The Musical Mind
As we begin the twenty-second century scientists are finally coming to grips with the fact that music, when applied correctly, can act as a stimulant to the brain's response system to enhance its performance. This enhancement to the mind makes the neuron's response more clear, crisp, and direct. The society that has been cultivated here in America has been conformed to believe that the more we learn the more powerful we feel or become. Because of this conformity, the human race now strives to become informed and more coherent about the world around them. Just about anyone, in time, can learn about the world around them, but it is the speed at which we learn that separates the average everyday person from the geniuses from the disabled. One known way to increase the speed at which people learn is to listen to music. The correct music can enhance the speed at which the mind retains information and can actually help the mind accelerate growth. According to scientist Frances H. Rauscher, for children the earliest stages of learning are the most important. The fundamentals that we instill in the children's head will alter the way in which their minds develop both positively and negatively. Music, by itself can have a posit
ive effect on the child's learning and help it in many ways. Scientists Leng and Shaw purposed an idea for infants that music is a "pre-language" that stimulates the mind in parallel to how adults' minds work to solve problems related to spatial reasoning (Leng, 229). One way that music can enhance a child's mind is by instilling music lessons into the child's normal day activities. A fascinating study was done involving ten three-year-olds who were tested to calculate their ability to put a puzzle together and the speed at which they performed the task. After the initial test had been taken, five kids were given singing lesson for 30 minutes a day and the other five were given piano lesson for 15 minutes a week. The lessons were conducted in this manner for a six-month period. After the six-month period was complete the kids were given the same test and they showed a significant increase on the times there were able to complete it. Scientist view these puzzle solving skills to be similar to the reasoning engineers, chess players and high-level mathematicians use. Scientists know the reasoning used in these specific areas as abstract reasoning. Abstract reasoning is used in the mind subconsciously whenever a person attempts to solve a problem in which they must visualize the solution before it is obtained. Just about every kind of music does stimulate the mind in some way, but a study called the Music and Spatial Task Performance test showed that in fact the tone and beats of classical music is the optimal music. Drs. Frances H. Rauscher, Gordon L. Shaw, and Katherine N. Ky from the Center for the Neurobiology of Learning and Memory at the University of California performed a study to relate music with enhancing the minds spatial reasoning. They chose thirty-six random college students to participate in all three different listening conditions. The first listening condition was listening to Mozart's sonata for two pianos in D major, the second type of music was a relaxation tape and the third music condition was silence. Foll
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Approximate Word count = 1385
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)
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