Music- The Key to Enhancing the Cognitive Abilities of Students
Music is a large part of our culture. Many of us listen to music on the radio, on our cell phones, and even pay money to see singers and musicians in concert. Although music is a beloved part of our culture, many of us do not take the time to learn how to play musical instruments. This is a fault in our society. With music classes offered for free at most elementary schools and high schools, and with there being a wide array of private music teachers outside of schools, it is very easy for students to learn how to play an instrument. However, many people do not take advantage of this accessibility which is unfortunate because it has long been said that learning to play an instrument improves brain functions. Therefore, shouldn’t everyone want to learn how to play an instrument? Shouldn’t all children be required to take music classes in school so as to enhance their brain activity? Our society is addicted to health fads. We are willing to try liquid diets, wear waist trainers, and take pills in order to improve our physical health. Schools offer many whole-wheat, sodium, and sugar free foods, and other healthy lunches in order to prevent child obesity. But why is no one interested in improving the mental health of students? Mental health is constantly being pushed aside in order to make room for physical health. However, they should both be treated with equal importance. Due to the fact that learning to play an instrument improves mental health by enhancing auditory processing, memory, motor and thinking skills, and creativity, schools need to encourage students to take music classes.
Music improves auditory processing which leads to improved sensory skills. Learning to play an instrument is exercise for the brain just as running laps in gym class is exercise for the body. It forces the brain to learn and recognize new sounds and symbols that are not taught in academic classes; students never learn what sharp, flat, or staccato notes sound like in math class. While some people may consider learning such sounds to be insignificant, there is scientific research that proves that music has significant impacts on the brain. As Dr. William R. Klemm from Psychology Today states, “Musicians have more brain grey matter volume in areas that are important for playing an instrument and in the auditory complex, which processes all kinds of sounds.” Music quite literally enhances brain grey matter which is responsible for processing information. Having a larger grey matter volume can help students process information more easily in their core academic classes. An improvement in the auditory complex will help students become better listeners and be able to recognize a larger amount of sounds more easily. Consider this situation: students learn a foreign language by memorizing different words and their meanings and by being able to identify the sound of these words in spoken conversation. Wouldn’t having a stronger auditory complex be very helpful in completing this task since it would make identifying foreign words easier? Dr. William R. Klemm signifies this point when he states, “even in non-musical contexts, such as listening to a speech, lecture, or a sound track in a movie for example, musicians should learn and remember more of the content than non-musicians.”
There is even evidence to support the fact that dyslexic children can benefit from learning how to play an instrument. Harvard University Researcher Gottfried Schlaug and his colleagues did a study on the cognitive effects of musical training in which they discovered that musical training strengthens auditory perception skills and language skills which would ultimately help alleviate the language deficits that dyslexic children have (Livescience). Furthermore, most classes in elementary school and high school are designed for students who are auditory or visual learners. However, not all students are born auditory or visual learners. Many children with ADHD, for example, are kinesthetic learners and learn best by being active. Unfortunately, it is hard for schools to accommodate these children as it is difficult for teachers to run a class when there are many students moving about the room. If these kinesthetic learners start learning how to play an instrument at a young age, they will then be able to develop a better auditory perception which will help them to become better learners overall. Laurel Trainor, director of the Institute for Music and the Mind at McMaster University believes that “musical training (but not necessarily passive listening to music) affects attention and memory, a mechanism whereby musical training might lead to better learning across a number of domains” (Livescience). Trainor is confident that music enhances cognitive abilities due to the fact that learning to play an instrument trains attention, memory, and motor skills thereby making them more effective. Therefore, students with and without learning disabilities can benefit from taking from taking music classes since it will help them become better prepared for the rest of their school career and college in which classes are taught lecture-style.
Learning to play an instrument also increases memory capacity which can help students learn and retain information in school. Results from an experiment at Nina Kraus’ Auditory Neuroscience Laboratory at Northwestern University in which electrodes were attached to the heads of 87 people supports this point. As ABC News states, “Older participants in the study who had made music a big part of their lives could process the signal just about as fast as the younger participants. The ‘non-musicians’, however lagged considerably behind, indicating that playing a musical instrument was crucial to retaining memory and hearing.” Schools focus on providing healthy lunches and snacks so that students are physically healthy and do not become overweight. However, schools are not making enough of an effort to make sure that children are mentally healthy. Having a large memory capacity is vital to students as they continue on to higher levels of education and eventually enter the workforce. During their elementary school, high school, and college years, students must be able to memorize a large amount of information in order to be able to pass exams. Once they have entered the workforce, students must be able to remember certain tasks depending on their job such as how to use computer programs, perform different surgeries, operate machinery, and remember information on an entire subject so that they can teach a new generation of students. Not only can learning how to play an instrument prepare students for adulthood by expanding their memory capacity, but it can also enhance their physical skills. In fact, “Playing an instrument is also a physical thing. It develops fine motor skills, the kind of motor skills you need to have to become a surgeon” (School A to Z). Learning how to play an instrument requires a great amount of coordination, technique, and precision. Training these motor skills can better prepare children to do rigorous jobs that require precision such as performing complicated surgeries. While core academic classes such as English and mathematics are all important subjects for students to learn, music classes are equally important and should be treated as such considering that they enhance the mental and physical abilities of students.
Some people may argue that students do not have the time or money to learn how to play an instrument. However, if schools require students to take an instrumental class, then a period will get built into each student’s schedule in order to make room for the class. Even if students do not have time to practice their instrument at home, they will still be exposed to playing music five days a week at school. Furthermore, while instruments are expensive to buy, students can rent instruments or buy used instruments. Many schools also have a supply of instruments that students can use during their music classes.
Many people also believe that music does not actually benefit the brain. However, a study performed by researchers at the University of St. Andrews in which a group of musicians and a group of non-musicians were given mental tests in order to measure their brain and behavioral responses highlights the positive effects of music on the brain. The researchers reported that “the most striking difference came in the musicians’ ability to recognise and correct mistakes. They also responded faster than those with little or no musical training, with no loss in accuracy” (BBC News). While a study can not prove cause and effect and can only show correlations, there is clearly a positive correlation between learning how to play an instrument and cognitive abilities.
As a pianist, I can speak from first-hand experience that learning to play an instrument promotes creativity. After ten years of taking piano lessons, I know enough about composition where I can write my own piano songs. I greatly enjoy sitting at my piano for hours just playing different melodies. It is a proud moment when I finish writing a song and can take all ownership of it. Students need this kind of creativity in their lives to counteract their exposure to electronics. In schools, students use Chromebooks instead of the classic paper and pencil combo. Once students get home, they are on their smartphones, tablets, laptops, and televisions either for fun or to complete homework. They listen to music on these devices but do not care about how that music was made. Music is background noise in the lives of students when it should be an area of study. If students spend even just one 45 minute period a day learning how to play an instrument, then they will become so much more creative; not to mention just how relaxing playing an instrument is! The current generation of adolescents is turning into zombies. We can’t have zombies in our workforce. We need people in our workforce who are intelligent and creative and can solve any problem that comes their way. Learning to play an instrument can promote these qualities and more in students which is why it is vital that schools encourage all students to take music classes.
