Violinist Chenyi Avsharian Explores Music and the Brain in Carnegie Hall Recital
How does a musical education affect a person's brain development? And how does a musician's brain function differently from a non-musician's brain?
These are some of the questions that violinist Chenyi Avsharian is exploring as part a recital called "Boundless Horizons" that she will give on October 5 in Carnegie Hall's Zankel Hall, performing with pianist Rohan De Silva and violinist Simon Hagopian-Rogers. (For more information click here.)
Violinist Chenyi Avsharian and pianist Rohan De Silva.
In addition to being a live musical performance, the recital also will show the brain activity of four different observers (including the performer!) with different levels of musical training. The audience will see electroencephalogram (EEG) brain imaging showing which areas of the brain are activated while witnessing the music in the recital, which will include a mix of works by Sarasate, Stephen Foster, Mendelssohn, Ernst, Shostakovich, Brahms, Gershwin, Piazolla and HeFang and Waxman.
Violinist Chenyi Avsharian - left - performing while recording brain activity with an electroencephalogram; and performing in recital.
It's a recital that presents a range of ideas, conceived by an artist who wears many hats. Originally from Beijing, Chenyi studied at the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing and won top prizes in many competitions, including a gold medal at the second China International Violin Competition. Since 2017 she also has been the Chief Operating Officer of Shar Music, the longtime stringed instrument and supply company that was founded by her husband, Charles Avsharian, its CEO. And more recently, Chenyi founded NeuralTones, a nonprofit organization focused on researching the relationship between music education and brain development.
For the upcoming recital, a small team of scientists recorded EEG imaging from four kinds of participants: one person watching but not hearing the music, one listener with no musical background, one high-level music student, and one professional musician (Chenyi herself!).
During the recital itself, "we will display brainwave activity, highlighting both emotional changes in the limbic system and motor function in the cerebellum," Chenyi said. "The audience will see how these systems react as I produce music. We’ll also showcase brainwave comparisons between a player, a listener, and someone who only watches without hearing the music." For the Shostakovich's violin duet, "we’ll track brainwaves from both performers during key transitions and melodies."
The brainwave data was recorded in early September at Chelsea High School Concert Hall in Michigan, with clinical neuroscientist Dr. Rogene M. Eichler West, from Northwest Neuro Professionals, LLC, and certified brain injury specialist Dr. Heidi Reyst.
"We focused on tracking brain activity, particularly in my own brain, while I played my full recital program," Chenyi said. "The goal was to replicate a concert hall environment with acoustics similar to Zankel Hall at Carnegie, to ensure the brain responded in a way that mirrored a live performance."
Tracking brain activity: Chenyi plays for two listeners, while everyone's brain activity is tracked via EEG imaging.These ideas "all started from watching my own kids struggle with practicing music," said Chenyi, who is the mother of three pre-college-age daughters. "They loved music, but when it came to practice time, they hated it. That got me curious about what was happening in their brains. I found that there was a lot of brain activity when they tried to play, and they had to process a lot of information just to produce music."
"This raised some big questions for me: if we know music has such positive outcomes, why is that?" she said. "How does the brain develop differently when learning music? Could understanding this help with things like social anxiety, mental health, or even creating a better world? And what about underserved communities — can access to music education bring positive change to their lives? These questions inspired the foundation of NeuralTones."
The mission of NeuralTones is to gather data on how learning music influences cognitive growth, emotional intelligence, and well-being, Chenyi said. "We aim to explore how music could impact fields like mental health and education, especially in underserved communities." Chenyi is the founder, president, and CEO, working with COO Sherri McDaniel and CMO Leamon Sowell.
Another reason she is giving the recital is personal: "I believe that women should have their own identity and continue chasing their dreams, no matter their age," Chenyi said. "Middle-aged women, like myself, often lose confidence, self-care, and even a sense of identity because of family responsibilities—like driving kids around or managing a household. It’s easy to put your own dreams aside."
"As a mother of three, with a husband, parents, a career, and my violin playing, all of which require time and energy, I want to show that it’s still possible to find time for your own passions," she said. "This concert is a way for me to inspire women like me to never stop dreaming and pursuing their goals, no matter how busy life gets."
You might also like:
- Music and Your Brain
- Developing Your Musical Mental Map with Melissa Gerber Knecht
- How to Help Your Brain Memorize Music, with Molly Gebrian
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Replies
Fortunately they do have some scientists involved to interpret!
It is a cool hat!
If the hat actually is able to detect anything meaningful, the idea that I might be caught in a moment of boredom as an audience member would be stressful; think emotional thoughts, think emotional thoughts, think emotional thoughts...
Laurie, I can't discover any online information about NeuralTones or any evidence that the two scientists involved are actually experienced in EEG interpretation. Their PhD theses are both in widely divergent fields. It seems reasonable to speculate that "learning music influences cognitive growth, emotional intelligence, and well-being" but far-fetched to assume that these factors will be reflected in recognisable EEG changes, or indeed that the EEG in any way reflects one's emotional response to music.
I suggest that any potential investors keep their hands firmly in their pockets. And look out Christian, it's the alpha-waves that might incriminate you (if not the snoring).
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September 18, 2024 at 07:17 AM · For what it's worth my career-long involvement in electroencephalography tells me that attempting to understand complex brain functions with electrodes on the surface of the scalp is like studying the earth from space through a fogged lens.