How Music Affects Us: A Medley  -  Part 1


    taken from "Music Advocacy Action Kit," provided
    by The Selmer Company for School Reform sessions
    presented by Tim Lautzenheiser and Michael Kumer at
    the 1999 Midwest Band and Orchestra Clinic in Chicago


*  Scientists have found that music involves the left, right, front, and back portions of the brain. - Donald Hodges, "Neuromusical Research."   Handbook of Music Psychology.  (San Antonio: IMR Press, 1996).

*  Studies show that tonotopic maps (pathways in the brain involved in determining the pitch of a note played on a piano) are about 25 percent larger in musicians than non-musicians, demonstrating that musical experiences during childhood influence the development of the
brain's auditory cortex. - "Neurology: Musical 'Maps' May Grow with Experience." Washington Post, April 1998.

*  Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) shows that certain areas of the brain -- the planum temporale and corpus callosum -- are larger in musicians than in non-musicians and even more exaggerated for those musicians who started training before age seven.   (The planum temporale plays an important role in language and in early auditory processing.  The corpus callosum transfers information from one hemisphere of the brain to the other.) - Donald Hodges, "Neuromusical Research."   Handbook of Music Psychology.  (San Antonio: IMR Press, 1996), 242.

*  Neurologist Dr. Gottfried Schlaug of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston found that the cerebellum, which contains about 70 percent of the brain's neurons, is about 5 percent larger in expert male musicians than in men who have not had extensive musical training. - Robert Lee Hotz, "Study Suggests Music May Someday Help Repair Brain."  Los Angeles Times, November 9, 1998.

* Listening to Baroque music while studying can enhance one's ability to memorize spellings, poetry, and foreign words. - Don Campbell, The Mozart Effect.  (New York: Avon
Books, 1997), 74-75.

*  Music can boost productivity in the workplace. Businesses like AT&T, DuPont, and Equitable Life Insurance have cut training time in half, increased output, and raised efficiency with creative music programs. - Business Music: A Performance Tool for the Office/
Workplace (Seattle: Muzak, 1991).


Next week:
   How Music Affects Us: A Medley  -  Part 2