One of the greatest things about my work is that I am constantly exposed to the talents of extraordinary young people.

The Abrams Brothers (John and James, plus cousin Eli) amaze me. They are just so naturally musical, as if they were born singing and playing instruments.

John and Eli are 19 years old; James is 16!

Every time I see them live, I think What will they be like ten years from now? Can they possibly get even better? I can’t imagine any room for improvement.

James plays the fiddle with such perfection and dexterity, it seems impossible that human fingers could move that fast and be so coordinated. John and Eli are similarly gifted. And of course they write their own material.

Country Music TV just posted their new video.  Check it out here:

Do you remember B.F. Skinner’s theory of behaviorism (think rats in mazes, pigeons pressing bars to receive food pellets, etc)? Behaviorists thought that all learning could be explained as a series of trained reflexes, that a stimulus would be trained to produce a certain automatic response.

Behaviorism tried to explain musical performance by regarding the sound of each note as the stimulus to produce the next note, in a thoughtless manner akin to Pavlov’s dogs salivating every time they heard the dinner bell ring.

But a pianist, or a fiddler such as James, is living disproof of this theory. His fingers move far more swiftly than his ear could possibly register and react to each individual note.

Learning is involved, yes, but it’s a dynamic, anticipatory sort of learning, something that is neither pure reflex nor conscious thought. It requires intricate, delicate connections between a variety of brain areas. According to Dr. Oliver Sacks, it is a system “involving the coordination of many brain structures (sensory and motor cortex, thalamic nuclei, basal ganglia, cerebellum)…operating…at close to functional capacity” (Musicophilia, p. 269).

During this graduation season, I’ll be celebrating and highlighting the amazing talents and skills of several learners, young and not-so-young.

We’ll talk more about music, as well as art, writing and more!

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From Psych Central's website:
PsychCentral (May 21, 2010)

    Last reviewed: 21 May 2010