Kyle Feeney

Campbell MW

English 1103

4/25/15

The Musical Mind

The mind is a beautiful thing isn't it? Some say that our brain is who we are and our

bodies are just a way in which to protect our brains. I would have to agree with that statement,

because it truly seems that our brains are what makes us who we are. I find it fascinating how the

mind works and is able to remember things it learned long ago. It also tells us our emotions and

how certain topics and people make us feel. It controls how our bodies move and allows us to

interact with other people. And our brains allow us to interact with the physical world through

our five senses. Even though these are very simple things that we do every day, when you look at

each thing I have just mentioned very closely it is amazing how the brain works processes all

these those things out. But humans always are wanting to push their brains to do more. There is

always room to grow in knowledge and so in this day and age what is valued would be things

such as: math, science, advances in technologies, etc. But what about music? Is music valued for

it abilities to advance the mind the same way that math and science are valued? With the recent

defunding of the arts all across America I would have to say that they are not. The fact is that

both listening to and playing music is an are amazing ways to advance your brain’s abilities! It

helps out in areas such as memory and foreign language skills. Music has really become over

looked and under appreciated in our society today, but if you are wanting a fun way to advance

your brain’s abilities then there is only one solution for you: Music.

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these benefits are for playing music or listening to music or if it is for both

1.) The Differences Between Listening to Music and Playing Music

There was research done in 1993 on listening to music called the “Mozart Effect” which

many people still believe in today. The premise is you listen to classical music (typically as a

baby) and it will give you all sorts of crazy memory abilities and mathematical skills you didn't

have before. It really promised a lot to people but could not deliver. What can deliver on all these

big promises would be actually playing a musical instrument. Nina Kraus, a neuroscientist at

Northwestern University, has done a study on a community music program serving low-income

children in Los Angeles, and found that kids who play instruments are able to hear and process

sounds that they couldn't before. The children who participated in the study were able to identify

the spoken words “pill” and “bill” which are very vital to the ability of being able to read. Kraus

also tested adults who had played instruments as children, and even if they hadn’t played in a

long time the test still showed that their brains responded faster to speech sounds. The more

years that the adult played their instrument the faster their brain responded to these speech

sounds. These speech sounds were very fast and complicated consonants and as people age they

lose the ability to hear them, but if you had played an instrument as a child your ability to hear

the speech sounds in is vastly improved. "It turns out that playing a musical instrument is

important," Kraus said. "We don't see these kinds of biological changes in people who are just

listening to music, who are not playing an instrument. I like to give the analogy that you're not

going to become physically fit just by watching sports.” (qtd. in Toppo).

2.) What Benefits Are Offered From Music?

So it seems that listening to music really doesn't help us improve our brain’s abilities as

much as playing an instrument will, but what kind of benefits can music really offer our brains?

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One of the many benefits would have to be improvement in cognitive abilities. That sounds great

and all but what are cognitive abilities? Dr. Pascale Michelon, a Research Scientist at

Washington University and SharpBrains' Manager for Educational Projects, says “Cognitive

abilities are brain-based skills we need to carry out any task from the simplest to the most

complex. They have more to do with the mechanisms of how we learn, remember, problem-

solve, and pay attention rather than with any actual knowledge.” (Michelon). So playing an

instrument really helps with every day abilities of hearing, motor skills, decision making, etc.

These are not the only things that playing an instrument helps with. Being a musician has

actually been shown to have helped raise kids and adults IQ’s up to seven points over all.

Richard Alleyne, a writer for The Telegraph, tells us that “Experts said there is growing evidence

that musicians have structurally and functionally different brains compared with non-musicians -

in particular, the areas of the brain used in processing and playing music.” (Alleyne).Being a

musician really seems to be an exercise for the brain and strengthens it in the same what weight

lifting strengthens our other muscles. The benefits that parents most want for their children

would probably be the ability of self-discipline and planning skills. Tests have been done to

show that people who play instruments are more self-disciplined because of the will power it

takes to keep going through the same piece of music over and over again. You also must be able

to plan in practices into your day and that helps as well. Playing an instrument also helps with

learning foreign languages and read peoples emotions better because you have to understand

tone in music (Alleyne).

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What Is The Best Time To Start Learning An Instrument?

Well it seems like the best time to start would be right now if you haven't already, but the

ideal time would be when you are a child. Virginia Penhune, a psychology professor at

Concordia University in Montreal, says there's a "sensitive period" when musical training most

interacts with normal brain development. Penhune did a study with 36 adults musicians, half of

which started musical training before they were seven, and the other half later in life. “What we

found is that the younger you start your training, the stronger the connection between the two

motor regions of your brain,” (Penhune) said. It really seemed that those who started younger

playing the guitar or violin had a very high level of hand coordination. I have actually

experienced this myself. I started to play musical instruments when I was only seven years old. I

started out playing the violin and played that for seven years. After the violin I played the bass

guitar and recently, about a year ago, I began to play the guitar. On the other hand, my brother

started to play the trumpet when he was around thirteen. He then switched to clarinet and finally

his dream, the saxophone. When he was finally done with playing in the school band he decided

he wanted to play all his favorite rock and roll songs. Unfortunately rock and roll songs with the

saxophone in them are few and far between. So he put down then saxophone to play the electric

guitar. He tried to teach himself but he struggled to do so. Mom got him lessons and he started to

do better but it was real slow. After a few months he felt like he was getting no wherenowhere

and so he quit lessons and put the guitar down. About a year later is when I began to learn to play

the guitar. A bunch of my friends can play the guitar so I asked one of them while we were

hanging out to give me a simple song to play. He showed me a song with five chords in it and by

the end of the night I could strum something that sounded like it could be music. I worked on it

for another week and by the end of the week I had learned my first song. It just came to me real

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naturally. After about a month I had learned about ten songs or so. After a year I was very

proficient with chords and actually played for my church on a weekly basis. My brother was a

little jealous of how easy it all came to me. Since I have played string instruments my whole life

it never has taken me long to learn another stringed instrument. One time I learned how to play

the ukulele in one sitting. There is nothing wrong with my brother or something extra special

about me, I simply learned to play string instruments at that “sensitive period” that was

mentioned earlier.

What Can Listening To Music Do For You?

Even though listening to music will never have the same effect as playing an instrument

itself there are still benefits of just purely enjoying a great song. It has been said that music is

simply what emotions sound like. I would have to agree with this because of the way music is

able to touch all people in ways that words simply cannot do. Music is like an international

language. It is able to bridge any language barrier that is put in front of it and can make you

smile even if you have no idea what it means. I have played music with people that do not speak

the same language as me and I felt like we were speaking the same language. Music connects all

humans and effects us all in very similar ways. Music also stirs us at our biological roots. Jonah

Lehrer, a writer for the website WIRED, says, “When listening to our favorite songs, our body

betrays all the symptoms of emotional arousal. The pupils in our eyes dilate, our pulse and blood

pressure rise, the electrical conductance of our skin is lowered, and the cerebellum, a brain

region associated with bodily movement, becomes strangely active. Blood is even re-directed to

the muscles in our legs.” (Lehrer). So music is almost hardwired into all of us. I think the best

part about music though would be the drugs it pumps in our system. Not the illegal kind but the

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kind that is naturally produced in our bodies. Lehrer says that a team of Montreal researchers

brought in ten people who got “the chills” when they listened to their favorite song. The

scientists look at their brains and right before the participants’ favorite part came up and they got

the chills their body released endorphins into their body. Endorphins are better known as the

pleasure drug that is associated with happiness. So simply put music makes you happy on a

biological level. The odd thing was that the endorphins were released right before their favorite

part not actually at their favorite part. Leonard Meyer says in his book that as humans if we are

listening to a song and it is very predictable we will not enjoy it very much, but when the song is

complicated and keeps us on our toes we love it. Our favorite part is when everything that is

complicated goes back to what we expect and what we want and that is when the endorphins are

released (qtd. in Lehrer). We love for things to wrap up nice and pretty but for anything to wrap

up there has to be a problem first, there has to be tension. People love tension just as much as

they love satisfying conclusions.

Can Music Help You Study?

Another topic people love to discuss on the topic of music about music is its abilities to

help you focus. This can mean many different things from studying, to doing homework, to

doing work at your job. There are many people on both sides of the argument. While some

people will swear by using music to help them focus others will tell you they hate it and it

doesn't work. So who is right? The answer is they are both right. Laura Rosenfeld , a journalist

for Tech Times, wrote on about a study done by the Wake Forest School of Medicine and the

University of North Carolina Greensboro, who found that when you listen to music you actually

enjoy you can help focus your mind better. The researchers took 21 young adults and placed

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them in an MRI to monitor their brain waves while they played a few different genres of music

and finally that person’s favorite song. The test showed that when the people would listen to

their favorite song, or at the very least a song in a genera they liked, their brain would connect to

their default mode network. Our default mode network is actually what helps us switch between

thinking about what is going on around us and our self-referential thoughts, which is where we

relate material we are learning to ourselves. This research shows us that it is not just about the

type of music that people listen to but also our their personal preference (Rosenfeld). It isn't all

about what your personal preference is though. Van Thompson, an attorney and writer, says that

“Music with lyrics activates the language-processing centers of the brain, and the University of

Phoenix advises that this can be distracting. Particularly if you're reading or studying subjects

within the humanities, the act of processing musical lyrics as you try to process the words you're

studying can make studying more challenging.” (Thompson). So when it comes to lyrics in your

music it is harder to focus on reading or writing. It makes since because it is hard to listen to

someone talk while doing anything else at the same time and still be able to understand all that is

being said to you. We have already talked about the Mozart Effect and how it doesn't make you

smarter but it does seem to help you study. There is nothing special about classical music but it

does seem to relax people and since it usually has no lyrics it is great to have playing in the

background as you study or do work (Thompson). I actually wrote this whole paper with

classical music playing in the background. My favorite is classical guitars playing classical

music. Playing music has also been shown to help people in the work place. This is because it

boosts mood and seems to help motivate people (Thompson). I know that you're thinking now

that I am clearly showing that music helps people study so how can both people be right? The

fact is that some people never can focus with their favorite song on because they want to only

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listen to that. There are plenty of people who can’t have music as back ground noise and so they

will never benefit from listening to music while doing work. Music is different for all people as

well as it’s effects.

What Are Our Findings?

Music is one of the very best things for our bodies. It not only is able to connect us to

people and make us happy, but is also able to “exercise” and focus our brains. And while

listening to music has its benefits, only listening to music does not have the same benefits as

being a musician does. However, if you want the best results from music the sooner you start to

play the better off you are because of the "sensitive period" of development you have in your

brain as a child. To sum it all up, music is one the best way to advance your brain’s abilities and

with outis without a doubt the funnest most fun way.

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