Brain Scan. What music should I take?

[Barbirollians]

The open scanner is definitely a much less unpleasant experience than the enclosed type

[Dave2002]

One thing that troubles me - wouldn't the readings be likely to be affected by the act of listening to music, regardless of what kind of music?

I don't kow about MRI, but I was once involved in conducting a simple experiment to test auditory reactions to music/audio stimuli using a PET scanner. The results weren't very conclusive, but I think we found that only a very small part of the brain "lit up" for most subjects. Although MRI is different, this might suggest that music wouldn't disturb too much of what is being looked for.

I used to share a room at work with someone who had had an NMRI scan, and for some reason which he couldn't explain he said it made him feel euphoric, an effect which lasted for a little while afterwards. I've not had one, nor do I want one, as I get terrified if I have to lie down and worse if I am enclosed and can't get out within a couple of seconds if I want to. The more open scanners which may be used sometimes nowadays sound more comfortable.

How do they get music into the scanners? I thought the magnetic fields were so intense that any metal inside would experience problems, and most headphones even small ones might be affected. Perhaps electrostatic ones wouldn't be affected by magnetic fields. I am totally ignorant in this area.

To our OP - PG - hope it all goes well. I was going to suggest something soothing - perhaps not Shostakovich 4 or 10, or Walton's 1st - but then others pointed out the noise inside the machine. Might be a balancing act between something pleasant and something audible. JLW's suggestion of internalising music might work - but a bit of practice might be needed - or score reading. Best wishes for that.

[teamsaint]

Best wishes For the scan, PG. No doubt you will come out of it reassured, and fighting fit.

( Off the top of my head I'd take some quality pop music, Nick Lowe, Squeeze, that sort of thing.)

[pastoralguy]

Many thanks indeed for the good wishes. It's much appreciated.

I may go for Caro Emerald, a singer I love more than anyone else and whose two albums have helped me through various bouts of depression. Hmm, choices, choices.

[EdgeleyRob]

Best wishes pg.

I tried to imagine what music that I composed myself might sound like,those machines are very noisy though.

[cloughie]

Wagner: Lohengrin Prel Act 1, Parsifal Prelude and Good Friday Music, Tristan Prelude & Liebestod and Siegfried Idyll. Or if you go for non classical a selection of Manhattan Transfer.
I hope all goes well!

[Alison]

I'd go for George Lloyds Fourth Symphony Philharmonia/Ted Downes

[pastoralguy]

I'd go for George Lloyds Fourth Symphony Philharmonia/Ted Downes

[pastoralguy]

Wagner: Lohengrin Prel Act 1, Parsifal Prelude and Good Friday Music, Tristan Prelude & Liebestod and Siegfried Idyll. Or if you go for non classical a selection of Manhattan Transfer.
I hope all goes well!

My goodness, 'Man Tran'. A group I loved in my late teens/ early twenties!

[HighlandDougie]

Hope that all goes well, PG. Pink Floyd, very loud.

[jayne lee wilson]

I think your 'Be Your Own Walkman' advice is excellent, Jayne, especially if you hold a large inner repertoire. An hour under the thing would be just long enough for me to 'play' the Schumann and Schoenberg piano concertos from memory.

Also, your advice regarding upper frequencies is most instructive: persumably ear plugs would help deal with that. On the other matter, does one have to keep the eyes open when having a brain scan, which seems to be what you are implying?

You are always given ear plugs AND foam pads purely as protection (with numbed fingers, I always needed help getting the damn things in) but you can of course use your own headphones, so long as they are very good at blocking external noise. Once or twice the pads weren't properly in place and I spoiled the scan momentarily as I tried to push them back. ("It WILL take longer if you don't keep still, Jayne"..(thinks: oh god it's bossy-boots again..).. "I know but I'm an obsessive music-lover, and..." etc...)

You certainly won't want to keep your eyes open dead-ahead as the frame that usually slides in place over your head (to receive imaging signals & improve resolution) is so close you can't focus on it. But you can do a Marlon Brando left or right...or - close your eyes and count to....

I just thought of one musical accompaniment someone might cocoon themselves with - Ligeti's spaced out outer-space Lux Aeterna.... might calm the inner spaces too, and match the strange world you find yourself in.

[Serial_Apologist]

You are always given ear plugs AND foam pads purely as protection (with numbed fingers, I always needed help getting the damn things in) but you can of course use your own headphones, so long as they are very good at blocking external noise. Once or twice the pads weren't properly in place and I spoiled the scan momentarily as I tried to push them back. ("It WILL take longer if you don't keep still, Jayne"..(thinks: oh god it's bossy-boots again..).. "I know but I'm an obsessive music-lover, and..." etc...)

You certainly won't want to keep your eyes open dead-ahead as the frame that usually slides in place over your head (to receive imaging signals & improve resolution) is so close you can't focus on it. But you can do a Marlon Brando left or right...or - close your eyes and count to....

I just thought of one musical accompaniment someone might cocoon themselves with - Ligeti's spaced out outer-space Lux Aeterna.... might calm the inner spaces too, and match the strange world you find yourself in.

Lux aeterna only lasts about 9 minutes - you'd have to have it on a loop! Thanks for clarifying my questions, jayne.

[Petrushka]

Due to a hospital error I nearly ended up having a brain scan but the fact that my papers had got mixed up with someone with a similar name was discovered in the nick of time meaning that I mercifully never found out what it's like.

When in the dentist's chair, I turn to the internal CD player in my head and opt for Strauss waltzes. Josef's Delirien Waltz seems rather apt and the dental procedure is usually over by the time I reach the coda and if not I can always choose as many repeats as necessary.

[Serial_Apologist]

Due to a hospital error I nearly ended up having a brain scan but the fact that my papers had got mixed up with someone with a similar name was discovered in the nick of time meaning that I mercifully never found out what it's like.

When in the dentist's chair, I turn to the internal CD player in my head and opt for Strauss waltzes. Josef's Delirien Waltz seems rather apt and the dental procedure is usually over by the time I reach the coda and if not I can always choose as many repeats as necessary.

Funnily enough it was through Strauss waltz sequences that at the age of six I discovered my ability to memorise quite long-distance music. By the time I was seven I'd learned the Schumann concerto from start to finish, and now have an inner repertoire ranging from Monteverdi to Berio's Sinfonia by way of many of the standard classics, which help me get to sleep. I wake up next day thinking, hmm, I must've dropped off halfway through the slow movement of Mozart 40!

To those who might claim it destroys any sense of the unexpected, the compensating factor consists in that you (one) can get much more inside music that is memorised. I even find I can come up with my own ideal performances! For the person who asked, upthread, how it's done, it's simple. If when listening to a familiar piece of music you know what's coming next, you should logically be able to recall it in your head.

[MrGongGong]

How do they get music into the scanners? I thought the magnetic fields were so intense that any metal inside would experience problems, and most headphones even small ones might be affected. Perhaps electrostatic ones wouldn't be affected by magnetic fields. I am totally ignorant in this area.
.

The "headphones" use a plastic tube (like a speaking tube on an old ship) as anything else will be magnetised and destroyed

I had many MRI scans a few years ago (have a folder containing thousands of images which one day I'll stitch together to make a "voyage down the body" movie!) one thing I did notice is that after a long time (and I really enjoyed the scanner sounds and their spatialisation ) I felt warm from the inside, a bit like after spending time in a sauna, which I was told by the technicians was a result of how the MRI was vibrating the cells in my body.