Feeney 1

Kyle Feeney

Campbell MW

English 1103

3/20/15

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 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 all 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 an 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 music is an

amazing way to advance your brains 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 brains abilities then there is only one solution

for you: Music.

Feeney 2

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 hadnt 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 played an instrument as a child your ability to hear the

speech sounds in 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.

2.) What Benefits Are Offered From Music?

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

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

Feeney 3

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. 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 IQs 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. 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 you

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.

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

Feeney 4

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 where 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 work on it for another

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

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

chord and actually played for my church on a weekly basis. My brother was a little jealous of

Feeney 5

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 can not 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. 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 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 scientist look at their

brains and right before the participants favorite part came up and they got the chills their body

Feeney 6

released endorphin 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.

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 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 brains abilities and with out a doubt the funnest

way.