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Kyle Feeney
Campbell MW
English 1103
4/25/15
The Musical Mind
The mind is a beautiful thing isn't it? Some say that our brain is who we are and our
bodies are just a way in which to protect our brains. I would have to agree with that statement,
because it truly seems that our brains are what makes us who we are. I find it fascinating how the
mind works and is able to remember things it learned long ago. It also tells us our emotions and
how certain topics and people make us feel. It controls how our bodies move and allows us to
interact with other people. And our brains allow us to interact with the physical world through
our five senses. Even though these are very simple things that we do every day, when you look at
each thing I have just mentioned very closely it is amazing how the brain processes all these
things. But humans always are wanting to push their brains to do more. There is always room to
grow in knowledge and so in this day and age what is valued would be things such as: math,
science, advances in technologies, etc. But what about music? Is music valued for it abilities to
advance the mind the same way that math and science are valued? With the recent defunding of
the arts all across America I would have to say that they are not. The fact is that both listening to
and playing music are amazing ways to advance your brains abilities! It helps out in areas such
as memory and foreign language skills. Music has really become over looked and under
appreciated in our society today, but if you are wanting a fun way to advance your brains
abilities then there is only one solution for you: Music.

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The Differences Between Listening to Music and Playing Music
There was research done in 1993 on listening to music called the Mozart Effect which
many people still believe in today. The premise is you listen to classical music (typically as a
baby) and it will give you all sorts of crazy memory abilities and mathematical skills you didn't
have before. It really promised a lot to people but could not deliver. What can deliver on all these
big promises would be actually playing a musical instrument. Nina Kraus, a neuroscientist at
Northwestern University, has done a study on a community music program serving low-income
children in Los Angeles, and found that kids who play instruments are able to hear and process
sounds that they couldn't before. The children who participated in the study were able to identify
the spoken words pill and bill which are very vital to the ability of being able to read. Kraus
also tested adults who had played instruments as children, and even if they hadnt played in a
long time the test still showed that their brains responded faster to speech sounds. The more
years that the adult played their instrument the faster their brain responded to these speech
sounds. These speech sounds were very fast and complicated consonants and as people age they
lose the ability to hear them, but if you had played an instrument as a child your ability to hear
the speech sounds is vastly improved. "It turns out that playing a musical instrument is
important," Kraus said. "We don't see these kinds of biological changes in people who are just
listening to music, who are not playing an instrument. I like to give the analogy that you're not
going to become physically fit just by watching sports. (qtd. in Toppo).

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What Benefits Are Offered From Music?
So it seems that listening to music really doesn't help us improve our brains abilities as
much as playing an instrument will, but what kind of benefits can music really offer our brains?
One of the many benefits would have to be improvement in cognitive abilities. That sounds great
and all but what are cognitive abilities? Dr. Pascale Michelon, a Research Scientist at
Washington University and SharpBrains' Manager for Educational Projects, says Cognitive
abilities are brain-based skills we need to carry out any task from the simplest to the most
complex. They have more to do with the mechanisms of how we learn, remember, problemsolve, and pay attention rather than with any actual knowledge. (Michelon). So playing an
instrument really helps with every day abilities of hearing, motor skills, decision making, etc.
These are not the only things that playing an instrument helps with. Being a musician has
actually been shown to have helped raise kids and adults IQs up to seven points over all.
Richard Alleyne, a writer for The Telegraph, tells us that Experts said there is growing evidence
that musicians have structurally and functionally different brains compared with non-musicians in particular, the areas of the brain used in processing and playing music. (Alleyne). Being a
musician really seems to be an exercise for the brain and strengthens it in the same what weight
lifting strengthens our other muscles. The benefits that parents most want for their children
would probably be the ability of self-discipline and planning skills. Tests have been done to show
that people who play instruments are more self-disciplined because of the will power it takes to
keep going through the same piece of music over and over again. You also must be able to plan
in practices into your day and that helps as well. Playing an instrument also helps with learning

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foreign languages and read peoples emotions better because you have to understand tone in
music. (Alleyne).

What Is The Best Time To Start Learning An Instrument?

Well it seems like the best time to start would be right now if you haven't already, but the
ideal time would be when you are a child. Virginia Penhune, a psychology professor at
Concordia University in Montreal, says there's a "sensitive period" when musical training most
interacts with normal brain development. Penhune did a study with 36 adults musicians, half of
which started musical training before they were seven, and the other half later in life. What we
found is that the younger you start your training, the stronger the connection between the two
motor regions of your brain, (Penhune). It really seemed that those who started younger playing
the guitar or violin had a very high level of hand coordination. I have actually experienced this
myself. I started to play musical instruments when I was only seven years old. I started out
playing the violin and played that for seven years. After the violin I played the bass guitar and
recently, about a year ago, I began to play the guitar. On the other hand, my brother started to
play the trumpet when he was around thirteen. He then switched to clarinet and finally his dream,
the saxophone. When he was finally done with playing in the school band he decided he wanted
to play all his favorite rock and roll songs. Unfortunately rock and roll songs with the saxophone
in them are few and far between. So he put down then saxophone to play the electric guitar. He
tried to teach himself but he struggled to do so. Mom got him lessons and he started to do better
but it was real slow. After a few months he felt like he was getting nowhere and so he quit
lessons and put the guitar down. About a year later is when I began to learn to play the guitar. A

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bunch of my friends can play the guitar so I asked one of them while we were hanging out to
give me a simple song to play. He showed me a song with five chords in it and by the end of the
night I could strum something that sounded like it could be music. I worked on it for another
week and by the end of the week I had learned my first song. It just came to me real naturally.
After about a month I had learned about ten songs or so. After a year I was very proficient with
chords and actually played for my church on a weekly basis. My brother was a little jealous of
how easy it all came to me. Since I have played string instruments my whole life it never has
taken me long to learn another stringed instrument. One time I learned how to play the ukulele in
one sitting. There is nothing wrong with my brother or something extra special about me, I
simply learned to play string instruments at that sensitive period that was mentioned earlier.

What Can Listening To Music Do For You?

Even though listening to music will never have the same effect as playing an instrument
itself there are still benefits of just purely enjoying a great song. It has been said that music is
simply what emotions sound like. I would have to agree with this because of the way music is
able to touch all people in ways that words simply can not do. Music is like an international
language. It is able to bridge any language barrier that is put in front of it and can make you
smile even if you have no idea what it means. I have played music with people that do not speak
the same language as me and I felt like we were speaking the same language. Music connects all
humans and effects us all in very similar ways. Music also stirs us at our biological roots. Jonah
Lehrer, a writer for the website WIRED, says, When listening to our favorite songs, our body
betrays all the symptoms of emotional arousal. The pupils in our eyes dilate, our pulse and blood

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pressure rise, the electrical conductance of our skin is lowered, and the cerebellum, a brain
region associated with bodily movement, becomes strangely active. Blood is even re-directed to
the muscles in our legs. (Lehrer). So music is almost hardwired into all of us. I think the best
part about music though would be the drugs it pumps in our system. Not the illegal kind but the
kind that is naturally produced in our bodies. Lehrer says that a team of Montreal researchers
brought in ten people who got the chills when they listened to their favorite song. The
scientists look at their brains and right before the participants favorite part came up and they got
the chills their body released endorphins into their body. Endorphins are better known as the
pleasure drug that is associated with happiness. So simply put music makes you happy on a
biological level. The odd thing was that the endorphins were released right before their favorite
part not actually at their favorite part. Leonard Meyer says in his book that as humans if we are
listening to a song and it is very predictable we will not enjoy it very much, but when the song is
complicated and keeps us on our toes we love it. Our favorite part is when everything that is
complicated goes back to what we expect and what we want and that is when the endorphins are
released (qtd. in Lehrer). We love for things to wrap up nice and pretty but for anything to wrap
up there has to be a problem first, there has to be tension. People love tension just as much as
they love satisfying conclusions.

Can Music Help You Study?

Another topic people love to discuss on the topic of music is its abilities to help you
focus. This can mean many different things from studying, to doing homework, to doing work at
your job. There are many people on both sides of the argument. While some people will swear by

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using music to help them focus others will tell you they hate it and it doesn't work. So who is
right? The answer is they are both right. Laura Rosenfeld , a journalist for Tech Times, wrote
about a study done by the Wake Forest School of Medicine and the University of North Carolina
Greensboro, found that when you listen to music you actually enjoy you can focus help your
mind better. The researchers took 21 young adults and placed them in an MRI to monitor their
brain waves while they played a few different genres of music and finally that persons favorite
song. The test showed that when the people would listen to their favorite song, or at the very
least a song in a genera they liked, their brain would connect to their default mode network. Our
default mode network is actually what helps us switch between thinking about what is going on
around us and our self-referential thoughts, which is where we relate material we are learning to
ourselves. This research shows us that it is not just about the type of music that people listen to
but also their personal preference (Rosenfeld). It isn't all about what your personal preference is
though. Van Thompson, an attorney and writer, says that Music with lyrics activates the
language-processing centers of the brain, and the University of Phoenix advises that this can be
distracting. Particularly if you're reading or studying subjects within the humanities, the act of
processing musical lyrics as you try to process the words you're studying can make studying
more challenging. (Thompson). So when it comes to lyrics in your music it is harder to focus on
reading or writing. It makes since because it is hard to listen and do anything else at the same
time and be able to understand all that is being said to you. We have already talked about the
Mozart Effect and how it doesn't make you smarter but it does seem to help you study. There is
nothing special about classical music but it does seem to relax people and since it usually has no
lyrics it is great to have playing in the background as you study or do work (Thompson). I

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actually wrote this whole paper with classical music playing in the background. My favorite is
classical guitars playing classical music. Playing music has also been shown to help people in the
work place. This is because it boosts mood and seems to help motivate people (Thompson). I
know that you're thinking now that I am clearly showing that music helps people study so how
can both people be right? The fact is that some people never can focus with their favorite song on
because they want to only listen to that. There are plenty of people who can have music as back
ground noise and so they will never benefit from listening to music while doing work. Music is
different for all people as well as its effects.

What Are Our Findings?

Music is one of the very best things for our bodies. It not only is able to connect us to
people and make us happy, but is also able to exercise and focus our brains. And while
listening to music has its benefits, only listening to music does not have the same benefits as
being a musician does. However, if you want the best results from music the sooner you start to
play the better off you are because of the "sensitive period" of development you have in your
brain as a child. To sum it all up, music is one the best way to advance your brains abilities and is
without a doubt the most fun way.

Works Cited
Allenye, Richard. "Playing a Musical Instrument Makes You Brainier." The Telegraph. Telegraph
Media Group, 27 Oct. 2009. Web. 22 Feb. 2015.
Lehrer, Jonah. "The Neuroscience Of Music" Wired.com. Conde Nast Digital, 19 Jan. 2011. Web.
05 Mar. 2015.
Michelon, Pascale, Dr. "What Are Cognitive Skills and Abilities?." SharpBrains RSS.
Sharp Brains, 18 Dec. 2006. Web. 23 Mar. 2015.
Norton, Andrea, Marie Forgeard, Gottfried Schlaug, and Ellen Winner. "Practicing a Musical
Instrument in Childhood Is Associated with Enhanced Verbal Ability and Nonverbal
Reasoning." PLOS ONE:. PLOS, 29 Oct. 2008. Web. 24 Feb. 2015.
Rosenfeld, Laura. "Does Music Help You Focus? Yes, but Only If You like the Music." Tech
Times RSS. Tech Times, 30 Aug. 2014. Web. 19 Apr. 2015.
Thompson, Van. "Does Listening to Music While Doing Homework Affect Your Grade in
School?" Education. Demand Media, n.d. Web. 20 Apr. 2015.
Toppo, Greg. "This Is Your Brain on a Musical Instrument." USA Today. Gannett, 02 Sept. 2014.
Web. 21 Feb. 2015.
Wise, Brian. "After the 'Mozart Effect': Music's Real Impact on the Brain." WQXR - New York's
Classical Music Radio Station. WQXR, 6 Nov. 2013. Web. 24 Mar. 2015.