What's in a musician's brain?

What happens inside the brain of a person who creates music? And when they play their instrument or go on stage? Or even more: how can they use their neurobiology to enhance attention and interpretive freedom? Giulia Valle, composer, jazz bassist, teacher, and author of the book, discusses all of this. Brain as a team: neuroscience for performance and motivation in music (and other arts) (Editorial Versos & Reversos, 2025).

"Listening to music is probably theinput "It activates more neural connections in our brain," says Valle, who gives an example: "The emotional memory of a song that was part of our adolescence takes us back to a whole series of past experiences and generates a whole neural response."

According to Valle, when a musician listens to music, their brain processes it differently than someone who doesn't. "Areas and zones involved in the precision of movement are activated," he continues. But what's most surprising is that many of these mechanisms are triggered in the brain even when we're just imagining music. "When you're walking down the street with a song in your head, the same brain areas are automatically activated," he asserts.

When creating a new composition, the first step is to understand what the corpus callosum is. "It's what connects the two hemispheres of the brain: the right, which processes things more globally and emotionally, and the left, which is more analytical," explains Valle. Therefore, the corpus callosum is what allows the creative experience to be complete.

From there, it's important to distinguish between imagination and creativity, because while imagination is essential for generating ideas and intuiting what might work in a melody, without creativity it's impossible to bring it to fruition. "Humans have the capacity to create something from nothing, starting with a simple idea. Now, creativity involves both imagination and execution, but execution without imagination wouldn't be possible," he explains.

Not everyone is a creative person. According to Valle, the common denominator among creative people is their open-mindedness. "The way creative people think is very often different from how a more pragmatic person would think. Instead of taking a straightforward approach to solving a situation, they evaluate different possibilities and actions," she explains.

So, is a creative person, or an artist, born or made? According to the author, it's true that some people are born with a greater inclination towards creativity. However, she believes that, ultimately, an artist is made as they develop their skills. "I've seen people with a lot of talent but little discipline. In the end, the saying is true: inspiration comes from working," she continues.

Thinking about what you're learning, visualization techniques, just like those used by athletes, are very important details that musicians use to enhance their creativity. "Visualization helps learning stick more firmly in your mind," Valle points out.

Focus

For rehearsal time, the author recommends that, if you want to practice effectively, you shouldn't measure it by the number of hours spent, but rather by the quality of the work. "It's much better to do two hours of focused practice with breaks in between to properly integrate the information," she advises. She also believes that good practice involves calmly addressing weak points that aren't working as well, trying to organize things so that both body and mind can absorb all the information.

On the other hand, the author clarifies that attention and concentration are not the same thing: "When you're playing on stage with other musicians, you pay attention to many things at once; not only to what you're playing, but also to what the other musicians are playing, and you have to keep pivoting around that," she explains. Even with the free jazzIn this type of performance, where total improvisation takes place, it's important not to lose sight of this focus: "You have to be constantly calibrating what the other person is playing and adjusting to what you're doing," she points out. However, concentration is what encompasses this entire process, but it has a short duration, no more than five minutes. "Deep concentration is established as a kind of equilibrium amidst all the focus," Valle notes.

Finally, the author asserts that the secret to a great concert is being 100% present on stage. "And experiencing the immediacy of the moment, without pretensions or expectations of anything happening," she adds. She's referring especially to when you expect things to go as well as they did at a previous concert. "That takes you away from the here and now, which is the most important thing. The musician's job is to connect with the music and let it speak for itself," Valle continues. "If you're waiting for something to happen and fighting against what's happening, you'll ruin the moment and you won't be paying attention," she concludes. "In the end, what the stage asks for is nothing."