by Erin Taylor
Mozart Effect. This phrase might be the first one that comes to mind when we think of the benefits of music.
But although there was a study that shows how listening to one of Mozart’s compositions improved a set of participants spatial reasoning ability, the succeeding studies proved that this conclusion was made available to the public quite prematurely.
Yes, the Mozart Effect is probably not applicable to everyone.
But that doesn’t mean that music is something you should just take off a school curriculum. No. In fact, that would be one of the biggest mistakes an institution would make.
Music and the brain have been studied several times. For decades. And the results are unanimous: music has a positive impact a child’s cognitive development and in the long run, his or her life choices indeed.
Here are the 5 reasons why.
1. Music enhances language skills.
You may have heard about the hypothesis that when you're right-handed, your brain’s left hemisphere is more dominant and vice versa.
Well, a study conducted by a different group of researchers proved this hypothesis wrong. It is not about the dominant hand all the time.
Using and MRI scanner, these researchers looked into several people’s brains, and they found out that adults with music education background are left hemisphere dominant, regardless if they’re right-handed or not.
And since the left side of the brain is in charge of the language skills, it could mean that individuals who underwent music education have a better shot at mastering language than those who didn’t have any music background at all.
This is not surprising at all because two different studies conducted came to the conclusion that babies use their music processing networks to listen and identify the sound (especially their mother’s language) that goes around them.
One of these studies borrowed babies who are less than four days old, and the neuroscientists saw in their brain that the regions in charge of processing music light up when these babies heard their mothers talk.
In other words, they were probably hearing music and not merely words as we hear them today now that we’re adults.
The other study conducted by Dr. Sheila Woodward used a tiny microphone called a hydrophone and placed it inside a pregnant mother’s womb just so she can know how babies hear the music.
In this experiment, Dr. Woodward concluded that babies hear music the way we do and react to it accordingly. The heart rate and the body movement changes depending on the type of music and sound the babies hear.
So if babies hear their mother’s voice like music, it is no wonder that they would respond to speech the way they would respond to music as indicated above.
This theory of mine is backed up by Anthony Brandt and his colleague’s study that because an infant does not yet have the skills to decode the complexity of language the way we do now, i.e. understanding words, gestures, etc., they understand language using music elements—pitch, melody, and rhythm.
Because music and speech processing has been closely related to humans, University of San Diego’s Temporal Dynamics of Learning Center considers using music to enhance students’ language skills, especially those with language learning difficulty.
2. Music promotes our brain’s executive functions.
The left hemisphere of the brain is not the only region that music making enhances. In fact, according to Anita Collins, a music educator, an fMRI (functional magnetic resonance imaging) conducted at random people’s brains showed that when we listen to music, our brains have a firework display.
It means that we use several parts of our brain when processing music.
This comes as no surprise as teaching a child how to play an instrument activates different regions of the brain, all at the same time: the auditory, motor, and visual cortices. It’s like these regions of the brain are having a regular brain workout. And as we may know it, regular exercise is good for us.
Also, the same fMRI study showed that musicians have a better corpus callosum. For the non-scientists in us, this is the band of fibers that enables communication between the right and the left sides of the brain.
And when there is better communication between these two, the functions of both sides are also better.
Because the left side is in charge of the language skills while the other side is for spatial ability and logical reasoning, and these two are highly activated in musicians, it is not surprising that they have an overall better executive function.
An executive function requires logical, strategic, and emotional abilities to be carried out well. And musicians can do just that.
3. Music improves memory.
It is probably not new to you that music evokes memories. There are songs that we listen to that make us remember an event in the past. Hence, music therapy uses songs to help patients with memory loss problems.
But aside from helping us recall something in the past, music education also helps us remember.
Anita Collins shared that musicians have better memory systems than the non-musicians. The former uses different tags or label to help them remember ideas more easily.
This labeling may be a result of the training that the musicians undergo when learning music. Their brain’s auditory and visual systems have the process of remembering what a note looks and sounds like.
Lutz Jäncke further states musicians when learning notes and sound integrates the individual yet ordered sounds into coherent music, which is considered a mechanism of working memory.
Through these practices, as a result, musicians have their own way of remembering things. And this may prove to be better than the average brain’s way of doing so.
4. Music boosts our cognitive ability.
Whether or not music education makes us more intelligent is no longer up for discussion. Studies have proven over and over again that our brain’s cognitive function is enhanced because of music training.
This may be because, as mentioned previously, learning music uses different regions of our brain at the same time.
The question, however, is whether learning music boosts our intellectual capacity in general or only in certain fields.
E. Glenn Schellenberg gives us a temporary answer—improvement in overall intelligence still needs further studies. However, the author specifically stated that music education results in improved reading, mathematical, verbal, and spatial abilities.
But whether the boost in overall intellectual capacity is proved in the long run or not, we can be confident in saying that music education is beneficial for our cognitive functions.
5. Music improves confidence.
Music training exposes the learner to undesirable situations so to speak, especially if taking on music lessons is not their own choice.
They will have to read, learn, and understand unfamiliar music concepts; go through a series of recitals, and play compositions at the request of one relative or another.
While this may be daunting, especially for beginners, these situations train them to be familiar with unfamiliar situations. Hence, the next time they encounter one, they know what to do. They are confident that they can do it.
In addition, music training teaches one important ability that we all need: improvisation.
When a learner has enough music skills, he or she can modify musical notes where necessary. Consequently, when they forget a certain piece or if there are missing notes from the score, they have the ability to come up with melodies to fill in the gap.
In the actual world, this may mean that musicians may relatively be more confident in almost any situation because 1) they are used to unfamiliar events and 2) they know how to go through with it.
Conclusion
Music is as old as our history, so it’s not surprising that it has several beneficial effects on our development, especially, as discussed here, on our brain functions.
However, please note that for our kids to enjoy these full benefits, they have to be
1)active participants in music—not merely listeners but creators of music
2) starting at an early age—before 7 years old is ideal
3) exposed to music lessons for a long and continuous period.
So why not call that music teacher and enroll your kids first thing tomorrow? It may be a longer day for everyone, but your children will thank you big time.
Erin Taylor is the founder of YouthTune.Com, a music adventurer. She loves learning about music and audio devices, and she’s probably been to the music festival you were at last summer.
Mozart Effect. This phrase might be the first one that comes to mind when we think of the benefits of music.
But although there was a study that shows how listening to one of Mozart’s compositions improved a set of participants spatial reasoning ability, the succeeding studies proved that this conclusion was made available to the public quite prematurely.
Yes, the Mozart Effect is probably not applicable to everyone.
But that doesn’t mean that music is something you should just take off a school curriculum. No. In fact, that would be one of the biggest mistakes an institution would make.
Music and the brain have been studied several times. For decades. And the results are unanimous: music has a positive impact a child’s cognitive development and in the long run, his or her life choices indeed.
1. Music enhances language skills.
You may have heard about the hypothesis that when you're right-handed, your brain’s left hemisphere is more dominant and vice versa.
Well, a study conducted by a different group of researchers proved this hypothesis wrong. It is not about the dominant hand all the time.
Using and MRI scanner, these researchers looked into several people’s brains, and they found out that adults with music education background are left hemisphere dominant, regardless if they’re right-handed or not.
And since the left side of the brain is in charge of the language skills, it could mean that individuals who underwent music education have a better shot at mastering language than those who didn’t have any music background at all.
This is not surprising at all because two different studies conducted came to the conclusion that babies use their music processing networks to listen and identify the sound (especially their mother’s language) that goes around them.
One of these studies borrowed babies who are less than four days old, and the neuroscientists saw in their brain that the regions in charge of processing music light up when these babies heard their mothers talk.
In other words, they were probably hearing music and not merely words as we hear them today now that we’re adults.
The other study conducted by Dr. Sheila Woodward used a tiny microphone called a hydrophone and placed it inside a pregnant mother’s womb just so she can know how babies hear the music.
In this experiment, Dr. Woodward concluded that babies hear music the way we do and react to it accordingly. The heart rate and the body movement changes depending on the type of music and sound the babies hear.
So if babies hear their mother’s voice like music, it is no wonder that they would respond to speech the way they would respond to music as indicated above.
This theory of mine is backed up by Anthony Brandt and his colleague’s study that because an infant does not yet have the skills to decode the complexity of language the way we do now, i.e. understanding words, gestures, etc., they understand language using music elements—pitch, melody, and rhythm.
Because music and speech processing has been closely related to humans, University of San Diego’s Temporal Dynamics of Learning Center considers using music to enhance students’ language skills, especially those with language learning difficulty.
2. Music promotes our brain’s executive functions.
It means that we use several parts of our brain when processing music.
This comes as no surprise as teaching a child how to play an instrument activates different regions of the brain, all at the same time: the auditory, motor, and visual cortices. It’s like these regions of the brain are having a regular brain workout. And as we may know it, regular exercise is good for us.
Also, the same fMRI study showed that musicians have a better corpus callosum. For the non-scientists in us, this is the band of fibers that enables communication between the right and the left sides of the brain.
And when there is better communication between these two, the functions of both sides are also better.
Because the left side is in charge of the language skills while the other side is for spatial ability and logical reasoning, and these two are highly activated in musicians, it is not surprising that they have an overall better executive function.
An executive function requires logical, strategic, and emotional abilities to be carried out well. And musicians can do just that.
3. Music improves memory.
But aside from helping us recall something in the past, music education also helps us remember.
Anita Collins shared that musicians have better memory systems than the non-musicians. The former uses different tags or label to help them remember ideas more easily.
This labeling may be a result of the training that the musicians undergo when learning music. Their brain’s auditory and visual systems have the process of remembering what a note looks and sounds like.
Lutz Jäncke further states musicians when learning notes and sound integrates the individual yet ordered sounds into coherent music, which is considered a mechanism of working memory.
Through these practices, as a result, musicians have their own way of remembering things. And this may prove to be better than the average brain’s way of doing so.
4. Music boosts our cognitive ability.
Whether or not music education makes us more intelligent is no longer up for discussion. Studies have proven over and over again that our brain’s cognitive function is enhanced because of music training.
This may be because, as mentioned previously, learning music uses different regions of our brain at the same time.
The question, however, is whether learning music boosts our intellectual capacity in general or only in certain fields.
E. Glenn Schellenberg gives us a temporary answer—improvement in overall intelligence still needs further studies. However, the author specifically stated that music education results in improved reading, mathematical, verbal, and spatial abilities.
But whether the boost in overall intellectual capacity is proved in the long run or not, we can be confident in saying that music education is beneficial for our cognitive functions.
5. Music improves confidence.
They will have to read, learn, and understand unfamiliar music concepts; go through a series of recitals, and play compositions at the request of one relative or another.
While this may be daunting, especially for beginners, these situations train them to be familiar with unfamiliar situations. Hence, the next time they encounter one, they know what to do. They are confident that they can do it.
In addition, music training teaches one important ability that we all need: improvisation.
When a learner has enough music skills, he or she can modify musical notes where necessary. Consequently, when they forget a certain piece or if there are missing notes from the score, they have the ability to come up with melodies to fill in the gap.
In the actual world, this may mean that musicians may relatively be more confident in almost any situation because 1) they are used to unfamiliar events and 2) they know how to go through with it.
Conclusion
Music is as old as our history, so it’s not surprising that it has several beneficial effects on our development, especially, as discussed here, on our brain functions.
However, please note that for our kids to enjoy these full benefits, they have to be
1)active participants in music—not merely listeners but creators of music
2) starting at an early age—before 7 years old is ideal
3) exposed to music lessons for a long and continuous period.
So why not call that music teacher and enroll your kids first thing tomorrow? It may be a longer day for everyone, but your children will thank you big time.
Erin Taylor is the founder of YouthTune.Com, a music adventurer. She loves learning about music and audio devices, and she’s probably been to the music festival you were at last summer.
