MUSIC HELPS REDUCE STRESS

RECENT MUSIC AND BRAIN RESEARCH

MUSIC EDUCATION TEACHES "KEY COMPETENCIES"

WHY BABIES LOVE MUSIC

MUSIC, ESPECIALLY BY BACH, HELPS REDUCE STRESS
By Helen Altonn
from the Star Bulletin, Honolulu, Hawaii, April 29, 2004
Music, particularly classical compositions by Bach, relieves stress,
says a University of Hawaii music professor.
"Of all the music we tested in medical school with patients,
colleagues and others, Bach's music consistently made the brain work
in a balanced way better than any other genre," said Arthur Harvey,
who is also an internationally known neuromusicologist.

Source: http://starbulletin.com/2004/04/29/news/story10.html

SUMMARY:
- Music helps regulate brain activity and the function of body
systems. The music of J.S. Bach is especially effective for helping
the brain function in a balanced way.
- Listening to music can relieve pain and stress, calm the heart rate
and blood pressure, affect physical responses for healing and growth,
and stimulate creative thinking. Calming music should have pleasant
cadences, and the tempo should be between 62 and 72 beats per minute.
- Says neuromusicologist Arthur Harvey, "If we utilize music that
slows down the stress hormone, we then can help with things such as
development of ulcers, diarrhea, even Crohn's (chronic inflammatory)
disease and irritable bowel syndrome."

Some Housekeeping: have your friends and colleagues subscribe to WhyMusicEd! Anyone can subscribe
by simply sending a blank e-mail to whymusic-on@mail-list.com
Please note that non-working e-mail addresses are automatically deleted from the WhyMusicEd mailing list. If you are changing e-mail addresses or if it's been a while since you have received a message, subscribe again by sending a blank message to whymusic-on@mail-list.com

To Top of Page

**********************************************************

RECENT MUSIC AND BRAIN RESEARCH
from the Society for Neuroscience - November 10, 2003
In new studies, scientists are uncovering the factors responsible for
an enhanced brain electrical response to music; the effects on the
brain of growing up in a musical or non-musical environment; and which
areas of the brain process different aspects of music including
speaking and singing. One study finds that positive emotions induced
by pleasant music can have an analgesic effect on people, pointing to
a possible role for music in pain management therapy.
"Music touches almost every cognitive ability that neuroscientists are
interested in -- not only the obvious auditory and motor systems
involved in perceiving and playing music, but also multisensory
interactions, memory, learning, attention, planning, creativity and
emotion," says Robert Zatorre, PhD, of the Montreal Neurological
Institute.

- Researchers at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada
tested the brain activity of 4- and 5-year-old students who were
studying piano and violin. After a year of musical study, the
pianists showed a response of specific auditory "P2" brain waves twice
that of other children when they listened to piano sounds. The
violinist in the study showed the same response when listening to
violin sounds.
- Yoko Saito and other researchers at the Tokyo Metropolitan
University of Health Sciences measured the brain activity of 20
volunteers while they performed various tasks using singing, speaking,
and listening. Researchers found that singing and speaking use many
of the same areas of the brain including the temporal lobes that
handle hearing and listening, the frontal lobes that control mouth and
face movements, and a specific language-processing area in the left
hemisphere.
- Test subjects felt up to 20 percent less pain when they were
listening to pleasant music versus unpleasant music. In this test,
volunteers selected three "most pleasant" and three "most unpleasant"
excerpts of music, and they listened to these excerpts and rated the
pain level while researchers applied various degrees of heat, from
104-119 degrees F, to their forearms. (The study was done at the
University of Montreal.)SOURCE: www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2003-11/sfn-nss111003.php
Some Housekeeping:
have your friends and colleagues subscribe to WhyMusicEd! Anyone can subscribe
by simply sending a blank e-mail to whymusic-on@mail-list.com
Please note that non-working e-mail addresses are automatically deleted from the
WhyMusicEd mailing list. If you are changing e-mail addresses or if it's been a
while since you have received a message, subscribe again by sending a blank
message to whymusic-on@mail-list.com

To Top of Page

**********************************************************

MUSIC EDUCATION TEACHES "KEY COMPETENCIES"
How do the arts contribute to the skills that employers need in their
future employees?
In Australia, ministers of education and various committees met in
1989 to determine what their students should learn in school. In
addition to requirements in each subject area, the concept of "Key
Competencies" emerged.
Key Competencies are skills that are learned not just in one class,
but through the overall educational experience. They are also skills
that the business community believes school graduates must possess.
The Key Competencies in the Australian education system are:
1) Collecting, analyzing, and organizing information
2) Communicating ideas and information
3) Planning and organizing activities
4) Working with others and in teams
5) Using mathematical ideas and techniques
6) Solving problems
7) Using technology
In 1996, the National Affiliation of Arts Educators (of Australia) and
the Australian Council for Educational Research worked together to
apply the Key Competencies to arts education and to help educators
understand the connections between the Key Competencies and the
teaching activities of arts educators. Their study concluded "THE
ARTS CONTRIBUTE NATURALLY AND SIGNIFICANTLY TO ALL OF THE KEY
COMPETENCIES."
Here are the applications of music education to the Australian Key
Competencies:
COLLECTING, ANALYZING, AND ORGANIZING INFORMATION
interpreting and creating artworks [compositions], exercising aesthetic
judgment,
managing sensory and emotional information
COMMUNICATING IDEAS AND INFORMATION
making artworks [composing],communicating ideas and information
nonpropositionally[without speaking or writing], interpreting artworks
through talking and writing
PLANNING AND ORGANIZING ACTIVITIES
rehearsing and presenting a performance or concert
WORKING WITH OTHERS AND IN TEAMS
experiencing ensemble discipline for corps, orchestra, etc.
practicing group skills in rehearsal, production, and exhibition;
negotiating in multi-arts contexts
USING MATHEMATICS
learning about basic musical structure, rhythm, balance, and acoustic
science
SOLVING PROBLEMS
improvising, researching, creating artwork [composing], interpreting,
preparing presentations
USING TECHNOLOGY
using samplers and synthesizers, using multimedia in presentations,
concerts, and performances; using sound and lighting principles and
technology
Source: "Exploring the Role of the Arts in the Curriculum: Some
Australian Initiatives" by Joan Livermore and Gary E. McPherson.
Published in "Arts Education Policy Review" Vol. 99 No. 3, Jan/Feb
1998. pp. 10-14.

To Top of Page

**********************************************************

WHY BABIES LOVE MUSIC
by Heather Moors Johnson
from MSN Family
THE MOZART MYTH
Shortly before my first child was born, the governor of my state -- Zell
Miller, now a U.S. Senator -- made a startling announcement: Every baby
born in Georgia would receive a free classical music CD at the hospital.
This wasn't just some bonus prize for being born; it was a start to
making Georgians smarter. "Listening to music at a very early age
affects the spatial, temporal reasoning that underlies math and
engineering and even chess," the governor's statement said. Wow, I
thought, all that from a CD? My soon-to-be Georgia peach would be
smarter than her mom and dad combined.
We got our CD, but it turns out that in the world of baby smarts, as in
life, there are no quick, easy, free solutions. Governor Miller, who
based his initiative on an article in Time magazine, got it a wee bit
wrong. In fact, the much-referenced study, which gave rise to the phrase
"the Mozart Effect," showed that college-age students who listened to
Mozart for 10 minutes did better on a spatial relations test a few
minutes later. The Mozart Effect, such as it was, was specific,
fleeting, and had nothing whatsoever to do with babies.
Nevertheless, the study managed to make believers of a whole generation
of new parents who got sucked into buying all manner of pint-size
instruments and musical toys and enrolling their 4-month-olds in music
classes. The trend seemed to be a side effect of bad science reporting
in the popular press over the last decade or so.
In addition to the myths about the Mozart Effect -- and the ensuing
number of musical toys with grand claims about making babies smarter --
there was a lot of ink devoted to the importance of the first three
years of life. Parents were sold on the "use it or lose it" theory --
the notion that unless certain areas of the brain (those that would turn
Johnny into a brilliant mathematician, for instance) were stimulated in
those crucial early months of life, the window of opportunity would snap
shut, never to open again. Classical music was considered an important
stimulus, so a parent who failed to play hours of the stuff for her
infant was clearly irresponsible.
Well, all those parents out there can relax. "There is no scientific
research on the effect listening to music has on a baby's intelligence,"
says Frances Rauscher, PhD, a psychologist with the University of
Wisconsin and the lead researcher on the college-student study that
launched all the brouhaha. Our Mozart Effect research was blown way out
of proportion."
THE MUSICAL PAYOFF
None of this, of course, implies that exposing our children to music
pays no intellectual dividends. Rauscher and her colleagues have
continued their research and found that there is a positive effect on
children's spatial-temporal (puzzle-solving) and math skills when those
as young as 3-years-old are given formal musical instruction -- when
they actively study and play music, not merely listen to it. According
to Norman Weinberger, PhD, a professor of neurobiology and behavior at
the University of California in Irvine, "Music learning and practice
benefit many mental and behavioral processes, including cognitive
development, language learning, reading ability, creativity, motor
skills, and social adjustment."
But none of these effects have been studied in babies. Piano lessons may
make older kids smarter in some ways, but just popping in a CD (be it
Raffi or Rachmaninoff) is not going to do much for your infant besides
tickle his fancy.
Of course, as every loving parent knows, that is a worthy goal in its
own right. "It's such a kick to see Lizzie's eyes light up and to watch
her little legs pump up and down every time she hears the first notes of
a song she likes," says Detroit mother Kay Blava, about her 6-month-old
daughter. "It's so obviously pure pleasure for her."
Even more significant is music that emanates from a parent herself.
"Singing to your child is so important," says Sandra E. Trehub, PhD,
professor of psychology at the University of Toronto. "In contrast to
recordings that sound exactly the same at every hearing, a mother
fine-tunes her voice to her baby's needs. When her baby is cheerful, she
sings in an upbeat voice. When she is fretful, Mom sings in a soothing
manner. Since babies can't really regulate their own moods in the early
months of life, a mother's singing plays a vital role here."
Trehub, who has studied cultures around the world and found music to be
an integral part of every one of them, notes that singing to your baby
also reinforces bonds between you. "The natural pleasure Mom gets from
singing to her baby is amplified by her enjoyment. For the baby, those
songs and the way they're sung become associated with pleasure,
enjoyment, a sense of security, and good things in general."
MUSIC CLASSES FOR MOM AND BABY
It was my own instinct to sing to my baby (but not really knowing what
to sing) that led me to enroll in The Music Class, a nationwide
franchise of mommy-baby music classes, when my daughter was just 4
months old. If I had ever needed evidence that music is one of the basic
human pleasures, this class provided it in spades.
The moms and kids, who ranged from 4 months to 4 years, sang, danced,
learned a little about the music, and got to see some great instruments
up close -- tubas, violins, flutes, African drums, and a harp, among
others. The class leader gave us a songbook and a CD for home listening
and we wore them both out. We also learned finger plays to do together
at home. My daughter was enchanted.
Rob Sayer, director of The Music Class, says he started the company to
get kids listening to music at an early age so that future musical
instruction (the more formal kind) would come more easily. My kids are
still too young for me to see whether this will pan out, but there is no
question that those early classes -- which my 9-month-old son now
enthusiastically attends -- have ignited a love for music in both of
them that I never had at that age.
That Mozart CD we got in the hospital doesn't get much play in our
house -- it's usually skipped in favor of our Music Class CDs -- but
we've added dozens of other CDs to our collection. The best part of
music class for us has been the great times it's fostered. And for that,
I've realized, we didn't really need classes or even CDs; our own voices
and pots and pans would have worked just fine, too.
Trehub agrees that having fun with your baby is one of music's greatest
perks. But equally important, she suggests, is its role as a cultural
guidepost for children. Songs, both heard and sung, are a classic way
for kids to learn about language, customs, and the larger world as a
whole. Indeed, Weinberger has observed that many babies begin singing
around the same time they start using language, and first words are
often part of familiar songs.
"Even before literacy was widespread, crucial cultural information --
how to plant crops, the location of tribal boundaries -- was embedded in
songs so it could be transmitted from one generation to the next," says
Trehub. "Babies today learn animal names and sounds, counting, colors,
stories, and, of course, the alphabet from the songs they hear and
sing." My own children have picked up Spanish (their father's native
language) from songs, and our friend Michael Schill of Philadelphia
claims that his 2-year-old understands the contributions that snakes and
spiders make to pest control, thanks to the endless playing of Mary
Miche's Earthy Tunes album.
FAMILY SING-ALONG
Dan Zanes, a former member of the rock group Del Fuegos, now makes his
living recording kids' music, a field he entered after becoming a dad
himself. Zanes believes the movement to make babies smarter through
music misses the point and the real value of music. "We all have music
in us," he says. "We need to expose our children to it so it becomes
part of the fabric of everyday life."
Zanes says that he is often asked to sing at birthday parties, but he
usually declines, urging parents to do it themselves instead. "Why leave
it up to the professionals?" asks Zanes, who believes live music -- even
if it's just Mom and Dad fooling around with homemade instruments -- is
far more beneficial than anything heard on a CD. "In previous
generations, families would sit on their front porches and sing along as
Grandpa played the guitar. I'm for a return to all that. It's a
connection to our past and a beautiful way for people to gather
together. Plus, it's fun!"
"Singing to your kids is just as important as reading to them," says Tom
Chapin, another children's recording artist. "Even books don't give the
same kind of quality, one-on-one interaction as singing because words
only convey meaning, whereas music conveys emotion." Chapin believes
that music confers many valuable lessons, none of them having to do with
mastering math skills. "Songs comfort your baby; they help make the
world a safe place for her."
In other words, beyond all that hype, there may be something to the
Mozart Effect after all. While it certainly doesn't begin to live up to
its grandiose claims of instilling long-lasting genius in infants, it
has spurred a generation of parents to expose their babies to music, and
that makes for happier babies.
So, by all means, keep playing those CDs. And sing to your child. Dance
with her. Make up silly rhymes and songs. Take her to music class if you
like, or simply pull out the pots and pans and make noise. Incorporate
music into your everyday life as often as you can. Not because it will
make your child a brilliant mathematician, but because it's another
enjoyable experience that nurtures her -- and your relationship with
her.
Heather Moors Johnson, a mother of two, lives in Decatur, Georgia
Source:
http://www.family.msn.com/tool/article.aspx?dept=learn&sdept=lea&name=me_013004_musicbabies&signup=true&offer=1
Some Housekeeping:
have your friends and colleagues subscribe to WhyMusicEd! Anyone can subscribe
by simply sending a blank e-mail to whymusic-on@mail-list.com
Please note that non-working e-mail addresses are automatically deleted from the
WhyMusicEd mailing list. If you are changing e-mail addresses or if it's been a
while since you have received a message, subscribe again by sending a blank
message to whymusic-on@mail-list.com

To Top of Page