The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reports that as part of a project to study possible ways to reverse declines in brain function, students at a performing-arts charter school will teach elderly people with memory problems how to compose music.
The subjects will choose from different "instruments" included in the software, then create notes by clicking the mouse on the musical staff. They can make the ensuing musical phrase repeat itself and change the pitch and resonance.
Each phrase is represented by a different color, so the end product looks much like a child's drawing.
An assessment tool built into the program measures cognitive abilities in the same areas of the brain used to create music, make associations and actively hold information needed to perform complex tasks such as reasoning, comprehension and learning.
Original source: Pittsburgh Tribune-Review
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