EloraDash

4/1/15

ProfessorMalcolmCampbell

UWRT1103

TheLanguageAndSkillThatTranscendsAllOthers:Music

WhenIwas7yearsold,Itookmyfirstpianoclass.Myparentsforcedmetostartjust

likeeveryotherkidwhowaslearninganinstrumentatayoungage.Learningtoreadmusicis

likelearningadifferentlanguage.Translatingnotestophysicalspacesonapianoisaskillthat

cantakeyearstomaster.Evenaftertenyearsofplayingpiano,itsdifficulttosightread.

Althoughmyparentsforcedme,Iamgladtheydid,WhatmyparentsandImightnothave

knownwasallthepositiveeffectslearningmusiccanhaveonayoungpersonsbrain.Whatare

theaffectslearningmusiccanhaveonastudentsacademicskillsandtestscores?Studieshave

shownthatlearningmusiccanimproveemotionalsensingskills,IQ,spatialreasoning,andtest

scores.

TheideaofMozartMakesYouSmarterisnotnecessarilythecase,butthereissome

truthbehindit.A1993studyshowedthatcollegestudentswholistenedtoaMozartsonata

beforetakingaspatialreasoningtestdidbetterthatstudentwhodidnt.Spatialreasoningis

definedastheabilityweusetopositionandorientateourselvesineverydayenvironments.

Spatialreasoningconsistsoftwomainabilitiesnamelyspatialvisualizationabilitywhichisyour

abilitytocallupimagesinyourmindandtheabilitytoreasonwiththeseimages.While

plugginginyouriPodandlisteningtomusicmaynotactuallymakeyousmarter,AniPatel,

associateprofessorofpsychologyatTuftsUniversitysaystheresnowagrowingbodyofwork

thatsuggeststhatactuallylearningtoplayamusicalinstrumentdoeshaveimpactsonother

abilities.Musicneuroscienceisarelativelynewfield,takingoffin2000.Researchinthisfield

hasimplicationsabouttheaffectofmusicondevelopingbrains.Withthisresearch,musiccould

startbeingmorestronglyimplementedintoschoolcurriculums.Testscoresarenteventhemost

importantpart.Learninganinstrumentcanimproveskillsthatarenttypicallymeasuredin

school,butcanhaveagreataffectonachildssuccessinlife.

However,musictrainingatayoungagedoesinfactimprovetestscores.Atthe

ConservatoryLabCharterSchoolinBoston,everystudentisenrolledinamusicclass.Diana

Lam,headoftheschool,saysthatthishelpsstudentsstriveinallareasoftheirlifeandithas

shownresultsSincewestartedimplementingElSistema,theVenezuelanmusicprogram,as

wellasprojectbasedlearning,ourtestscoreshaveincreaseddramatically,shereports.As

anotherexample,astudypublishedin2007byChristopherJohnson,professorofmusic

educationandmusictherapyattheUniversityofKansas,revealedthatchildrenwhoattended

schoolswithsuperiormusicprogramsscoredabout22%higherinEnglishand20%higherin

mathonstandardizedtestsregardlessofsocioeconomicdisparities.

Thisraisesthequestionofwhatisthemechanismthatactuallycausesthis?Nadine

Gaab,aneuropsychologistatBostonChildrensHospital,andateamofresearchersstudy

childrensbraindevelopmentarelookingforaconnectionbetweenlanguagedevelopmentand

musicaltraining.Theirresearchsofarshowsthatmusicaltrainingandimprovedexecutive

functioningarecorrelated.Shehypothesizesthattheexecutivefunctioningskillshaveanaffect

onastudentsacademicskills.Tofindout,herteamgavemusicallytrainedandnonmusically

trainedstudentsexecutivefunctioningtaskswhilescanningtheirbrainswithanMRImachine.

Theylookedforbrainactivityintheprefrontalcortex,knowntobetheareainthebrainfor

executivefunctioning.Resultsshowedthatchildrenandadultswithmusicaltraininghadbetter

executivefunctioningskillsincomparisontotheirpeers,andchildrenwholearnedaninstrument

hadmoreactivationintheprefrontalcortexthanthosewhodidnt.Althoughthisisevidencethat

musicaltrainingcanbebeneficialforthebrain,itisunknownwhethermusicaltrainingleadsto

betterexecutivefunctioningorviceversa.Gaabhypothesizesthattheformerismorelikely.

Thequestionstillremains:Whydoesmusicaltrainingaffectdevelopingbrainsinthis

way?NeuropsychologistPatelhasdevelopedatheorythatcouldanswerthisquestionthatis

calledtheOPERAhypothesis.Itstandsforoverlap,precision,emotion,repetition,andattention.

PatelexplainsthatThatlevelofprecisioninprocessingmusic...ismuchhigherthanthelevelof

precisionusedinprocessingspeech.Thismeansthatdevelopingourbrainsmusicalnetworks

mayverywellenhanceourabilitytoprocessspeech.Sothisideathatmusicsometimesplaces

higherdemandsonthebrain,onsomeofthesamesharednetworksthatweuseforother

abilities,allowsthemusictoactuallyenhancethosenetworks,andthoseabilitiesbenefit.

Ontheotherhand,onestudyshowedthatmusiccanbedistractingwhiletakingatest.

Studentsoftenhavemusicplayingwhiletheyredriving,whiletheyrewalkingtoclass,and

especiallywhiletheyrestudying.AstudyattheUniversityofNebraskaatOmahashowedthat

thereisnocorrelationbetweenlisteningtomusicandbettertestscores.Studentsinamusic

appreciationclassatasmalluniversity,noneofwhichweremusicmajors,wereexposedto

classical,popular,andnomusicwhiletakingamathtest.Resultsshowedthatthemusichadno

effectonthemathtestscoreswithanytypeofmusicorlisteningstyle.Thisstudysresults

supportthatoftwootherstudiesbyWolfe(1983)andLaBach(1960),butitdoesnottakeinto

accountthelongtermeffectsofactuallylearningmusic.Thisfurtherdisprovestheideaof

MozartMakesYouSmarter.

Thereisplentyofevidencethatshowsthatmusiccanimprovemanytypesofskillsin

developingbrainsthatleadtoimprovedacademicskills,butisthistrueofeverycase?Astudy

fromNorthwesternUniversityrevealedthatachildmustbeengagedinamusicclasstofully

gleanthebenefitsofit.Myparentsforcedmetotakepianolessons,buthadInotpracticedand

activelytriedtolearn,Iwouldnothavebenefittedfromtakinglessons.NinaKraus,directorof

NorthwesternsAuditoryNeuroscienceLaboratoryandacoauthorofthestudysays,Evenina

groupofhighlymotivatedstudents,smallvariationsinmusicengagementattendanceand

classparticipationpredictedthestrengthofneuralprocessingaftermusictraining.

Additionally,studentswhoplayedaninstrumenthadmoreneuralprocessingthanstudentswho

tookamusicappreciationclass.Kraussaysthatmakingmusicmatters.Theyfoundthisoutby

attachingelectrodewirestostudentsheadstomeasurebrainresponses.Krausteamedupwith

theHarmonyProject,acommunitymusicprogramforstudentscomingfromlowincome

families,tobackuptheprojectssuccesswithscientificresearch.AccordingtotheHarmony

Projectswebsite,93%ofHarmonyProjectseniorshavegonetocollege,eventhoughthereisa

50%dropoutrateintheirneighborhoods.TheresearchwaspublishedintheJournalof

Neuroscienceconcludingthatthestudentsmusicalinvolvementdidindeedcontributetothese

statistics.Tokeepchildreninterestedinmusic,Kraussuggestsfindingthemusictheylikeand

theteachersthatarerightforthemMakingmusicshouldbesomethingthatchildrenenjoyand

willwanttokeepdoingformanyyears!

Learningmusicissimilartolearninganotherlanguage,infact,itcanrequiremorefrom

yourbrainthanlearningalanguagewill.Musichasbeenusedtohelpstudentslearnnew

languagesbysinging.AccordingtotheChildrensMusicworkshop,Recentstudieshaveclearly

indicatedthatmusicaltrainingphysicallydevelopsthepartoftheleftsideofthebrainknownto

beinvolvedwithprocessinglanguage,andcanactuallywirethebrainscircuitsinspecificways.

Linkingfamiliarsongstonewinformationcanalsohelpimprintinformationonyoungminds.

Musichasbeenaroundfor500,000yearswhilespeechandlanguagewereonlydeveloped

200,000yearsago.ResearchersatOxfordUniversityindicatethattheuseoflanguageinhumans

stemsfromourinitialuseofmusicwhichexplainswhyourmusicandlanguageneuralnetworks

aresocloselyrelatedandwhychildrenwholearnmusicarebetteratlearninggrammar,

vocabulary,andpronunciationinotherlanguages.Finnishchildrenareexposedtomusic

instructionattheageofsevenandaretaughtnewlanguagesstartingfromtheageofnine.The

averageFinnishpersonisfluentinthreetofivedifferentlanguages.Evenanhourofmusical

instructionaweekcanmakeadifference.

Musicisabigpartofmanypeopleslives.Whetheryoulistentoitoryoulearntoplayit,

thereissignificantevidencethatithasmanypositivebenefits.Thefutureofmusicneuroscience

isbrightandwithmoreresearch,musiccanbeimplementedintoeveryyoungchildsschool

curriculum.Evenasadults,itsnevertoolatetolearnsomethingnew.Evenasmallbitof

musicalinstructioncanimpactourcognitiveabilities.Althoughmyparentsinitiallyhadtoforce

metoattendpianolessons,thosefirstfewlessonssparkedaninterestinmysevenyearoldbrain

andinspiredmetobecomethemusicianIamtoday.Iamexcitedtoseewheremusic

neurosciencegoesinthefutureandIhopetobeapartofit.

WorksCited

Brown,LauraL."EatSmartforaGreatStartNewsletter."PBS.PBS,n.d.Web.02Apr.2015.

HenrikssonMacaulay,Liisa."AreMusiciansBetterLanguageLearners?"TheGuardian.The

Guardian,27Feb.2014.Web.2Apr.2015.

Hicks,George."HowPlayingMusicAffectsTheDevelopingBrain."CommonHealthRSS.90.9

WBUR,17July2014.Web.02Apr.2015.

Locker,Melissa."ThisIsHowMusicCanChangeYourBrain."Time.Time,16Dec.2014.

Web.02Apr.2015.

Manthei,Mike."EffectsofPopularandClassicalBackgroundMusicontheMathTestScoresof

UndergraduateStudents."EffectsofPopularandClassicalBackgroundMusicontheMath

TestScoresofUndergraduateStudents.UniversityofNebraskaatOmaha,n.d.Web.02

Apr.2015.

"SpatialReasoningFibonicci."Fibonicci.Fibonicci,n.d.Web.02Apr.2015.