justplainbil

Just Plain Bill

The MRI “Symphony”

I recently underwent an MRI scan in the hopes of accurately diagnosing the cause of a persistent pain in my neck. (Not that “I’m” a pain in the neck – at least not that I know of – but one doesn’t always know, does one?)

Having undergone an MRI scan 23 years ago, I knew what to expect, and although I found that nothing much had changed in nearly a quarter of a century, there was one noticeable difference.

I became intrigued with the pitch in the quite loud sound made by electricity and releasing coils in the machine. (To be more specific, Ron Schenone, writing in Lockergnome, provides the following description: “Electricity passing through the metal coils creates a magnetic field that sends out magnetic waves. These waves then measure the tissue in our bodies and produce an image.”)

Being aware of how the MRI machine worked, my focus shifted to identifying the pitch the grinding noise was making – the “note” on our 12-tone scale. I know some people have perfect pitch – being able to correctly identify the note that’s being played – but unfortunately I don’t. Some music teachers have told me that I have relative pitch though, labeling the note a fifth away from the correct note. (Enough with the technical music talk.)

Upon hearing a single pitch during the majority of my 20-minute stay in the MRI tube, I surmised the following: the continuous beat reminded me of the accompaniment to Turkey in the Straw, but was spot on to the Processional by Josh Garrels.

Ta-Da! Although I’d survived another MRI thanks to my relative pitch, I was still quite relieved when all the “music” stopped and I knew the helpful image was ready for my physician to diagnose the cause of my pain in my neck.