Music on the Mind--The Corpus Callosum

This is an exerpt from a NEWSWEEK article by Sharon Begley.

The brain seems to be a sponge for music and, like a sponge in water, is changed by it. The brain's left and right hemispheres are connected by a big trunk line called the corpus callosum. When they compared the corpus callosum in 30 nonmusicians with the corpus callosum in 30 professional string and piano players, researchers led by Dr. Gottfried Schlaug of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston found striking differences. The front part of this thick cable of neurons is larger in musicians, especially if they began their training before the age of 7. The front of the corpus callosum connects the two sides of the prefrontal cortex, the site of planning and foresight. It also connects the two sides of the premotor cortex, where actions are mapped out before they're executed. "These con-nections are critical for coordinating fast, bi-manual movements" such as those a pianist's hands execute in an allegro movement, says Schlaug. The neural highway connecting the right and left brain may explain something else, too. The right brain is linked to emotion, the left to cognition. The greatest musicians, of course, are not only masters of technique but also adept at infusing their playing with emotion. Perhaps this is why.

This article entitled

Will Music Make You Smarter?

also supports children beginning music before age 7 and a more developed corpus callosum.

Kindermusik is such a terrific program for children during their formative years. The greatest neural growth occurs befor age 2 so having your child in a developmentally appropriate music program will help prepare them for success in all areas of life. However, all is not lost if you are older then age 7 or even a senior. Studies have shown in the last few years that the brain is very plastic if we continually give it new challenges such as learning an instrument. Make music part of your life--you won't regret it.

Quick facts about music lessons

According to a recent Gallup poll:
• More than half of U.S. households (52%) has at least one person, age 5 or older, who currently plays a musical instrument
• 85% of Americans believe that music is a very important part of their life
• 82% of Americans wish they had learned to play a musical instrument, and 67% expressed an interest in learning to play
• 94% of respondents believe music is part of a well-rounded education, and that schools should offer instrument music instruction as part of the regular curriculum
• 85% believe participation in school music corresponds with better grades and higher test scores
• Seniors are turning to music making as not just an enjoyable pastime, but also for the health and wellness benefits such as enhanced immune systems, stress reduction, and staving off depression and loneliness

The Healing Power of Music

Here is an amazing story about a young violinist who made an amazing recovery due to his musical training.

“Better Minds Through Music” by Michael Shasberger, Adams Professor of Music and Worship, Westmont Magazine, Fall 1997

In 2007, one of our violin students nearly died in a car accident and lay in a coma for several weeks. Doctors told the family there was little hope of recovery. He did regain consciousness, however, and while he had limited speech, he couldn’t form cogent thoughts or recognize simple objects. Case workers predicted months or years of therapy and doubted he’d recover his intellectual capabilities.

His violin professor visited him in the midst of these assessments. At the time, the student was doing tests that determined he couldn’t recognize or name simple objects such as a spoon. Then Dr. Phil Ficsor took out his violin and put it in the student’s hand. Perplexed, the student was unable to name the instrument and said he didn’t know what to do with it. Dr. Ficsor put the bow in his other hand and encouraged him to try. Moments later he was playing music from memory that he’d studied a few months earlier. Two months later he was back in school playing drums in the Chapel Band and violin in the orchestra and taking a full academic load. Music played a seemingly miraculous role in a recovery that exceeded the doctor’s wildest imagination. But it wasn’t miraculous. It was the result of violin studies this young man began at the age of 6. The musical resources of both his brain hemispheres were so strongly developed and linked that they could pull together when linguistic skills, which operate in only one lobe, couldn’t. His parents’ investment in musical studies —and the resources committed to his high school orchestra —made the difference. What happened to this student vividly illustrates the value of music education.

I wonder. If musical training had such a profound effect when it was begun at six, (a year past the time when most of the neural connections are finished forming), what could the brain do as a result of having had developmentally appropriate musical “training” since infancy?

As promised, here’s the link to the whole article.

My Bunny Lies Over the Ocean

I love our Quiet/Rocking Time in my classes each week (in Imagine That it’s about once a month.) Sharing a special rocking time with your child helps them learn how to hear, feel, and see the beat. It is a whole-body experience: they hear the beat, feel the beat, and see the beat as you rock together. It also builds their self-esteem, soothes, provides rhythmic motion, and promotes muscular strength, control, and balance.

“My Bonnie Lies Over the Ocean” has been a great snuggle song in Our Time lately. It is a traditional Scottish song, but the origins are a bit unclear. Some think it is about Charles Edward Stuart, who was more commonly referred to as Bonnie Prince Charlie.

I love it when the kids in class sing along with the song! Some of the wonderful renditions I’ve heard recently are: “My Body Lies Over the Ocean”, and even “My Mommy Lies Over the Sea”. I like that we can “bring back my mommy to me!”

Warner Brothers took it one funny thought further and came up with “My Bunny Lies Over the Sea.” (Sort of a rabbit trail, here…) Most people can't resist a fluffy bunny, but I still think one of my favorite rabbits of all time is Bugs Bunny! Anyway, I found the cartoon for you on YouTube – so here you go!

Why We Teach Music

Music is scientific.

It is precise, specific, and demands accurate acoustics. A conductor's score is a complex chart that indicates frequency, intensity, volume, melody, and harmony, all at once and with the most exact control of time.

Music is mathematical.

It is rhythmically based on the subdivisions of time into fractions that must be calculated, interpreted, and applied instantaneously.

Music is foreign language.

Most of the terms are in Italian, German, or French, and notation is a highly developed kind of shorthand based on symbols that represent ideas. The semantics of music is the most complete and universal language known.

Music is history.

It reflects the environment and times of its creation, including the cultural and social values.

Music is physical education.

It requires exceptional coordination of fingers, hands, arms, lips, cheeks, and facial muscles. It also takes extraordinary control of the diaphragm, which in turns uses the back, stomach, and chest muscles.

Music is philosophy.

It demands research and develops insight and perspective.

Music is art.

It allows a human being to take dry, boring, and often difficult techniques and use them to create emotion.

Music is the human experience.

Music pieces are as complex and varied as life itself. Music inspires thought, reflection and emotion-- much like human relations do. Rhythm and tone simulate moods-- such as joy, sorrow or anger. Music relates to us the stories of human experience. We do not teach music because we expect you to major in music or become a professional musician. Nor do we teach music because we expect you to play or sing all your life (although you might).

We teach music so you will recognize beauty.

We teach music so you will have more compassion.

We teach music so you can be fully human.

Joel Bernstein - Musician, Archivist