Keyboard pedagogy and the future: lessons from human genome research: an interview with Barry B. Bittman, M.D. and Karl T. Bruhn

American Music Teacher, Oct-Nov, 2005 by Gary L. Ingle

GI: What you're saying makes a great deal of sense. Yet, from a pedagogy perspective, I often wonder whether a certain amount of stress is good for our students. For some, maybe it generates that extra edge. Karl, what are your thoughts?

KB: I've often wondered about this as well. From my own observations, it seems that some people handle stress better than others. I also recognize the fact that many performers suffer from stress-related illnesses. It's hard to draw the line. No one would doubt that striving for perfection generates a lot of stress. What are your thoughts, Barry?

BB: I fully agree, Karl. Yet, I'm particularly concerned with the underlying biology that isn't readily apparent even in those who seemingly handle stress well. We erroneously tend to assume that disease begins suddenly with that abnormal electrocardiogram, CT scan or blood test. While a heart attack may present as a sudden event, the biological processes that lead to the damage do not develop overnight. Devastating life events have also been shown to predict disease development.

Ultimately it may be the way we handle external pressures that makes all the difference. Perhaps we take life too seriously.

GI: That's a valuable insight for all of us. The fact that stress takes its toll isn't surprising. Yet, how does one begin to test the impact of stress when each of us is so different?

BB: That's a fascinating question. You are correct--each of us experiences stress in different ways. Therefore from a research perspective we couldn't rely on a common baseline. We developed a two-phase protocol to level the playing field. In the first one-hour phase, we induced stress. In the second, we attempted to reverse its effects. We studied 32 subjects without prior music-making experience--4 groups of 8 subjects each.

During the initial phase, we asked subjects to assemble extremely frustrating jigsaw puzzles described by the manufacturer as "most difficult." We deliberately pressured our subjects to compete with each other. The one participant who put together the most pieces in an hour received a monetary reward. In phase two we divided the volunteers into three groups: ongoing puzzle assembly, rest and relaxation reading books and magazines, and a first group keyboard lesson.

Blood was sampled prior to the experiment and after each phase. Comparisons were carried out between the groups.

GI: What did you measure in the blood samples?

BB: We focused on stress-induced substances that have been documented to be associated with leading causes of death and disability such as cancer, heart disease, diabetes, chronic lung disease and inflammatory syndromes. Realizing typical detection challenges, we decided to take an extraordinary measure. We set forth to study the actual DNA switches that literally turn on or off the production of biological stress responses associated with these diseases.

It should be noted that this experiment was made possible through an unprecedented collaboration between Applied Biosystems, the world-renowned developer of the technology that first successfully deciphered the human genome in June 2000 and Yamaha Corporation of America.