A cerebral approach

“ Scientists have little doubt that music is so basic to human nature that it goes back to our earliest days as a species”

Pink Floyd’s The Dark Side of the Moon is among the most critically acclaimed musical expressions in contemporary recording history. It propelled the group to international fame, huge wealth and recognition for its members. But if we listen carefully to the lyrics, there is an entirely different story. ‘The lunatic is on the grass’ is a de facto reference to the erratic behaviour and underlying ill-health of band member Syd Barrett.

It is the balance of the mind, the product of the brain’s activity, that is the key – ‘they are sick that surfeit with too much, as they that starve with nothing,’ as the Bard would say. Music is a key part of that balance and may be one of the greatest healing factors for our stressed-out brains and minds. But before we look at mental wellbeing, and moreover the health of our brain and the part that music may