Brains of Jazz and Classical Musicians Work Differently腦子不一樣的音樂(lè)家：爵士VS古典

曹艷麗/譯

A study published by the Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences （MPIHCBS） found that musicians who work in the two fields demonstrate substantially different brain activity， even when theyre playing the same music.

The research could help explain why musicians seem to excel in one or other style， and not usually in both.

The study outlines two steps in playing the piano： what the pianist is going to play—meaning the keys they press—and how they are going to play—which fingers they should use.

Classical pianists tend to focus on the second step―the ‘how. This means their focus is on technique and the personal expression they add to the piece.

Jazz pianists on the other hand focus on the ‘what， meaning they are always prepared to improvise and adapt the notes theyre playing.

The study included 30 professional pianists， half of whom were jazz players and half of whom were classical.

Both groups were shown a hand playing a sequence of chords on a screen. The sequence was scattered with mistakes in harmonies and fingering. The pianists had to imitate the hand movements and react to the irregularities， while their brain signals were recorded with sensors on their head.

The study found that different processes occurred in the brains of the jazz and classical pianists. In particular， the jazz pianists brains began re-planning sooner than the classical pianists brains.

The study found the classical pianists concentrated on the fingering and technique of their playing， while the jazz pianists were more prepared to change the notes they played to improvise and adapt their playing to create unexpected harmonies.

“In the jazz pianists we found neural evidence for this flexibility in planning harmonies when playing the piano，” says researcher Roberta Bianco.

“When we asked them to play a harmonically unexpected chord within a standard chord progression， their brains started to re-plan the actions faster than classical pianists. Accordingly， they were better able to react and continue their performance.”

However， the classical pianists performed better than the jazz group when it came to following unusual fingering. Their brains showed more awareness of the fingering， and as a result they made fewer errors while playing.

The researchers concluded that switching between jazz and classical styles of music can be a challenge， even for musicians with decades of experience.

They quoted jazz pianist Keith Jarrett， who was once asked in an interview whether hed like to do a concert where he would play both jazz and classical music： “No， thats hilarious，” he said. “Its [because of] the circuitry. Your system demands different circuitry for either of those two things.”

根據(jù)馬克斯·普朗克人類認(rèn)知與腦科學(xué)研究所發(fā)表的一項(xiàng)研究報(bào)告，爵士和古典這兩個(gè)領(lǐng)域的音樂(lè)家，即使演奏同一首曲子，大腦活動(dòng)也顯示出很大不同。

這項(xiàng)研究可能有助于解釋為什么音樂(lè)家似乎擅長(zhǎng)這一種或那一種風(fēng)格，而一般不會(huì)兩種都擅長(zhǎng)。

該研究涉及到鋼琴?gòu)椬嗟膬蓚€(gè)步驟：鋼琴家要彈什么，即他們按下哪個(gè)琴鍵;以及怎么彈，即他們使用哪根手指。

古典樂(lè)鋼琴家傾向于關(guān)注第二步“怎么彈”，意味著他們的焦點(diǎn)在于技法和所賦予曲目的個(gè)人表達(dá)。

另一方面，爵士樂(lè)鋼琴家關(guān)注的是“彈什么”，意味著他們常常準(zhǔn)備即興發(fā)揮和改編正在演奏的曲子。

這項(xiàng)研究的對(duì)象是30名職業(yè)鋼琴家，爵士樂(lè)演奏家和古典樂(lè)演奏家各占一半。

研究人員在屏幕上為兩組鋼琴家展示正在彈奏一串和弦的一只手。這串和弦彈奏時(shí)夾雜著和聲和指法錯(cuò)誤。鋼琴家們必須模仿手的動(dòng)作，并對(duì)錯(cuò)誤部分做出反應(yīng)，與此同時(shí)，他們頭上的傳感器記錄下了他們的大腦信號(hào)。

研究發(fā)現(xiàn)，爵士樂(lè)和古典樂(lè)鋼琴家的大腦中出現(xiàn)了不同的處理過(guò)程。尤其是，爵士樂(lè)鋼琴家的大腦比古典樂(lè)鋼琴家的大腦更快開(kāi)始重新設(shè)計(jì)。

研究還發(fā)現(xiàn)，古典樂(lè)鋼琴家彈奏時(shí)專注于指法和技巧，爵士樂(lè)鋼琴家則更愿意改變演奏的音符來(lái)即興創(chuàng)作，并通過(guò)改編來(lái)創(chuàng)造意想不到的和聲。

研究人員羅伯塔·比安科說(shuō)：“關(guān)于邊彈奏鋼琴邊設(shè)計(jì)和聲的這種靈活性，我們?cè)诰羰繕?lè)鋼琴家身上找到了神經(jīng)學(xué)證據(jù)?！?/p>

“當(dāng)我們要求他們?cè)趶椬鄻?biāo)準(zhǔn)和弦的過(guò)程中加入一個(gè)意想不到但不違和的和弦時(shí)，相比古典樂(lè)鋼琴家，爵士樂(lè)鋼琴家的大腦更快開(kāi)始重新規(guī)劃動(dòng)作。因此，他們能夠更好地作出反應(yīng)、繼續(xù)演奏?！?/p>

然而，古典樂(lè)鋼琴家在遵從不尋常的指法方面比爵士樂(lè)鋼琴家表現(xiàn)得更好。他們的大腦更注意指法，因此演奏時(shí)更少犯錯(cuò)。

研究人員得出結(jié)論，即使對(duì)有幾十年彈奏經(jīng)驗(yàn)的音樂(lè)家來(lái)說(shuō)，在爵士樂(lè)和古典樂(lè)風(fēng)格之間轉(zhuǎn)換可能也是一個(gè)挑戰(zhàn)。

他們引用了爵士樂(lè)鋼琴家基思·賈勒特的一段話。在一次采訪中，賈勒特被問(wèn)及是否愿意舉辦一場(chǎng)爵士樂(lè)加古典樂(lè)的演奏會(huì)，他回答道：“不，那太滑稽了。（因?yàn)椋┻@是腦回路的問(wèn)題。大腦需要不同的回路來(lái)處理這兩樣?xùn)|西?！?/p>

（譯者為“《英語(yǔ)世界》杯”翻譯大賽獲獎(jiǎng)?wù)撸?/p>