Recently I’ve been learning more about the left and right sides of the brain. The piano keyboard has a pretty intuitive design. I already knew that the left side of my brain ties to the right side of my body, and the right side of my brain ties to the left side of my body. As a pianist, I find it interesting how my brain impacts how I play the piano’s low vs. high end notes.
Some cognitive functions tend to be dominated by either the left or right side of the brain. The left side of my brain is more dominant with logic, numbers, language, analysis, and details, while the right side of my brain is more dominant with insight, color, images, imagination, and the “big picture”.
That’s when I noticed how the piano keyboard design ties to how I play with both hands. My left hand near the lower notes is controlled by my right brain. When I play the piano I use the low notes for the big picture of emotional impact and do more with overall feel and rhythm with my left hand. At the same time, my right hand near the higher notes is controlled by my left brain and tends to have more detailed and complex patterns. The melody is usually on the left brain / right hand side as well, which complements the processing of the lyrics in my mind.
Music in general is right brain dominant, but musicianship requires processing from both sides.
After the French composer, Maurice Ravel, suffered a stroke in the left side of his brain he could no longer play, read, write, or dictate music. Yet he could still hear when people played the wrong note or if a piano was out of tune.
My left brain likes the analysis of how my brain hemispheres might be working, and my right brain likes the overall concept of a connection between the piano keyboard design and how I play. Overall, I think that it’s both interesting and cool.