FREE PIANO COURSE! We are seeking participants for an in-person study on how music training affects adults' ability to learn new musical sequences on the piano.
We are recruiting adults (ages 40+) who have less than 2 year of formal music training on any instrument to take part in a FREE 6-week introductory piano course this June and July at the TTU School of Music. Classes will meet twice a week for 50 minutes each in the early evenings.
Participants will visit the Texas Tech Neuroimaging Institute for 1.5 hours once BEFORE (Week of June 4) and AFTER (Week of July 30) the 6-week class. This is NOT a clinical study. It will not involve medication or treatment. Research participation is completely confidential.
During the study, participants will learn musical sequences on a piano keyboard while undergoing MRI scanning (fMRI, structural MRI, and diffusion tensor imaging). fMRI scanning uses magnets to measure changes in oxygen in your brain while you do different activities. In addition, we will collect structural scans that are high resolution pictures of your brain, and diffusion tensor scans that measure how water molecules move around in your brain.
All participants must be right-handed, speak English fluently, be safe to enter a magnetic resonance imaging environment, and not have any diagnosed neurological disorders.
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QUICK INFO:
*WEEK OF JUNE 4: Participants will undergo MRI scanning (1.5 hrs).
* JUNE 12 – JULY 26: Participants will take part in a FREE piano course for beginners with two 50-min class meetings per week in the evenings. (No classes week of July 2).
*Participants will receive a FREE piano textbook and ear buds.
*WEEK OF JULY 30: Participants will undergo MRI scanning (1.5 hrs).
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If interested, please email Dr. Carla Davis Cash at carla.d.cash@ttu.edu or call (806) 834-3924.?
This study has been approved by the Texas Tech University Institutional Review Board.
