Elora Dash

4/1/15
Professor Malcolm Campbell
UWRT 1103
The Language And Skill That Transcends All Others: Music
When I was 7 years old, I took my first piano class. My parents forced me to start
just like every other kid who was learning an instrument at a young age. Learning to read
music is like learning a different language. Translating notes to physical spaces on a
piano is a skill that can take years to master. Even after ten years of playing piano, its
difficult to sightread. Although my parents forced me, I am glad they did, What my

Commented [cp1]: grammar

parents and I might not have known was all the positive effects learning music can have
on a young persons brain.What are the affects learning music can have on a students
academic skills and test scores? Studies have shown that learning music can improve

Commented [cp2]: awkward sentence

Commented [cp3]: grammar

emotional sensing skills, IQ, spatial reasoning, and test scores.

The idea of Mozart Makes You Smarter is not necessarily the case, but there is
some truth behind it. A 1993 study showed that college students who listened to a Mozart
sonata before taking a spatial reasoning test did better that student who didnt. Spatial
reasoning is defined as the ability we use to position and orientate ourselves in everyday
environments. Spatial reasoning consists of two main abilities namely spatial
visualization ability which is your ability to call up images in your mind and the ability to
reason with these images. While plugging in your iPod and listening to music may not

Commented [cp4]: love that you defined that, make sure

you cite it

actually make you smarter, Ani Patel, associate professor of psychology at Tufts
University says theres now a growing body of work that suggests that actually learning

Commented [cp5]: capitalize

to play a musical instrument does have impacts on other abilities. Music neuroscience is
a relatively new field, taking off in 2000. Research in this field has implications about the
affect of music on developing brains. With this research, music could start being more
strongly implemented into school curriculums. Test scores arent even the most important
part. Learning an instrument can improve skills that arent typically measured in school,
but can have a great affect on a childs success in life.

Commented [cp6]: interesting, talk more about it

However, music training at a young age does in fact improve test scores. At the
Conservatory Lab Charter School in Boston, every student is enrolled in a music class.
Diana Lam, head of the school, says that this helps students strive in all areas of their life
and it has shown results; Since we started implementing El Sistema, the Venezuelan
music program, as well as project-based learning, our test scores have increased
dramatically, she reports. As another example, a study published in 2007 by Christopher
Johnson, professor of music education and music therapy at the University of Kansas,
revealed that children who attended schools with superior music programs scored about
22% higher in English and 20% higher in math on standardized tests regardless of
socioeconomic disparities.
This raises the question of what is the mechanism that actually causes this?
Nadine Gaab, a neuropsychologist at Boston Childrens Hospital, and a team of
researchers study childrens brain development are looking for a connection between
language development and musical training. Their research so far shows that musical
training and improved executive functioning are correlated. She hypothesizes that the
executive functioning skills have an affect on a students academic skills. To find out, her
team gave musically trained and non-musically trained students executive functioning

Commented [cp7]: what makes them superior?

tasks while scanning their brains with an MRI machine. They looked for brain activity in
the prefrontal cortex, known to be the area in the brain for executive functioning. Results
showed that children and adults with musical training had better executive functioning
skills in comparison to their peers, and children who learned an instrument had more
activation in the prefrontal cortex than those who didnt. Although this is evidence that
musical training can be beneficial for the brain, it is unknown whether musical training
leads to better executive functioning or vice-versa. Gaab hypothesizes that the former is
more likely.
The question still remains: Why does musical training affect developing brains in
this way? Neuropsychologist Patel has developed a theory that could answer this question
that is called the OPERA hypothesis. It stands for overlap, precision, emotion, repetition,
and attention. Patel explains that That level of precision in processing music... is much
higher than the level of precision used in processing speech. This means that
developing our brains musical networks may very well enhance our ability to process
speech. So this idea that music sometimes places higher demands on the brain, on
some of the same shared networks that we use for other abilities, allows the music to
actually enhance those networks, and those abilities benefit.
On the other hand, one study showed that music can be distracting while taking a
test. Students often have music playing while theyre driving, while theyre walking to
class, and especially while theyre studying. A study at the University of Nebraska at
Omaha showed that there is no correlation between listening to music and better test
scores. Students in a music appreciation class at a small university, none of which were
music majors, were exposed to classical, popular, and no music while taking a math test.

Commented [cp8]: Go more into the theory

Results showed that the music had no effect on the math test scores with any type of

Commented [cp9]: Like that you distinguished between

listening and larning

music or listening style. This studys results support that of two other studies by Wolfe
(1983) and LaBach (1960), but it does not take into account the long term effects of
actually learning music. This further disproves the idea of Mozart Makes You Smarter.
There is plenty of evidence that shows that music can improve many types of
skills in developing brains that lead to improved academic skills, but is this true of every
case? A study from Northwestern University revealed that a child must be engaged in a
music class to fully glean the benefits of it. My parents forced me to take piano lessons,
but had I not practiced and actively tried to learn, I would not have benefitted from taking
lessons. Nina Kraus, director of Northwesterns Auditory Neuroscience Laboratory and a
co-author of the study says, Even in a group of highly motivated students, small
variations in music engagement attendance and class participation predicted the
strength of neural processing after music training. Additionally, students who played an
instrument had more neural processing than students who took a music appreciation
class. Kraus says that making music matters. They found this out by attaching electrode
wires to students heads to measure brain responses. Kraus teamed up with the Harmony
Project, a community music program for students coming from low-income families, to
back up the projects success with scientific research. According to the Harmony
Projects website, 93% of Harmony Project seniors have gone to college, even though
there is a 50% dropout rate in their neighborhoods. The research was published in the
Journal of Neuroscience concluding that the students musical involvement did indeed
contribute to these statistics. To keep children interested in music, Kraus suggests finding

Commented [cp10]: Like the flow and transitioning into

addressing a question the reader might have

the music they like and the teachers that are right for them; Making music should be
something that children enjoy and will want to keep doing for many years!
Learning music is similar to learning another language, in fact, it can require more
from your brain than learning a language will. Music has been used to help students learn
new languages by singing. According to the Childrens Music workshop, Recent studies
have clearly indicated that musical training physically develops the part of the left side of
the brain known to be involved with processing language, and can actually wire the
brains circuits in specific ways. Linking familiar songs to new information can also help
imprint information on young minds. Music has been around for 500,000 years while
speech and language were only developed 200,000 years ago. Researchers at Oxford
University indicate that the use of language in humans stems from our initial use of music
which explains why our music and language neural networks are so closely related and

Commented [cp11]: Explain more

why children who learn music are better at learning grammar, vocabulary, and
pronunciation in other languages. Finnish children are exposed to music instruction at the
age of seven and are taught new languages starting from the age of nine. The average
Finnish person is fluent in three to five different languages. Even an hour of musical
instruction a week can make a difference.

Commented [cp12]: Put this somewhere else, perhaps

near the start of the paper

Music is a big part of many peoples lives. Whether you listen to it or you learn to
play it, there is significant evidence that it has many positive benefits.The future of music
neuroscience is bright and with more research, music can be implemented into every
young childs school curriculum. Even as adults, its never too late to learn something
new. Even a small bit of musical instruction can impact our cognitive abilities. Although
my parents initially had to force me to attend piano lessons, those first few lessons

Commented [cp13]: grammar

sparked an interest in my seven-year-old brain and inspired me to become the musician I

am today. I am excited to see where music neuroscience goes in the future and I hope to
be a part of it.
Commented [cp14]: Love your paper! Very interesting
topic. Very inquisitive and interesting. Overall the flow
works very well, and is easy to read. Correct some grammar
and consider suggestions! Well done

Works Cited
Brown, Laura L. "Eat Smart for a Great Start Newsletter." PBS. PBS, n.d. Web. 02 Apr.
2015.
Henriksson-Macaulay, Liisa. "Are Musicians Better Language Learners?" The Guardian.
The Guardian, 27 Feb. 2014. Web. 2 Apr. 2015.
Hicks, George. "How Playing Music Affects The Developing Brain." CommonHealth
RSS. 90.9 WBUR, 17 July 2014. Web. 02 Apr. 2015.
Locker, Melissa. "This Is How Music Can Change Your Brain." Time. Time, 16 Dec.
2014. Web. 02 Apr. 2015.
Manthei, Mike. "Effects of Popular and Classical Background Music on the Math Test
Scores of Undergraduate Students." Effects of Popular and Classical Background
Music on the Math Test Scores of Undergraduate Students. University of Nebraska
at Omaha, n.d. Web. 02 Apr. 2015.
"Spatial Reasoning - Fibonicci." Fibonicci. Fibonicci, n.d. Web. 02 Apr. 2015.