Studio3Music Blog

Archive for the ‘Music and the brain’ Category

Aug
1

Whistle while you work? Maybe NOT such a good idea.

Posted in Bits and Pieces, Music and the brain

By now, it’s pretty commonly accepted that music treats anxiety and depression, and can increase cognitive abilities. However, it wasn’t until recently that a study looked at how we listen to music. Does listening to music before a task have the same results as listening to music during a task? Does it matter what kind of music is listened to? (Music that is liked or disliked, for instance.)

This particular study from Applied Cognitive Psychology done at the University of Wales Institute caught my eye, because I can listen to music while doing tasks like gardening or doing laundry, but music becomes totally irritating to me while I am doing taxes, writing, or reading. And it doesn’t matter if it is Allison Krauss or Dvorak.

I’m continually nagging my 11 year old to pull his earbuds out while he’s doing his homework. He swears he can listen and work at the same time. We are so not in agreement, but it wasn’t until this study I had some potential evidence on my side.

Keep in mind that in this study, the participants had to perform a serial recall (recall a list of 8 consonants in presentation order). They did this task with different sound environments. (Including  music both liked and disliked.) The most accurate recall occurred when there was no music.

Lead researcher Nick Perham explains it this way: “The poorer performance of the music and changing-state sounds are due to the acoustical variation within those environments. This impairs the ability to recall the order of items, via rehearsal, within the presented list. Mental arithmetic also requires the ability to retain order information in the short-term via rehearsal, and may be similarly affected by their performance in the presence of changing-state, background environments.”

So, if you need to memorize and recall information (like when I’m working with numbers or technical writing), listen to music before you begin. It will put you in a better frame of mind to perform the task. But turn off the music when you start.

­-posted by Miss Analiisa, who now knows the reason that she keeps putting the TV on pause when she gets to a particularly difficult “think through” moment while writing this blog.

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Jul
26

Quiet Time

Posted in Bits and Pieces, Music and the brain, Things We Love

In this busy world, it’s vital to find time to simply do nothing. This downtime is necessary to allow your child’s brain to process the learning that has occured during the structures activities of his day. And the ability to relax is a learned skill; we aren’t born knowing how! As your little one grows up and [...]

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Jul
19

Want a better reader?

Posted in Child Development, Music and the brain, Things to do, parenting

So, it’s summertime. Many parents I know (including myself) know summer provides a great opportunity for catching up with all the areas in school your child might need a little extra work in. As parents and teachers, we also know some of what they learned last school year seems to fall out of their brains [...]

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Jul
8

Music and “21st Century Skills”

Posted in Child Development, Music and the brain

If you’re a parent with children in school, you’ve likely heard about something called “21st Century Skills”. It’s one of those buzzwords that are created as education is revamped and redirected.  (I remember being part of the “New Math” experiment in Elementary School.) Really, the core subjects our children need to learn hasn’t changed. But [...]

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Jul
1

Born to Dance

Posted in Child Development, Music and the brain

The following is from an interesting article I read in ScienceDaily: Researchers have discovered that infants respond to the rhythm and tempo of music and find it more engaging than speech. The findings, based on the study of infants aged between five months and two years old, suggest that babies may be born with a [...]

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Jun
29

Introducing opera to children. (Without turning them off!)

Posted in Bits and Pieces, Music and the brain, Things to do

We’ve heard, through our Kindermusik classes, how important it is to introduce your child to different styles of music. I’m guessing for most of you, opera has not been high on the list. The word “opera” can seem intimidating, but opera is simply a musical drama. Opera can offer many developmental benefits for your child [...]

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