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Wednesday, April 13, 2016 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon
Science club explores
‘Music and the Brain’
By Sue Stafford
Correspondent
The Belfry will host a
multimodal presentation
on Music and the Brain by
Dr. Bob Collins, as part of
the Sisters Science Club’s
Frontiers in Science series on
Tuesday, April 26.
Collins will explore what
music is and where it comes
from, using videos, musical
instruments, and audience
singing. He will also look
at the interaction between
music and the brain and how
different music activates the
brain in different ways.
Over the past 10 years
there has been an explosion
of new information con-
cerning the ways music can
help children with attention
disorders and adults with
Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s.
The Sundance Film
Festival documentary “Alive
Inside” details how the
Music and Memory program
is being used to stimulate
engagement and verbaliza-
tion in dementia patients who
were thought to be nonverbal.
By creating personal-
ized playlists of their favor-
ite music for patients, which
they listen to with earphones
on an iPod, emotions are
tapped, bypassing the intel-
lect, and stimulating feelings
and expression. Hearing their
favorite music can also help
to ground them, easing con-
fusion and agitation.
Author Aldus Huxley, in
his book “Music at Night and
Other Essays,” describes the
transcendent power of music
and why it sings to our souls,
being the most spiritually
resonant of the arts.
“… all the things that, to
the human spirit, are most
profoundly significant, can
only be experienced, not
expressed… that which
comes nearest to expressing
the inexpressible is music,”
he wrote. He refers to music
as humanity’s most powerful
medium of expression.
Collins will explore how
and why music so powerfully
expresses our humanity.
“Why is there music, song
and dance in every culture
everywhere? Music does not
enhance the survival of an
individual or our species. But
we might as well ask why we
have fire-building, airplanes,
and the Internet. Like music,
these are inventions of the
brain that have become part
of the human fabric, stitching
that brings us all together,”
Collins said.
… all the things that,
to the human spirit,
are most profoundly
significant, can only
be experienced, not
expressed… that
which comes nearest
to expressing the
inexpressible is music.
— Aldus huxley
Collins, co-founder of the
Sisters Science Club, is the
retired head of the UCLA
neurology department and a
resident of Sisters. His cur-
rent interests are many and
varied, including his work
as an artist and published
author.
Doors open at The Belfry
at 6 p.m., with light fare and
beverages available for pur-
chase. There will also be
music videos playing. The
hour-long program begins
at 7 p.m. Admission is free
for Science Club donors and
students, $5 for the general
public. This promises to be a
popular event so come early
to assure seating.
SMS students take on chess challenge
On the morning of April
8, four Sisters Middle School
students prepared themselves
to go head-to-head against the
best middle-school-aged chess
competitors in the state at this
year’s Chess for Success state
tournament.
Held annually, the compe-
tition is a friendly way for the
students that excel at chess to
meet and play games both as a
team and individually. In win-
ning first place in the regional
tournament last January, the
SMS Chess Club earned a spot
at the state competition, where
they competed as a team.
Eighth-graders Brody
Lofdahl and Sasha Komar,
alongside sixth-graders
Ashton King and Matthew
Falconer, comprised the
team. The tournament played
under Swiss rules, meaning
that how well the team does
cumulatively, not individu-
ally, determines whether they
won or lost the round. As a
team, Sisters had a rocky start
but ended in a four-way tie for
sixth place.
Twenty-six teams com-
peted overall, but almost
every increment had a tie of
photo provided
Sisters middle School students competed at the state chess tournament.
some kind due to the scoring
and ranking system.
In addition, Brody Lofdahl
and Ashton King proved
themselves the best chess
players in the region for their
grade at regionals, leading
them to qualify as individuals
on top of the team participa-
tion. On Saturday, April 9,
they competed on their own,
this time scored on how they
performed alone.
Overall, the SMS chess
team had an excellent expe-
rience and every member
learned valuable lessons about
the game, whether they were
chess veterans or first-time
newbies. Lofdahl, the senior
player, said the first game he
played was “the best game
I’ve played in my life.”
While none of the students
had ever been to the state
competition before, Falconer
(who is the youngest on the
team) performed admirably
for a first-year participant in
the chess club.
The Sisters Middle School
chess club meets late-start
Wednesday mornings and is
coached by Ethan Ferwalt.
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