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Roll Over Beethoven - Music Can Be a Source of Brain Food
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A decade ago people thought that if they played Mozart for their babies and young children, a higher IQ could be guaranteed. Although there was some minimal evidence that listening to classical music had improved some narrow ranges of test scores in older children, when people looked into it they were disappointed to find out that the “Mozart Effect” only lasted a few minutes. Boo hoo! You can’t plop down baby in front of the television and let Mozart enhance little Jonny’s brain? But we knew that, didn’t we?
- Music lessons, however, DO help children perform better in school and score higher on cognitive tests. What could be the possible connection between math and reading and music?
- • Music involves counting. There are oodles of quarter notes, 16th notes and varying rhythms.
- • Music helps children discern patterns.
- • Music has understandable values. Do is less than Re. Mi is more than Re.
- • Singing promotes language development.
- • Playing an instrument, even a simple one like a xylophone, develops coordination.
- • Playing with a group reinforces teamwork.
- • Practicing an instrument involves discipline.
- • Making music is immensely enjoyable!
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And all of the above improves a child’s brain circuitry at an early age.
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A study by The Music School in Providence Rhode Island and the Kodaly Center of America had 96 students ages five to seven in four classes participate in a music and visual arts program. The idea was to see if the classrooms receiving one hour of music and one hour of visual arts per week would do better than the school system’s standard visual arts and musical training, which was one hour of visual arts and forty-five minutes of music in alternating weeks. Seven months later, the test results showed that 83% of the students in the longer music and visual arts program had pulled ahead in mathematics.
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The study continued the following year and although both groups ended up about the same in reading, the test group with the longer art and music program had children testing higher in math. The math scores were highest for the children who had been in the enhanced music and arts program for two years.
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The pure enjoyment of music, the discipline of practice, and the interaction with others pays benefits for a lifetime. I suppose that all of us who had mothers who chased us down on the playground and brought us home to practice the piano or the violin were developing our brains. (Thanks, Ma!) And to think I thought she was doing this to torture me.
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The important question is, does your school promote music as a part of the curriculum? For help in starting a music program or ensure the quality of your music program, sites like www.supportmusic.com and www.menc.org are invaluable. Check them out!
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by Tory Hartmann who is an author and freelance writer who grew up on the Peninsula and raised two boys in San Mateo. She is President of the SF/Peninsula Branch of the California Writers Club and is finishing a novel..
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