Music for brain development

Music has been part of humanity over centuries as it becomes part of cultures, traditions,

and life of everyone. According to Plato, Music is a defining element of character. He pertains

that music is an expression, a way of showing one selfs feelings. In summary, music defines as

the highest form of art, an expression, and also a science. There are early assumptions that music

has connection to brain. The necessity of music in human intellectual development has been

discussed as far back as ancient Greece, in the 6th century B.C. In Plato's Book of Laws II, a

discussion is presented between an Athenian student and his teacher, Clinias, that describes the

ancient Greek views on the importance of music education (Feierabend, 1995). Today many

researchers and scientists focus on the relationship of music to brains components and

continuing to discover the beneficial effect of music to human brain. As what Elena Mannes

mention to her book, Power of Music, We are now creating a future in which music will clearly

be recognized as far more than background entertainment. Some scientists call the potential use

of music for healing, changing behavior, and understanding our origins and our universe the stuff

of science fiction; imagine prescribing music for neurological disorders and as treatment for the

aging brain? Also, there are some studies that conclude, music is a great factor in brain

development. First, what is brain development? The human brain begins forming very early in

prenatal life (just three weeks after conception), but in many ways, brain development is a

lifelong project. That is because the same events that shape the brain during development are

also responsible for storing informationnew skills and memoriesthroughout life.- (National

Center for Infants, Toddlers, and Families, 2014.) It is important for everyone to know that even

during the prenatal life there is brain development occurs and music is one of the best treatment

to improve the brain development. But in the whole process of brain development, the crucial
stage as Society for NeuroScience stated, Research shows early childhood is marked by critical

periods times when the brain is intensely adaptable to new sights, sounds, tastes, and touches.

Early childhood is the age group of 2-6 years. It is the period of rapid physical, mental,

emotional, social and language development. For this early stage of life they should be interacted

to different mind enhancement activities that they can enjoy. Research suggests that young

children have a tremendous capacity to learn from the moment they are born. These first years of

life are crucial to a childs cognitive development (Harris, 2009). In an article of Journal of

NeuroScience, reported that musical training at early age of seven help brain development. With

the aid of new technology, many researches are into promoting the early development on

children through musical training. This innovation is not only focusing in intellectual

improvement but on also in social and emotional improvement of children. Music serves as the

bridge to achieve a healthy mind that young people should obtain at their early ages and the

stepping stone towards successful life.

There are many studies and researches that support the statement that music is a key

towards the great brain improvement throughout its development. Science has shown that when

children learn to play music, their brains begin to hear and process sounds that they couldnt

otherwise hear. This helps them develop neurophysiological distinction between certain

sounds that can aid in literacy, which can translate into improved academic results for kids (Time

Magazine, 2014). But it is important that the child is interested on music and has the initiative to

learn unless it will be useless. A new study from Northwestern University revealed that in order

to fully reap the cognitive benefits of a music class, kids cant just sit there and let the sound of

music wash over them. They have to be actively engaged in the music and participate in the class.

Most of the parents, wanted their child to have a high intelligence capacity and in order to
achieve that matter, parents should know on how to educate their child at early age but they

should not force the child. There is an effective way where children can improve his or her brain

capacity and improvement through playing instruments, as what the Journal of neuroscience

initiates. According to Kraus, As to how to keep children interested in playing instruments,

thats up to the parents. He suggests that parents should follow their intuitions with respect to

keeping their children engaged, He also added that they should find the kind of music their

child love, good teachers, an instrument theyll like. Making music should be something that

children enjoy and will want to keep doing for many years! (Time Magazine, 2014) Playing a

musical instrument can cause fundamental changes in a young person's brain, shaping both how

it functions and how it is physically structured, researchers say. Researches also conclude that

early-trained musicians before the age of seven has a greater brain improvement than those who

started at the age of 8 onwards. According to Schlaug, instrumental training is a multisensory

motor experience, typically initiated at an early age. Playing an instrument requires a host of

skills, including reading a complex symbolic system (musical notation) and translating it into

sequential, bimanual motor activity dependent on multisensory feedback; developing fine motor

skills coupled with metric precision; memorizing long musical passages; and improvising within

given musical parameters.

Which is your babys favourite composer: Mozart, Beethoven or Bach? Dont tell me

youre just singing Humpty Dumpty to him/her? Dont you know that theres now a miniature

library of recordings available to build your babys brain through classical music? Most offer

Mozart, but you can also try Beethoven (Brain-training for little ones) or compilations of

Handel, Pachelbel, Vivaldi and others.- Ball 2010. When you searched in Google about music

and brain development, commonly the first result is The Mozart Effect. Mozart effect is a
theory that proclaims that listening to the music of Mozart can help to increase the intelligence

especially for children. It is a musical program with a series of activities and it is available at

compact disc. The Mozart effect is formulated by Don Campbell and he has his authored book

entitled, "The Mozart Effect : Tapping the Power of Music to Heal the Body, Strengthen the

Mind and Unlock the Creative Spirit. Along with the book, it includes subsequent speaking

engagements, CDs, tapes, and a well orchestrated media blitz, has created the impression that

listening to the music of Mozart will magically "increase verbal, emotional and spatial

intelligence, improve concentration and memory, enhance right-brain creative processes and

strengthen intuitive thinking skills", as the promotion for one of the many Mozart Effect CDs

promises. Although it is not scientifically proven, there are many researches that support this

idea. Actually, there are many tests that have been conducted to prove that Mozart Effect is a real

deal. In some test they found out that there is an improvement in intelligence among the listeners

of Mozart music rather than those who did not, but there are also incidences that there were no

changes reported in the brain and intelligence after listening to Mozart. While there is no definite

conclusion according to this matter, scientists and researches still developing studies on why and

how music might has an effect and connected to human brain.

Researchers have concluded that having a musical training before the age of seven has a

great impact in brains development and intelligence of a child. This matter about musical

training is another story separated from Mozart effect. In musical training, children are

encouraged to attend music class to learn pitch, tempo, rhythm, harmony and other components

of music not just about to listen in classical music of Mozart just as what the Mozart effect

pertains. Neuroscientists Christian Gaser and Gottfried Schlaug have found a host of differences

in brain functions for musicians (specifically, keyboard players) and non-musicians, including
improved motor, auditory and visual-spatial skills (Ball, 2010.) Music ignites all areas of child

development: intellectual, social and emotional, motor, language, and overall literacy. It helps

the body and the mind work together. Exposing children to music during early development

helps they learn the sounds and meanings of words (PEPS Community Partner Bright Horizons,

2015.) Shinichi Suzuki, the son of the owner of the largest violin factory in the world, and taught

himself to play violin by listening to recordings of classical music. He initiates that music at

early ages can improve brain development and nurture youngs mind until his adolescence life,

and the key towards ones success. In some studies, researchers stated that there are various

beneficial effects in the brain. According to Bergland (2013), the three benefits of music training,

besides of, it optimizes brain function, are: Musicians have an enhanced ability to integrate

sensory information from hearing, touch, and sight. The age at which musical training begins

affects brain anatomy as an adult; beginning training before the age of seven has the greatest

impact. Brain circuits involved in musical improvisation are shaped by systematic training,

leading to less reliance on working memory and more extensive connectivity within the brain. In

a research of Rauscher colleagues (1997) found a connection to the brain linking musical and

spatial skills while studying higher brain function. Children who took music lessons scored up to

35 percent higher on spatial tasks, and music lessons improved the spatial-temporal reasoning

abilities of four- to six-year-olds.

There are many ways on how to improve the brain functionality during at its development.

But among other learning tools, musical training is a powerful one. According to Plato, Musical

training is a more potent instrument than any other for education. Researchers discovered that

there is a link between music and human brain in which this conclusion led to initiate musical

training among young children. According to studies, brain development is crucial at the age of
2-6 wherein between these ages parents should let their children to interact to activities that can

enhance their mind and intelligence. Neuroscientists are discovering multiple ways that musical

training improves the function and connectivity of different brain regions. Musical training

increases brain volume and strengthen communication between brain areas. Playing an

instrument changes how the brain interprets and integrates a wide range of sensory information,

especially for those who start before age 7. These findings were presented at the Neuroscience

2013 conference in San Diego (Bergland, 2013.) It is important that children