I just came across a very interesting study of the what the brain does when you improvise jazz. The scientific study was conducted by Charles Limb, a faculty member at the Peabody Conservatory of Music at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, MD, and a life-long jazz musician. He is also a doctor and assistant professor in Johns Hopkins School of Medicine’s Department of Otolaryngology-Head & Neck Surgery. (this guy will never be out of work!)
Anyway, Limb studied his own brain during an MRI where he improvised to an “Aebersold-like” track. The results were fascinating but didn’t really surprise me. Take a look at the video and you probably won’t be surprised at what your brain does when you improvise jazz.
I just wonder if this kind of thing applies to writing a chart too. Sometimes I get in a “zone” when working on a chart where it is really easy and I lose sense of time. I would think that the brain would function about the same way in any highly creative endeavor. Check out the video, and leave a comment if you’d like.
