EFTA00775019.pdf

From: "Tramo, Mark Jude" <MIMI > To:' Subject: Institute Program in Education & Information: Musicality in Americans Date: Sat, 16 May 2009 21:57:32 +0000 From: Sent: Saturday, May 16, 2009 2:46 PM To: Tramo, Mark Jude Original Message From: To: mtramo@hms.harvard.edu Sent: Thu, 7 May 2009 3:32 pm Subject: Independent Study Project Dear Dr. Tramo, Hi, my name is Emily and I am seventh grade student at Dawson Middle School. I am a participant in the Gifted and Talented Language Arts program, and this year we are completing an Independent Study Project. For this project, we were told to chose a topic of our choice and research it. We also are supposed to find a mentor on the subject to help us learn and explore our field of choice. I have chosen how music and music therapy works in the brain for my topic. As I understand you specialize in neurology and someone with your knowledge would be of great assitance to me.. I was wondering if you or someone on your staff at the Insititute for Music and Brain Science could educate me on how these react with the brain to change people's moods, behaivors and actions; both physically and chemically. I am aware that this procedure can work wonders on people and am interested on how it is able to do all it does. Than k you so much for your time. If you are unable to assist me, can you please direct me to someone who can? Please reply to "all" so that my teacher gets the email as well. Thank you for your time, Sincerely, Emily [ Thank you for your email, Emily. Interesting topic - and school! What town and state are the Dawson School located in? What instruments)/dance/voice are you doing? Genre? For how many years? My colleagues and students here at The Institute for Music & Brain Science and Harvard Music Dept are developing a Musicality Inventory this summer. Very little is known about the prevalence of different types of musical interests (if any), experiences, preferences, and training in Americans of different ages. Consequently, we know nothing about how an individual's "Musicality Index" influences how they would respond to music if we were to incorporate it in the treatment pain, depression, or other problems they subsequently develop. The study will involve mailing the Inventory to a large number of people in different locales as well as posting it on our Institute's website. It might be the kind of independent project with original research involved that you could join us in. At the same time, we could help guide your reading and review of papers related to musicality in Amierca. Otherwise, you would only be doing reading and writing and not really be involved in original research. Might you be interested in this project? Sincerely, Mark Jude Tramo, MD, PhD Director, The Institute for Music & Brain Science Dept of Neurology, Harvard Medical School & Massachusetts General Hospital EFTA00775019 Steering Committee, Harvard University Mind/Brain/Behavior Interfaculty Initiative Best Doctors in America® Songwriter Member, ASCAP Mailing Address: , Suite 340, Boston, MA 02114 USA Email MTramo@HMS.Harvard.edu URL http://www.BrainMusic.org Cc: Institute Board EFTA00775020