The World of Music: A Benefactor or Distractor for the Mind?
Nowadays, it is very typical to find individuals from all age groups listening to various genres of music, from pop tunes to classical. In simply a matter of a few seconds, people can connect their earbuds to a cellular device or computer and start playing songs from a personalized playlist or YouTube. Music has been an integral part of our educational system for years. Schools across the country have incorporated music classes into the daily schedules of students, and many students play music outside of school either instrumentally or vocally, or even both. Both listening to and producing music in some form yield miraculous effects for the mind, which we’re consciously not aware of while performing academic or cognitive tasks. Within a few minutes of listening to a pop tune, a working teenager’s mind can become an active powerhouse. Consequently, the student’s pencil starts moving faster on paper, scribbling down math formulas or recording the student’s thoughts on an English prompt. Similarly, after playing a challenging concerto on the piano, the pianist’s brain is strengthened and prepared for mental tasks of all sort that lie in store for the musician. Music is therefore an imperative element in our lives that sharpens our mental abilities for both cognitive and academic tasks, thereby enabling us to accomplish even the most demanding mental tasks that we encounter at school, at work, and in our daily lives.
Receiving musical training enhances brain function and structure. According to a report from Be Brain Fit, certain studies have shown that as little as four years of music lessons are found to improve certain brain functions. Even a half-hour music lesson increases blood flow in the brain’s left hemisphere, and music lessons from an early age improve brain plasticity, the brain’s capacity to change and grow. In the end, such improvements in the functioning and structure of the brain result in much better performance at cognitive and academic tasks. That is, musically-trained children perform better in subjects such as language, reading and math, according to the same report from Be Brain Fit. Students in our school system often struggle in these academic areas. Sustaining sophisticated conversation in a foreign language, close reading and analyzing complex texts, and solving math problems of high difficulty levels are a few examples of academic skill areas where students aren’t able to excel or even meet standards. However, by stimulating development in regions of the brain that need to be sharp for such skill areas, musical training strengthens students’ academic capabilities. A musically trained student, as opposed to a student who has not received any form of musical training, is therefore able to speak a foreign language with fluency, read and comprehend various genres of texts, and solve math problems that may involve math as advanced as calculus. Musically-trained students, therefore, are able to reach high levels of excellence in the rigorous academic programs available at their schools.
Parents and educators have promoted music education in school districts for decades. One of the reasons why there is so much support for music is the fact that students who are musicians themselves tend to score higher on the SAT; The National Association for Music Education claims that one report indicates 63 points higher on the verbal section and 44 points higher on the math section for students in music appreciation courses. Music education proves to be a factor that helps in raising scores in major standardized tests. Musically-trained students not only excel in their school classes, but also in important exams used for college admission. Musical training, therefore, aids students mentally to a larger extent.
Musical training can be advantageous for even babies and very young children. Babies and children who have had music lessons of different types, from playing drums to singing nursery rhymes, demonstrate better literacy and communication skills according to certain studies. Kindermusik, a leading childhood music and movement program, believes that “music instruction improves phonological awareness.” That is, being exposed to music at an early age helps train the ear to pick out individual notes and rhythms. This then enables children to identify different sounds that make up words. Ultimately, a strong foundation is built for babies and young children, which helps them to become able readers inside and outside of school. In addition to reading skills, “music instruction enhances speaking skills,” says Kindermusik. Speaking and singing are interrelated; by singing simple songs and repeating basic rhymes and chants, young children are practicing the same skills necessary for language development and effective communication.
Effective communication and literacy are two of the most fundamental and significant skills needed in one’s academic and professional careers, especially in today’s increasingly competitive world. For instance, it’s essential to be an intelligent and avid reader in many school classes, especially in Advanced Placement courses such as AP U.S. History and AP English Language. Similarly, one must be an effective communicator for multiple tasks and occasions, such as large class discussions and official meetings with colleagues. In the long run, musical training can prepare us from an early age for school and even for our professional careers.
Listening to music yields similar benefits for the mind. According to the report on Be Brain Fit, listening to music enhances learning by working with the brain’s neurotransmitters. This activity in the brain then results in increased brain connectivity, improved language development, an increased IQ, and increased spatial intelligence. Spatial intelligence is one of the areas that is significantly benefited from music. It is a critical skill for the students of today’s generation that is constantly used in certain careers such as engineering, math, and computer science. By improving spatial intelligence, music can help students to excel in a future career that requires them to apply their spatial intelligence.
In addition, listening to music strengthens memory. In a study described by a Lifehack source, subjects were asked to memorize Japanese characters while listening to music that either seemed positive or neutral to them. Participants who were musicians tested better when positive music was playing, whereas participants who weren’t musicians tested better when neutral music was playing. Either way, listening to music proves to be an activity that sharpens individuals’ memories. Music once again enables people to successfully face the mental challenges that they may have to face in their careers and even in their daily lives. Many jobs, such as those of teachers and post-secondary education administrators, require adults to have excellent memories. Having a sharp memory is even crucial for living our daily lives. We are extremely busy in this day and age as there are a multitude of tasks and activities — whether they be related to school, a job, or the household — that we must remember to finish during our daily routines. Music serves as an asset that makes us capable of tackling these types of challenges.
While music can be a significant asset for individuals, it can also be a distractor for the mind in some cases, negatively impacting one’s academic and cognitive performance. A report from Inquiries Journal claims that in a 1977 study conducted by Smith and Morris, participants were requested to repeat a set of numbers backwards while listening to either stimulative or sedative music. In the end, the subjects who listened to stimulative music did not perform as well as those who listened to sedative music. Stimulative music proves to be a significant distraction due to the many acoustical variations present in the sound. Plus, a source from The Daily Universe discusses that stimulative music distracts listeners with “lyrics, emotions, and memories.” However, other genres of music, such as classical, do not serve as distractions due to their regularity and soothing quality. According to ScienceDaily, research has indicated that classical music enhances the activity of certain genes, such as synuclein-alpha, that are responsible for tasks such as learning and remembering (i.e. memory). In particular, classical music composed by the famous Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart helps with accomplishing such mental tasks. The Mozart effect is a term coined by Alfred A. Tomatis, an internationally known otolaryngologist, a physician who medically and surgically treats patients with diseases and disorders of the ear, nose, throat, and related structures of the head and neck. According to the report from Be Brain Fit, the theory purports that listening to music composed by Mozart makes a person, specifically a child under the age of three, smarter. More specifically, it has been theorized that listening to Mozart’s music potentially induces short-term improvement on the performance of certain mental tasks known as spatial-temporal reasoning. While stimulative music acts as a distractor that impairs our performance on mental tasks, sedative genres of music, such as classical, are benefiters for thinkers. By enhancing thinking skills such as learning, remembering, and spatial-temporal reasoning, sedative music ultimately prepares us for real-world thinking where we’re required to consistently apply our thinking skills in order to be successful.
As we discussed earlier, listening to music sharpens memory, but do all reports related to music and its psychological effects agree with this statement? A report from Nature Research asserts that music may actually interfere with memory tasks, as well as reading tasks. This can be explained by a model known as the “cognitive capacity model,” which postulates that at any given moment, only a limited pool of resources is available for cognitive processing. When simultaneous tasks compete for limited resources and their combined demands exceed the available capacity, “capacity interference” occurs. Only a portion of the task information for reading or memory is processed and therefore performance deteriorates. Models, such as the “cognitive capacity model” discussed above, shed new light on some of the impacts of music on cognitive performance, thereby revealing the controversial aspect of the issue. Perhaps humanity is uncertain about some of the impacts of music, such as the impacts on reading and memory-related abilities.
Music continues to be a significant part of our lives today. It is a highly beneficial tool that is essential for people when performing both cognitive and academic tasks. Like famous Greek philosopher Plato once claimed, “music is a moral law” that gives “wings to the mind” and “flight to the imagination.” Plato is correct; music enhances the functions of the mind and stimulates the thinking process. In our modern society today, we have developed almost a positive dependence on music. We are constantly thinking on a daily basis.
Music is a paramount asset that assists us in the thinking process and leads us to success in the long run. I find this to be genuinely true in my own life. As a violinist and sitar player, I feel much more mentally prepared for rigorous school assignments and tests after playing a melodious raga on the sitar or a short piece of classical music on the violin. Listening to light and soothing background music in my room while studying for a major test motivates me to continue studying and helps me in learning, retaining, and applying the information I need to know. Without music, tasks would probably be completed at lower levels of efficiency and productivity, for people’s minds wouldn’t be rejuvenated and strengthened for the mentally demanding tasks at hand. Music is, therefore, crucial for the motivation and ability to accomplish assigned work, whereby an increasingly productive and progressing community can be maintained.
