EIP Revised PDF

Elora Dash

4/281/15

Professor Malcolm Campbell

UWRT 1103

The Language aAnd Skill That Transcends All Others: Music

When I was 7 years old, I took my first piano class. My teacher lived in a little

neighborhood in a little house and she had an old acoustic piano. I learned short little melodies

out of beginners piano books. And every year, we had a small recital in a small church. MMy

parents forced me to start just like every other kid who was learning an instrument at the young

age of seven. a young age. Although my parents forced me, I am glad they did. What my parents

and I might not have known was all the positive effects learning music can have on a young

person’s brain. Learning to read music is like learning a different language. Translating notes to

physical spaces on a piano is a skill that can take years to master. Even after ten years of playing

piano, it’s difficult for me to sightread. Although my parents forced me, I am glad they did, What

my parents and I might not have known was all the positive effects learning music can have on a

young person’s brain.What are the affects learning music What effects can learning an

instrument have on a young student’s academic skills and test scores in school? Studies have

shown that learning music can improve emotional sensing skills, IQ, spatial reasoning, and test

scores.

The idea of “Mozart Makes You Smarter” is not necessarily the case, but there is some a

truth behind it. A 1993 study showed that college students who listened to a Mozart sonata

before taking a spatial reasoning test did better that student who didn’t. Spatial reasoning is

defined as “the ability we use to position and orientate ourselves in everyday environments….

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Spatial reasoning consists of two main abilities namely spatial visualization ability which is your

ability to call up images in your mind and the ability to reason with these images” (qtd. In

"Spatial Reasoning - Fibonicci"). While plugging in your iPod and listening to music may not

actually make you smarter, Ani Patel, associate professor of psychology at Tufts University says

“there’s now a growing body of work that suggests that actually learning to play a musical

instrument does have impacts on other abilities” (qtd. In "How Playing Music Affects The

Developing Brain". Music neuroscience is a relatively new field, taking off in 2000. Research in

this field has implications about the eaffect of music on developing brains. With this research,

music could start being more strongly implemented into school curriculums. Test scores aren’t

even the most important part. Learning an instrument can improve skills that aren’t typically

measured in school, but can have a great eaffect on a child’s success in life.

However, music training at a young age does in fact improve test scores. At the

Conservatory Lab Charter School in Boston, every student is enrolled in a music class. Diana

Lam, head of the school, says that this helps students strive in all areas of their life and it has

shown results.; “Since we started implementing El Sistema, the Venezuelan music program, as

well as project-based learning, our test scores have increased dramatically,” she reports (qtd. In

"How Playing Music Affects The Developing Brain". As another example, a study published in

2007 by Christopher Johnson, professor of music education and music therapy at the University

of Kansas, revealed that children who attended schools with superior music programs scored

about 22% higher in English and 20% higher in math on standardized tests regardless of

socioeconomic disparities (Brown, "The Benefits of Music Education”).

This raises the question of what is the mechanism that actually causes this? Nadine

Gaab, a neuropsychologist at Boston Children’s Hospital, and a team of researchers study



children’s brain development are looking for a connection between language development and

musical training. Their research so far shows that musical training and improved executive

functioning are correlated. She hypothesizes that the executive functioning skills have an eaffect

on a student’s academic skills. To find out, her team gave musically trained and non-musically

trained students executive functioning tasks while scanning their brains with an MRI machine.

They looked for brain activity in the prefrontal cortex, known to be the area in the brain for

executive functioning. Results showed that children and adults with musical training had better

executive functioning skills in comparison to their peers, and children who learned an instrument

had more activation in the prefrontal cortex than those who didn’t. (Locker, “This Is How Music

Can Change Your Brain”). Although this is evidence that musical training can be beneficial for

the brain, it is unknown whether musical training leads to better executive functioning or vice-

versa. Gaab hypothesizes that the former is more likely.

The question still remains: Why does musical training affect developing brains in this

way? Neuropsychologist Patel has developed a theory that could answer this question that is

called the OPERA hypothesis. It stands for overlap, precision, emotion, repetition, and attention.

Patel explains that “That level of precision in processing music... is much higher than the level of

precision used in processing speech. This means… that developing our brains’ musical networks

may very well enhance our ability to process speech.… So this idea that music sometimes places

higher demands on the brain, on some of the same shared networks that we use for other

abilities, allows the music to actually enhance those networks, and those abilities benefit” (Hicks,

“How Playing Music Affects The Developing Brain”.

On the other hand, one study showed that music can be distracting while taking a test.

Students often have music playing while they’re driving, while they’re walking to class, and



especially while they’re studying. A study at the University of Nebraska at Omaha showed that

there is no correlation between listening to music and better test scores. Students in a music

appreciation class at a small university, none of which were music majors, were exposed to

classical, popular, and no music while taking a math test. Results showed that the music had no

effect on the math test scores with any type of music or listening style (Manthei, "Effects of

Popular and Classical Background Music on the Math Test Scores of Undergraduate Students”).

This study’s results support that of two other studies by Wolfe (1983) and LaBach (1960), but it

does not take into account the long term effects of actually learning music. This further disproves

the idea of “Mozart Makes You Smarter”.

There is plenty of evidence that shows that music can improve many types of skills in

developing brains that lead to improved academic skills, but is this true of every case? A study

from Northwestern University revealed that a child must be engaged in a music class to fully

glean the benefits of it. My parents forced me to take piano lessons, but had I not practiced and

actively tried to learn, I would not have benefitted from taking lessons. Nina Kraus, director of

Northwestern’s Auditory Neuroscience Laboratory and a co-author of the study says, “Even in a

group of highly motivated students, small variations in music engagement — attendance and

class participation — predicted the strength of neural processing after music training” (qtd. In

“This Is How Music Can Change Your Brain”). Additionally, students who played an instrument

had more neural processing than students who took a music appreciation class. Kraus says that

making music matters. They found this out by attaching electrode wires to students’ heads to

measure brain responses. Kraus teamed up with the Harmony Project, a community music

program for students coming from low-income families, to back up the project’s success with

scientific research. According to the Harmony Project’s website, 93% of Harmony Project


seniors have gone to college, even though there is a 50% dropout rate in their neighborhoods.

The research was published in the Journal of Neuroscience concluding that the student’s musical

involvement did indeed contribute to these statistics. To keep children interested in music, Kraus

suggests finding the music they like and the teachers that are right for them; “Making music

should be something that children enjoy and will want to keep doing for many years!” (qtd. In

“This Is How Music Can Change Your Brain”).

Learning music is similar to learning another language., Iin fact, it can require more from

your brain than learning a language will. Music has been used to help students learn new

languages by singing. According to the Children’s Music workshop (“The Benefits of Music

Education”), “Recent studies have clearly indicated that musical training physically develops the

part of the left side of the brain known to be involved with processing language, and can actually

wire the brain’s circuits in specific ways. Linking familiar songs to new information can also

help imprint information on young minds” (Brown, “The Benefits of Music Education”). Music

has been around for 500,000 years while speech and language were only developed 200,000

years ago. Researchers at Oxford University indicate that the use of language in humans stems

from our initial use of music which explains why our music and language neural networks are so

closely related and why children who learn music are better at learning grammar, vocabulary,

and pronunciation in other languages. Finnish children are exposed to music instruction at the

age of seven and are taught new languages starting from the age of nine. The average Finnish

person is fluent in three to five different languages. Even an hour of musical instruction a week

can make a difference (Henriksson-Macaulay, "Are Musicians Better Language Learners?").

Music is a big part of many people’s lives. Whether you listen to it or you learn to play it,

there is significant evidence that it has many positive benefits. The future of music neuroscience



is bright and with more research, music can be implemented into every young child’s school

curriculum. Even as adults, it’s never too late to learn something new. Even a small bit of

musical instruction can impact our cognitive abilities. Although my parents initially had to force

me to attend piano lessons, those first few lessons sparked an interest in my seven-year-old brain

and inspired me to become the musician I am today. I am excited to see where music

neuroscience goes in the future and I hope to be a part of it.


Works Cited

Brown, Laura L. "The Benefits of Music Education.” PBS. PBS, n.d. Web. 02 Apr. 2015.

Henriksson-Macaulay, Liisa. "Are Musicians Better Language Learners?" The Guardian. The

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

Hicks, George. "How Playing Music Affects The Developing Brain." CommonHealth RSS. 90.9

WBUR, 17 July 2014. Web. 02 Apr. 2015.

Locker, Melissa. "This Is How Music Can Change Your Brain." Time. Time, 16 Dec. 2014.

Web. 02 Apr. 2015.

Manthei, Mike. "Effects of Popular and Classical Background Music on the Math Test Scores of

Undergraduate Students." Effects of Popular and Classical Background Music on the Math

Test Scores of Undergraduate Students. University of Nebraska at Omaha, n.d. Web. 02

Apr. 2015.

"Spatial Reasoning - Fibonicci." Fibonicci. Fibonicci, n.d. Web. 02 Apr. 2015.Works

Cited

Brown, Laura L. "Eat Smart for a Great Start Newsletter." PBS. PBS, n.d. Web. 02 Apr. 2015.

Henriksson-Macaulay, Liisa. "Are Musicians Better Language Learners?" The Guardian.

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

Hicks, George. "How Playing Music Affects The Developing Brain." CommonHealth RSS. 90.9

WBUR, 17 July 2014. Web. 02 Apr. 2015.

Locker, Melissa. "This Is How Music Can Change Your Brain." Time. Time, 16 Dec. 2014.

Web. 02 Apr. 2015.

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Formatted: Font: (Default) Times New Roman,12 pt, Font color: Custom Color(RGB(28,28,28)),Highlight


Manthei, Mike. "Effects of Popular and Classical Background Music on the Math Test Scores of

Undergraduate Students." Effects of Popular and Classical Background Music on the Math Test

Scores of Undergraduate Students. University of Nebraska at Omaha, n.d. Web. 02 Apr. 2015.

"Spatial Reasoning - Fibonicci." Fibonicci. Fibonicci, n.d. Web. 02 Apr. 2015.



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