Music for the mind
By G.V. Joshi

ARE Bhimsen Joshi and Bismillah Khan good for the brain? In the USA, experts say that good music can stimulate a child’s development. In Florida, all government schools are now required to play classical music by law, and hospitals have started giving away classical CDs to new mothers.

A professor of music from the USA believes that the rhythm and beauty of classical music can help children’s brains to develop. According to the professor, no one is saying that if you put on classical music your child is going to develop up a little Einstein. The point is that you are going to help the child have that best chance to learn about music and also have a good chance to enhance some abilities developed from listening to good music. The professor has tested his theory by monitoring the brain waves of children who undertake tasks while listening to classical music.

The theory is beginning to spread across the USA. In a Dallas maternity hospital, babies are exposed to classical music before they have even tasted their mother’s milk. A new mother said that she planned to play classical music to her son. They say that it calms the baby down and she believed it.

The experts also say that learning to play a musical instrument like the piano or sitar or violin improves pupils’ numerical ability. Music lessons can significantly improve the mathematical skills of primary school children.

Researchers found that pupils at a Los Angeles school who learned to play the piano and read music improved their numerical ability. The learning of music emphasises thinking in space and time. When children learn rhythm, they are learning ratios,fractions, and proportions. The four-month project was led by professor Gordon Shaw of the University of California, Irvine. It involved 136 second-year pupils of an elementary school.

Their test results were compared to a 1997 pilot study in which 102 second year pupils at another school received traditional mathematics teaching. The Los Angeles pupils’ results were 27 per cent higher than their counterparts from the other school.

They were able to understand and analyse ratios and fractions, concepts usually not introduced until the sixth year of schooling. The 27 per cent increase was in just four months. Continued music training would boost it further. Children who play more sophisticated music could enhance their math still further.

According to another study, children learn better if the right kind of music is played to them. The study found that soothing music can improve memory and behaviour, but another finding was that music that is more aggressive has the opposite effect. The results are believed to be accounted for by the fact that the nature of music affects the amount of adrenaline in brain.

The study was carried out by a research team from the Institute of Education in London. Three groups of schoolchildren were assessed. A soothing classical piece was played in the background during memory tests for one group, an aggressive piece of modern jazz was played to another group, and the third had no music at all.

The "classical" group were better able to remember sentences that had been read to them than both the other groups, while the "modern jazz" group had the worst results. One of the researchers felt that the music has an effect on the primitive mechanisms in the brain, and directly affects arousal and mood. Thus it enables the children to concentrate better.

Classical music was not necessarily the key to improved memory. What was important was whether the music was really perceived as arousing.

The findings, if verified by further research, could have major implications for classroom teaching. There is a parallel in retail marketing. Particular types of music played over a store’s loudspeakers have long been considered to have an influence on the way in which people shop.

The effect of music on intelligence was first reported in 1993 by researchers at the University of California and again by the same team two years later. They based their conclusions on two experiments involving 36 students that showed a significant improvement in IQ tests.

But some academics remain sceptical about such a direct link between music and learning. They argue that the music lessons could have improved results by simply raising the child’s selfesteem. Others have dismissed the whole thing as unscientific nonsense. They have questioned the science behind the theory, and warned of the dangers of over-stimulating young children’s brains.

Another study has found that teaching healthy elderly people to play music decreases their anxiety, depression and loneliness. The study, undertaken jointly by the universities of the USA and Sweden, examined 130 retired people in an effort to link learning music with a feeling of well-being. Sixty-one of the retirees learned to play to play the organ over a period of two 10-week semesters while 69 other participants did not. The researchers ranked the participants according to their mental health.

They noted a marked decrease in anxiety, depression and loneliness among those retirees who were attending the music classes. "Music is the oldest method of relaxation in the world" said Mahendra Kumar, professor in the department of psychiatry and behavioural sciences at the University of Miami School of Medicine and one of the contributors to the study. "We’ve studied the effects of music on patients who suffer from dementia. Music therapy seemed to help. We thought if healthy elderly people learned music, they may not have as much depression, anxiety or loneliness."

Although the indications are positive, some researchers say more research is needed. — ANF