalized. Just as in literature plotlines are unrolled, unfolded, crossed,
and disentangled during the course of the narrative, when we look at a map
we see a section that we understand as a path. Structures and plans of
mental experiences are inscribed in our memories. The more intensively we
experience these paths, the more deeply we internalize them. Many areas of
musical movement are active simultaneously; even a single note is made up
of many factors, which appear in an extended network of physical phenomena
and can be only approximately analyzed if we listen with that specific
intention. Notes are bodies that move in space. Even at a very simple level
a few notes can be felt as a direct experience of music. This experience can
be described as like walking through an imaginary architectural structure.
Every brain becomes a storehouse of musical experiences and conditioning,
and experience gives it an individual profile. Yet the storehouse itself can only
be approximately described by its functional processes. Individual patterns
can be mentioned. Everyone hears music but everyone experiences it in
a different way. Ambient noises become associated with the story of the
musical experience and are reflected in experiences of particular spaces. In
musicians, the ability to consciously experience and describe architectural
and spatial resonance is particularly striking. These abilities are honed early
in life, through learning to read music, studying simple and complex scores,
and playing instruments, as well as through motor memory. Musicians are
capable of playing directly from a sheet of music without looking at their
instrument and even of sight-reading music when playing in an ensemble.