Music Education and Brain Development

Over the past two decades, music training has been associated with better than average language and mathematical skills and higher IQ, while differences between musicians and nonmusicians have been found in brain areas related to hearing and movement, among others. What is the mechanism behind such differences? One important goal of our program is to understand the effects of music training on brain development, investigated in terms of psychological (emotional, cognitive, social) and actual neural functions.

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A two-year study by researchers at the Brain and Creativity Institute (BCI) at the University of Southern California shows that exposure to music and music instruction accelerates the brain development of young children in the areas responsible for language development, sound, reading skill and speech perception.

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Have you ever felt more relaxed when listening to music? Have you ever listened to music that instantaneously brought up strong feelings or brought you back to a special time from the past? Have you ever felt a sense of inner strength or spirituality when listening to music? Have you ever sung a lullaby to help comfort a crying baby or sung the alphabet song to a young child who is just learning the alphabet?

 

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Music stitches together our social fabric in many ways.  And it turns out, when music plays, we share the experience of melody, harmony and rhythm at a much more basic, personal level. For instance, when Stanford University researchers scanned the inner workings of the noggins of people listening to classical music they hadn’t heard before, the researchers there were similar patterns.

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n a world that isn’t going to slow down, do something special for yourself and learn how to play classical guitar. Here is a perspective on this beautiful instrument.

The classical guitar is an instrument that takes years to master. And this mastery never truly ends because it is something that will slowly grow over the full course of your lifetime.  Continue reading

...there are endless ways that music makes our hearts and souls feel better. But research shows that music can have benefits for our bodies, too.

1.  Eases Anxiety

2.  Reduces Stress

3.  Helps During Surgery

4.  Helps Sound Processing Ability

5.  Boosts Heart Health

6.  Soothes Pain

7.  Helps Memory

8.  Protects the Aging Brain

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One of the biggest joys of owning a music store is the interesting people we get to talk to every day.  Almost every customer and shopper wants to hang out a bit and tell us their story of which we are always very interested.  This last week at the Colorado Music Educators Conference, we talked to hundreds of musicians, mostly music educators.  There was one father who stood out.  His son was the teacher, but he told us his story and journey in his career as an architect but his love and passion for music.  I was so touched by his story, I asked if we could video tape it for you to hear it from him.  Please CHECK IT OUT.

 

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Another study on the benefits of music...  We understand more and more the health of our brain through modern technological scanning.  The breaking of synapses and disease causing problems and the health of positive stimulation from healthy activities - i.e. MUSIC!!!  Here they looked at 80 six and seven year olds and found  ...music training can change both the structure of the brain’s white matter, which carries signals through the brain, and grey matter, which contains most of the brain’s neurons that are active in processing information. Music instruction also boosts engagement of brain networks that are responsible for decision-making and the ability to focus attention and inhibit impulses...   goldenmusic.co  https://ecs.page.link/PZWp Continue reading

So much snow lately... Debussy wrote a children's piece for piano The Snow is Dancing: here's an excerpt. Many orchestras play this. Physicists say the sound of snow is not audible for the human ear. If it was, do you think it would sound like this? Debussy wrote the Children's Corner, a suite of pieces including this one, for his daughter in 1908. Continue reading

Golden Music staff works everyday with musicians and families and friends of musicians, we often think about the nature of music.  What's it's purpose, what is it exactly?

A very interesting article came across my desk today*.  

Flutes were discovered made from bone found in Germanymusic, the earliest recorded instruments placed at about 200,000 years old, meaning our species as we are developed today were music makers.  What was music's role in our ancestors' lives?  What is it in our lives, in our community?

Music establishes COMMUNITY.

A mother humming to her child (probably came before language), ancestral men dancing and singing before a hunt.  Researchers state “By establishing such a bond between individuals, music created not only the family, but society itself...  Our Ancestors' lives depended on the hunt and used music in the ceremonies. It paved the way for us to communicate with each other and to share emotions."

As centuries went by, Music's ability to communicate emotions was precisely what made it persist after the development of language.  On top of that, there is an instinctive function of music--to make us feel good.  Songs activate the frontal lobe, produce dopamine and act on the cerebellum, which is able to “synchronize itself” to the rhythm of the music, which causes pleasure. “It’s like a toy for the brain,” that also stimulates creativity.  For years, we've been quoting the influence of music study on the develop of children, that's old news.

What's so interesting is this research that music is about bonding and communication.  We strive to create music community thrives on the bonds we develop.  We have four community groups right now as well as our private lesson program, where wonderful music mentors work with developing musicians.  I would also say that we strive to bond with you when you come to our store, as we discuss your music needs and dreams.  

Golden Music supports your music connections!

All data for this blog came from:  https://www.bbvaopenmind.com/en/what-is-the-purpose-of-music/  Joana Oliviera

 

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