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Music and the Mind

Shaping Our Children’s Lives Through Music Engagement

Soprano and Kennedy Center Artistic Advisor at Large Renée Fleming, CNN’s chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta, and ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ Dr. Francis Collins at the second Sound Health Music and the Mind event on September 7, 2018. Jati Lindsay

On Friday, September 7 and Saturday, September 8, 2018, the 2023 ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ and the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, in association with the National Endowments for the Arts, hosted Music and the Mind, Shaping Our Children’s Lives Through Music Engagement. For this second Sound Health event, acclaimed musical artists joined top neuroscientists to explore links between music, rhythm, and brain development. 

Friday, September 7

8:00 p.m.

Kennedy Center Concert Hall
Ticketed Event

Presenters and performers included ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ Dr. Francis Collins, soprano and Kennedy Center Artistic Advisor at Large Renée Fleming, CNN’s chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta, Grateful Dead percussionist Mickey Hart, tabla master Zakir Hussain, pianist and Kennedy Center Artistic Director of Jazz Jason Moran, along with other special musical guests, and neuroscientists Drs. John Iversen, Nina Kraus, Charles Limb, and Laurel Trainor.

Saturday, September 8

The day-long series of activities, workshops, and discussion with artists, educators, and neuroscientists explored how rhythm and music impact our lives from a young age.

11:00 a.m.

Terrace Theater
Ticketed Event

Dr. Nina Kraus, Hugh Knowles Professor at Northwestern University, and Dr. Adam Gazzaley, Professor in Neurology, Physiology and Psychiatry at University of California, San Francisco, were joined by Grateful Dead percussionist Mickey Hart and tabla master Zakir Hussain to illustrate the art and science of rhythm.

2:00 p.m.

Terrace Theater
Ticketed Event

Renée Fleming led a panel discussion with Dr. Francis Collins, ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½; Dr. Rollo Dilworth, Chair of Music Education and Therapy at Temple University; Dr. Kenneth Elpus, Associate Professor of Music Education at the University of Maryland; Dr. John Iversen, Associate Research Scientist at University of California San Diego; Dantes Rameau, Co-Founder and Executive Director of the Atlanta Music Project; Melissa Salguero 2018 Grammy Music Educator Award Recipient; Laurie Schell, inaugural director of Music Makes Us with Metro Nashville Public Schools; and others, as well as a special performance by the Washington Performing Arts' Children of the Gospel Choir.

4:30 p.m.

Terrace Theater
Ticketed Event

In this discussion-demonstration, Dr. Laurel Trainor, director of the McMaster Institute for Music and the Mind at McMaster University, detailed how music and rhythms affect learning, and reveals the importance of rhythmic movements for optimal social development. She's joined by Dr. Joanne Loewy, director of the Music Therapy Department at Mount Sinai Beth Israel, and others, who use music and movement with infants and children who are at risk for developmental disorders. The session featured a special performance by musicians of the D.C. Youth Orchestra.

6:00 p.m.

Millennium Stage
No tickets required

Dr. John Iverson, Mickey Hart, and Zakir Hussain guided the audience through call-and-response games, lively performances, and an interactive demonstration.

8:00 p.m.

Terrace Theater
Ticketed Event

Dr. Charles Limb, Francis A. Sooy Professor of Otolaryngology at the University of California, San Francisco, with pianists Jason Moran and Matthew Whitaker, demonstrated how encouraging and developing musical improvisational skills in children has led to a better understanding for how creativity is implemented in the human brain.