Music

Formal musical training improves intellectual skills in several domains

Intellectual Benefits

• Some scientist think we are born musical
• Studies have shown that musicians are better listeners(can detect dramatic or subtle differences more than non-musicians)
• Musical training provides direct improvements in working memory (working memory is a key constituent of executive function)

Formal music training also aids social cognition

Social/Emotional Benefits

• Prosocial skills (behavior done for the good of group or individual) are strengthened when performing in a musical group
• Musicians are better at detecting emotion
• Music lessons make kids more empathic
• Music changes your mood through actual hormonal changes (increases dopamine, cortisol, oxytocin)

MUSIC: the unexplainable healing power

Healing Power of Music

• Using music as medicine for sick patients has a long history (dating back to Greek physician Hippocrates, WWI, WWII, to present day)
• Has been shown to aid speech recovery in head-trauma patients
• Prematurely born infants gain weight more rapidly (it is now standard to play music in NICUs)
• Music-therapy patients routinely outscore patients exposed to more traditional therapies
• calms patients down as well as reduces pain
• "Nothing activates the brain so extensively as music." -Dr.Oliver Sacks

Why should you care?

• Executive function predicts students' future undergraduate performances better than their state tests, or even their IQ.(p.208)
• Emotional regulation has powerful effect on academic performance(refer to stress chapter)
• Aids in developing AND healing the whole child