Presentation of his 2 Conferences, by Gérard Mick
1. Wednesday 21 July 2021 from 5.45pm to 7pm :
Musical practice, a high level sport: demonstration!
Mastering an instrumental technique, deciphering or transposing a score, transcribing a symphonic work for piano, or thrilling the audience in concert, all illustrate the fact that playing music is an activity that fully mobilises the brain and many parts of the human body. As in a high-level sport, when one plays a work on the violin, one must give one’s best at all times: controlling the position of the fingers on the strings for the accuracy of the sounds, mobilising the fingers in a coordinated and rapid manner, controlling the pressure exerted on the bow, adjusting the rhythm and adapting the tempo, inducing emotions specific to one’s interpretation, ….
At the cerebral level, during the acquisition of any musical practice, it is first of all the systems linked to learning that are strongly solicited, all the more plastic the younger the musician is; then during the performance, the motor and sensory systems, and in particular the auditory, and the emotional and affective systems, are in turn solicited, all the more robustly the more experienced the musician is.
How is the brain, the conductor of all these capacities, capable of being a virtuoso itself in producing such performances?
This is what we will discover together during the conference dedicated to this theme.
2. Thursday 22 July 2021 from 5.45pm to 7pm:
The effects of music on health: which ones?
Music is present in all cultures of the world.
A fundamentally human production, it is a limitless field in the space and time of our lives: it is a fundamental factor of social cohesion, accompanies the key moments of life, mobilises our corporality, and induces the creation of an infinite variety of intimate universes in each of us.
The expressive power of music thus penetrates human beings in their most atavistic animality as well as in the depths of their most elaborate thoughts.
As a factor of daily well-being, it is listened to by all as much for its aesthetic and cultural value as for its profound emotional regulation. Moreover, the evolution of scientific knowledge now makes it possible to identify multiple effects of music on health. In babies and children, music, when listened to or played, stimulates cognitive and emotional capacities.
For patients in pain, it has an analgesic effect, and for people with anxiety, it has a fundamentally calming effect. After a stroke, it promotes the recovery of abilities and reduces the risk of depression. Finally, in patients with Parkinson’s disease, it helps with motor control, and in people with Alzheimer’s disease, it revitalises, boosts communication and physical activity.
How does this incredible power work?
It is this path of discovery that is proposed with this conference.
Access to conferences in webinar format
To allow people who cannot come to Lyon to follow these conferences, we will broadcast them live in the form of a webinar via ZOOM with a registration fee of 10€ paid by PayPal. By clicking on the links, you will be automatically redirected to the PayPal website to pay online. If you do not have a PayPal account, you will need to create one for free, here, and for ZOOM, there!
Registering for the webinars will of course allow you to follow the lectures, and also to ask your questions (in writing).
Click on the following links to register: