Our study recently published in Frontiers in Psychology has explored the cognitive and neural basis of human creativity via the exploration of music improvisations performed using the Ney instrument, an end-blown flute that is popular and widely used in the Middle East.
Middle Eastern Music is characterized by the additional use of microtones, resulting in a tonal-spatial system called Maqam. These scales have played such an important role in healing and Medicine since the 10th century in the Middle East, that theories have been associating the use of specific Maqams in treatment of specific conditions. Unfortunately, because these theories are based on empirical observations and are not yet supported by peer-reviewed studies, the Music Medicine performed in the Middle East is often disregarded and not classified as “Music Therapy”. For the first time, a study explores the neural correlates of these Maqams or how Maqams translate into brainwaves.
This case confirmed the already published results on the important role, during musical improvisations, of the left-brain hemisphere with the significant increase of the low frequency bands at the frontal and temporal left area, as well as the more integrated activity in both hemispheres at higher frequency bands. This case introduces for the first time in neuromusicology, the question of electroencephalographic Maqam signatures, where signatures found seem to follow the maqam’s intervals signatures, supporting the necessity of referring to Maqams by their intervals rather than their names.
Using the Ney, a total of 24 improvisations at low, medium and high tempos were recorded using the EMOTIV EPOC+, a 14-channel wireless electroencephalographic headset. Brainwaves were recorded and quantified before and during improvisations. Pairwise comparisons were calculated using IBM-SPSS and a principal component analysis was used to evaluate the variability between the maqams. When having a closer look at the EEG signals elicited by improvisations at each maqam, we observed that each maqam was characterized by a topographically unique combination of significant electroencephalographic changes, suggesting the existence of what we would call maqam electroencephalographic signatures.
Previous studies explored processing of western tonal music major and minor EEG signals and observed an increased activity of higher frequency bands for the minor scale. Interestingly, in the present study, we observed the same pattern on improvisations on Nahawand (minor) compared to those on Ajam (major). These higher frequency bands have been associated to negative emotions, and therefore this case study suggest that indeed some maqams might be associated with more positive emotions and others to negative emotions. Of course, further searches need to be performed and this case is the first of a series, which hopefully will encourage more researchers in the Middle East to engage in the testing of the theories of Maqams so defended by historical philosophers and scientists of the Middle East like Al-Farabi, Razi, or Ibn Sina.
It is of great importance that we understand the interactions between the maqams, in order to build future studies on emotional correlates of these maqams. Therefore, we have opted for a principal component analysis to extract eventual clusters that could help us understand which feature in these improvisations seem to play a key role. The principal component analysis suggested the presence of three clusters of improvisations around the maqam Kurd: (1) Bayati and Ajam, (2) Saba, Rast, and Hijaz, and (3) Nahawand and Huzam. The results suggest that the clusters correspond to the sets of intervals they have in common. These interactions between maqams are well known by professional musicians and structural proximity of these scales are used to create improvisations that increase in complexity by mixing closely related maqams.
This result is important because it highlights the importance of considering intervals, tones, and microtones, in studies on processing of music and emotional correlates. Studies support that different mechanisms are involved in the perception of major vs. minor, and consonant vs. dissonance chords, which correlate with findings in the present study. This study on spontaneous music performance adds up to existing studies that suggests that the prefrontal cortex is of critical importance for creativity include self- reflection, and sensory processes.
To summarize, the study found that:
1- Improvisations done on different Maqams induce different EEG signatures
2- Improvisations on the maqams saba and huzam both showed significant increase of beta high and gamma bands at P7 (parietal left hemisphere) and T8 (temporal right hemisphere). However, the maqam huzam differed by a significant increase of theta at F7 (frontal left).
3- Improvisations made on maqam saba produced significantly higher power spectra of gamma bands than all other maqams not only at both left and right parietal and temporal regions, but also in visual cortex O1.
4- The maqam Hijaz is the only maqam studied that includes an interval of 1.5 tone and also happens to be the only maqam on which improvisations induced a significant increase of theta at the left temporal region T7.
5- The improvisations on Kurd showed the lowest power of gamma across all locations and whatever the tempo, did not increase in right temporal T8 as in all other maqams. The pairwise comparisons confirmed that the gamma activity of improvisations on Kurd in T8 are not significantly different from the baseline and significantly lower than on all other maqams.
6- A principal component analysis was performed on the eight maqams to explore any eventual proximity between the maqams. It suggests the presence of three clusters, with the maqam kurd being the closest to zero or the baseline when subject is not playing the flute: 1/ bayati and ajam 2/ saba, rast and hijaz 3/ nahawand and huzam.
7- Finally, this case’s results can be used as ground study to design further studies, including: (1) establishing the cognitive demand for each mode or maqam on professional’s vs. amateur musicians or improvisation vs. composed music, (2) exploring the listener’s and the performer’s perception of intended emotions by using the present recordings of various maqams and combination of self- assessment mannequin and EEG-based emotion detection. 3/ increasing the sample size in order to confirm the proposed correlates and explore the possibilities of neurofeedback training to improve performance on every maqam.
Middle Eastern Music is characterized by the additional use of microtones, resulting in a tonal-spatial system called Maqam. These scales have played such an important role in healing and Medicine since the 10th century in the Middle East, that theories have been associating the use of specific Maqams in treatment of specific conditions. Unfortunately, because these theories are based on empirical observations and are not yet supported by peer-reviewed studies, the Music Medicine performed in the Middle East is often disregarded and not classified as “Music Therapy”. For the first time, a study explores the neural correlates of these Maqams or how Maqams translate into brainwaves.
This case confirmed the already published results on the important role, during musical improvisations, of the left-brain hemisphere with the significant increase of the low frequency bands at the frontal and temporal left area, as well as the more integrated activity in both hemispheres at higher frequency bands. This case introduces for the first time in neuromusicology, the question of electroencephalographic Maqam signatures, where signatures found seem to follow the maqam’s intervals signatures, supporting the necessity of referring to Maqams by their intervals rather than their names.
Using the Ney, a total of 24 improvisations at low, medium and high tempos were recorded using the EMOTIV EPOC+, a 14-channel wireless electroencephalographic headset. Brainwaves were recorded and quantified before and during improvisations. Pairwise comparisons were calculated using IBM-SPSS and a principal component analysis was used to evaluate the variability between the maqams. When having a closer look at the EEG signals elicited by improvisations at each maqam, we observed that each maqam was characterized by a topographically unique combination of significant electroencephalographic changes, suggesting the existence of what we would call maqam electroencephalographic signatures.
Previous studies explored processing of western tonal music major and minor EEG signals and observed an increased activity of higher frequency bands for the minor scale. Interestingly, in the present study, we observed the same pattern on improvisations on Nahawand (minor) compared to those on Ajam (major). These higher frequency bands have been associated to negative emotions, and therefore this case study suggest that indeed some maqams might be associated with more positive emotions and others to negative emotions. Of course, further searches need to be performed and this case is the first of a series, which hopefully will encourage more researchers in the Middle East to engage in the testing of the theories of Maqams so defended by historical philosophers and scientists of the Middle East like Al-Farabi, Razi, or Ibn Sina.
It is of great importance that we understand the interactions between the maqams, in order to build future studies on emotional correlates of these maqams. Therefore, we have opted for a principal component analysis to extract eventual clusters that could help us understand which feature in these improvisations seem to play a key role. The principal component analysis suggested the presence of three clusters of improvisations around the maqam Kurd: (1) Bayati and Ajam, (2) Saba, Rast, and Hijaz, and (3) Nahawand and Huzam. The results suggest that the clusters correspond to the sets of intervals they have in common. These interactions between maqams are well known by professional musicians and structural proximity of these scales are used to create improvisations that increase in complexity by mixing closely related maqams.
This result is important because it highlights the importance of considering intervals, tones, and microtones, in studies on processing of music and emotional correlates. Studies support that different mechanisms are involved in the perception of major vs. minor, and consonant vs. dissonance chords, which correlate with findings in the present study. This study on spontaneous music performance adds up to existing studies that suggests that the prefrontal cortex is of critical importance for creativity include self- reflection, and sensory processes.
To summarize, the study found that:
1- Improvisations done on different Maqams induce different EEG signatures
2- Improvisations on the maqams saba and huzam both showed significant increase of beta high and gamma bands at P7 (parietal left hemisphere) and T8 (temporal right hemisphere). However, the maqam huzam differed by a significant increase of theta at F7 (frontal left).
3- Improvisations made on maqam saba produced significantly higher power spectra of gamma bands than all other maqams not only at both left and right parietal and temporal regions, but also in visual cortex O1.
4- The maqam Hijaz is the only maqam studied that includes an interval of 1.5 tone and also happens to be the only maqam on which improvisations induced a significant increase of theta at the left temporal region T7.
5- The improvisations on Kurd showed the lowest power of gamma across all locations and whatever the tempo, did not increase in right temporal T8 as in all other maqams. The pairwise comparisons confirmed that the gamma activity of improvisations on Kurd in T8 are not significantly different from the baseline and significantly lower than on all other maqams.
6- A principal component analysis was performed on the eight maqams to explore any eventual proximity between the maqams. It suggests the presence of three clusters, with the maqam kurd being the closest to zero or the baseline when subject is not playing the flute: 1/ bayati and ajam 2/ saba, rast and hijaz 3/ nahawand and huzam.
7- Finally, this case’s results can be used as ground study to design further studies, including: (1) establishing the cognitive demand for each mode or maqam on professional’s vs. amateur musicians or improvisation vs. composed music, (2) exploring the listener’s and the performer’s perception of intended emotions by using the present recordings of various maqams and combination of self- assessment mannequin and EEG-based emotion detection. 3/ increasing the sample size in order to confirm the proposed correlates and explore the possibilities of neurofeedback training to improve performance on every maqam.