Speech and music

Enjoyed  two lectures at the Continuing Education up at the uni on language, speech and music. It was good to be out and about with the rest of the world on a Saturday morning. There were a lot of early childhood people and speech therapists there and interested others,  all with their little hobbyhorses when it came to question time. The first lecture by Michael Corbalis was on his theory of how language came about as an extension of manual gesture about 200,0000 years (babies and small children still use gestures such as pointing, and sign language to communicate). Facial gestures are added to the repertoire,  further localised in the mouth area, including inside the mouth - tongue and larynx etc. So, he concluded, speech is the miniaturisation of gesture and frees up the rest of the body to do other things . Our language still has such metaphors as grasping i.e. understanding something , we point things out,  and catch your drift.
Then he spoke about brain asymmetry and how right-handedness corresponds with the left side of the brain and vice versa. Both sides are not exactly the same - for example spatial attention is seated more in the right side of the brain and if one's left brain is damaged by a neurological condition then spatial ability to the left can be not as good as on the right.
The sessions were in a lecture room in the old Clocktower Building so going back there was a blast from the past.  We had morning tea in the cloisters and I found a nice lady to talk to also there on her own, so that was nice. $60 was a lot for a morning and I hadn't found anybody among my friends  who was interested enough to fork out that. It is very convenient for me to do things in the city and it often easier to be independent, though nice to have company.

Then  there was the next lecture entitled Speech, language and song by Suzanne Purdy,  a professor  of speech science who outlined some recent interesting research which I will follow up by reading on the internet. It is good to know that even if one side of the brain is damaged by illness then all is not lost - for example both sides of the brain (and some overlap)  are used in hearing music , even musical training in childhood helps in musical memory and singing ability when all else seems to be damaged. She used some examples from our choir singing and one of someone talking and singing a solo. There were images of us singing at various events and classes including ones where I was quite obvious. The research looks promising about how singing keeps the voice strong for people with Parkinson's and of course the social and psychological benefits and better quality of life are appreciated by many of the people in the choir too, particularly those who have had strokes and are in wheelchairs.