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Learn an Instrument? Yes, it’s good for your brain: CPS Talk 3.3.15

By zccasle, on 15 March 2015

 

Professor of Education and Music Psychology; Susan Hallam, joined the CPS this week to discuss some of the latest findings on the effects of music education.

The way that music is adopted in society unveils its role as an emotional catalyst, there’s a song for every occasion. National anthems played out at sporting events, easy listening played out in cow sheds, classical music in tube station ticket halls. Evidently musical-emotional stimulation is a short cut for all manner of desired effects: the promotion of national identity and cohesion, relaxation of anxious cows and the prevention of loitering.

A full understanding of the relationship between people (or cows) and music is a long way off. Current studies often struggle in drawing meaningful conclusions because of the difficulty in controlling such experimentation. How do you measure the effects of music? Supposing it was hypothesised that kids who had regular music lessons showed better average performance in all other subjects, with respect to kids who had no musical tuition. It is virtually impossible to prove that music has played any part in it. The musical kids could be receiving better all round education or they could be getting more encouragement at home. Once considerations like these are made, the variable control of an ‘experiment’ becomes tricky.

However the benefits associated with learning musical instruments are becoming ‘factual’ owing to the weight of studies that support this general conclusion.

Prof. Hallam has focussed on the act of learning music and its associated rewards. To get the full benefits package, it seems one should be able to read music, play an instrument and perform in a group. Listening to pop music not been proven to improve your brain, but if it feels good… These combined exercises have been found to improve language skills in young people and children. Interaction with music from a young age stimulates auditory neural centres and has been shown to improve aptitude with phonics and sound comprehension. Some studies have shown improved reading skills in dyslexia sufferers following rhythmical musical exercises.   

Reading and playing music seemed to be at the root of the positive effects. The structure of written music is far more logical than written language, when this is combined with the auditory stimulation and motor skills involved in playing it emerges as a rigorous cognitive work out.

An interesting addendum is that virtually no benefits are associated with being taught music by a bad teacher, surely that would apply for any subject? This highlights the importance of music as a model language; unless its structure and patterns are elucidated to the student, it remain an incomprehensible novelty and is less beneficial to the user, the active understanding of it facilitates the associated benefits. However it should still be stressed that engagement with music as a listener or a non expert participant in a group exercise has real advantages. This is because it is not only a tool for cognitive stimulation but also a means for social and communicative interactions with far reaching and subtle effects.

The positive effects of music are fairly obvious and fortunately society sees no reason to wait on its approval or proof by the scientific community. In Venezuela there is a programme called El Sistema, it was a originally a grass roots project that now spans continents, it uses music to build more than just musical skills and really requires no scientific justification.  

In conclusion is their manifesto:

“El Sistema is…a set of inspiring ideals which inform an intensive youth music program that seeks to effect social change through the ambitious pursuit of musical excellence. El Sistema focuses primarily on children with the fewest resources and greatest need.”

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