Why study music?

[Michaelangelica]

Why study music?

 

Is there any point?

 

Should it be encouraged at school?

 

Should we teach kids to sing?

 

What do you think?

 

We often hear community leaders, politicians and police decry the values of the youth of today.

Most young people love music and it is easy to get them involved. But to become proficient in music takes hard-work, discipline, focus and consistent long-term application. These are qualities many adults say they want to see in youth and the leaders of an uncertain tomorrow.

 

Playing music in an ensemble or an orchestra is difficult. It is quite different from playing a trumpet or a piano at home. It involves teamwork, sharpened listening skills, awareness of others in your group, precision, timing, fine discrimination, poise, control and an ability to follow instructions from the conductor quickly and effectively.

It requires the individual to look to the welfare of the group as a whole. Again these are all skills we would like to see developed in our young people. Many training musicians, just slog it out alone in a room at home. This is an isolating experience and can lead to ineptness in social and performance situations.

 

Performance is what music is all about.

Performance not only brings enjoyment and pride to others in the community, it gives children and young adults confidence in front of an audience.

It also enhances their own sense of worth - they can do something that other people enjoy and appreciate.

Performing is giving of yourself. It is giving something back to the community and society you live in. It helps make you feel involved and connected to that community. It gives skills of which you can be proud.

The study of music through the ages Medieval, Baroque, Romantic, Modern of necessity involves children in a deeper understanding of the history and development of our modern world.

The study of different modes of music, Jazz, Classical, and Contemporary deepens youth’s appreciation of all music. It enriches their lives, connects them with over a 1,000 years of western culture, gives a standard by which to judge other music and gives them access to a rich tradition.

They will carry this heightened perception with them all their lives- even if they do not take up music professionally- and they will pass it on to their families.

The syudy of music theory is often said to be as hard and intellectually challenging as advanced maths or physics.

 

What do you think?

 

(PS we need a music and environment forum at Hypography)

[Farsight]

Music is good. I like music. I've got a piano. There's nothing better than a nice tinkle on a Saturday afternoon.

 

 

Anyhow. I'm not sure if people should study music. It's like footie. They should play it.

[Tormod]

I agree with popular. Music should be played. Only those who want to pursue it should study it. I did, and have a Bachelor of music perfomance.

 

But "study" can of course mean to just learn an instrument. Taking lessons is not the same as studying music (or at least, there are varying degrees of studying...).

 

I think music should be an integral part of primary school. Both listening to music and playing instruments. Learning some guitar chords can transform a person's life... (I know this for a fact ;) ).

[wine]

Why NOT learn music!

There's layers of mathematics behind that jazz.

There's fun, and expression.

It exercises the brain in so many ways.

Learning music is like learning the universe.

Yes, it may be hard to learn at first-

But, that's at first.

Soon, the individual will be rolling through their own transformations.

 

Improvisation, which comes later, is a beautiful phenomenon. Or, Ability.

We can just flow with dynamics, and rhythms, patterns...

 

What more can I say?

[Tormod]

What more can I say?

Everything that ever was is a song that is sung into existence.

[Buffy]

What more can I say?

...a moment for that tingly sensation when you listen to an epic song.

 

Greatest hits,

Buffy

[wine]

Buffy and Tormod have Soul.

 

Listen to Philip Glass!

[infamous]

Buffy and Tormod have Soul.

Very true, so very true. And as the eyes are the window on the soul, music is the doorway....................Infy

[Michaelangelica]

I agree with popular. Music should be played.

Yes maybe my wording was off

 

I think music should be an integral part of primary school. Both listening to music and playing instruments. Learning some guitar chords can transform a person's life... (I know this for a fact ;) ).

Please tell me how? It is a serious question.

I have no music yet both my father and grandfather were musical. (Grandfather used to play the piano at the pub for drinks and would be bought home every night roaring drunk-the police had to "check" :wink: each night that the publican had closed at the right time!; and after "checking" :) always gave Granpar a lift home).

My music career ended at 5 when we moved into a new house and the piano would not fit though the door. I have always had a feeling of loss:( about music. Strangely, never about any other subject- I was overjoyed to toss Latin and French as a kid.

I enrolled myself in Guitar lessons when I was 10-11. But the night my parents had to go with me to enroll me officially they came home too late. I still feel angry and disappointed about that night.

 

I am writing a submission to the Local Council :) on why music education should be promoted but with no direct experience of it myself I am finding it very hard. I just feel in my heart it is the way to go, but need logical, rational reasons.

[InfiniteNow]

If you're going to argue in favor of including music in education, one of the strongest avenues will likley be the robust data available about the "Mozart Effect." Multiple studies have repeated the positive results of this, in several modalities and paradigms (i.e. it's been tested in different ways and still holds true). There is criticism, but the data in favor of music's beneficial effect on the mind, of both adults and younger students whose mind's are still developing, is growing.

 

• [*]

Human Intelligence: Mozart Effect

[*]Neuroscience for Kids - The Musical Brain

[*]Music training causes long-term enhancement of preschool children's spatial-temporal reasoning.

[*]MIND Institute Website

 

 

Here's a pretty cool book, Exploring the Musical mind, available online:

Exploring the Musical Mind: Cognition,... - Google Book Search

In the 20 years since publication of John Sloboda's landmark volume The Musical Mind, music psychology has developed as a vibrant area of research - exerting influence on areas as diverse as music education and cognitive...

 

 

And not completely on topic, but I find interest in this little snidbit:

Clinical Nurse Specialist - Abstract: Volume 11(2) March 1997 p 43-50 Music Therapy: Proposed Physiological Mechanisms and Clinical Implications.

Studies suggest that music therapy can be an effective nursing intervention in stressful situations for decreasing anxiety, blood pressure, and heart rate

[Dov Henis]

I do not remember if I ever posted it in this form; please forgive me if this is a repeat.

 

My conjecture about music 'engulfing-touching' us:

 

Music is a human cultural-artifactual elaboration of creatures' vocal communication which is an extension-elaboration of >24-wks-old in-womb fetus' and of newborns' intimate safe/coddle/sooth experiences. Both 'touch' and 'hear' senses are founded on mechanical sensing processes involving in-cell ions leakage forming electrical action potentials interpreted neurologically.

 

I conjecture that the same neurological constellation may be handling both 'touch' and 'hear' senses, being of commom mechanisms and differing essentially only in switch-on modes, and that this evolves in all vocal creatures in conjunction with in-womb safety, followed with baby codling/handling and vocal soothing/communicating, and later also with intimate emotional implications. Hence music has 'engulfing-touching-emotional' connotation and personal music orientation has childhood-ethnic rootings.

 

Conjecturing,

 

Dov

[wine]

Ah yes, dance with that baby-

swing her in a rocker.

Sing her songs

and maybe she will too.

[InfiniteNow]

Just for interest, here is the part of the brain involved with music:

 

LONI: Laboratory of Neuro Imaging

[Monomer]

Kids should definitely have the opportunity to learn music. Some may not take to it, just as others won't take to sport, but at least they'll have the chance to see if they like it. I know so many adults who regret not learning a musical instrument when they were younger. Singing should be part of music education, at least to give kids a chance to see if it's something they'd like to pursue.

 

 

Many training musicians, just slog it out alone in a room at home. This is an isolating experience and can lead to ineptness in social and performance situations.

 

Training musicians should be encouraged to participate in a music group because it's a great way to develop skills. After I had been learning the flute for a year, and had grasped the basics, I joined an orchestra. The other musicians were far more advanced than I was so I had to learn quickly and put in some extra hard work, but it was great. We had regular rehearsals and performed throughout the year and it was such a rewarding experience. I advanced quicker than my other friends who were also learning the flute but just practiced at home. I was able to play fourth grade music when they were still struggling with second grade, and I had a much better ear for music.

 

Kids should also be able to learn music in a fun environment without any pressure. I began piano lessons a few years ago but quit after a year because my teacher took all the joy out of it. He was so demanding and so annoyed if I missed a day's practice (he couldn't understand that I also had other interests and full-time employment). I didn't go near the piano for a couple of years after that. I agree with Tormod that music should be studied by those who are really keen, and for those who just want to play for fun, they should learn what they need to play adequately. Also, those who want to pursue music as a career will put in the hard work required.

 

Also, like InfiniteNow posted, music has some interesting effects on the brain. Sometimes music is the only way to communicate with a person with autism. When I'm feeling down often the right song can pick me up again.

 

You know Michaelangelica, it's never too late to learn

[Bec]

I believe research has shown that students who play a musical instrument perform better in school, also.

[CraigD]

Though Music can be studied very formally, and require great amounts of study and innate ability, many people learn it well via other less formal, “folk” traditions. In my extended neighborhood, a lot of us put effort into promoting a “jam” tradition of beginners and novices of all ages singing and playing instruments together. A lot of people exposed to this go on to more formal studies (my youngest son grew up in it, then majored in music performance in college – I remember his surprise, upon entered public kindergarten classes at the age of 5, that his classmates and teachers thought it unusual that he could sing and play several instruments), but for many, folk is as good as they feel the need to get. True “folk traditional” musicians, with almost no formal training, many not even able to sight-read printed music, can be amazingly good, and, rarely, even make full-time livings at it. While not among them, my wife can’t read music, has no education beyond the general music that was taught in nearly all US public schools in the 1960s, but has had several of the songs she’s written and performed recorded by moderately well-known pros.

 

Because the love of music, IMHO, is much more widespread than the availability and desire for formal Music education, I think there will always be folk music traditions. More than just a source of pleasure and social lubrication, these traditions influence music and culture in general. The popular music of today is as much a product of the work of uneducated folk musicians as of highly trained musicians, a fusion that I think has been better for music and culture than either tradition alone.

 

My music career ended at 5 when we moved into a new house and the piano would not fit though the door.

You know Michaelangelica, it's never too late to learn

I agree.

 

Instruments are cheap, and most musicians love to help people learn to play them. The major barriers are, I think, social – if you don’t already know of a local musical community, it can be hard to find one, though, unless you live in a very unpopulated place, there’s almost certainly one or more of them to be found. Restaurants and bars with live open mike nights, music stores, or any public place where people are playing music, are good places to look.

[Monomer]

I like the sound of your neighbourhood CraigD! Out of interest, how well did your son do at school with his other subjects?

 

 

I believe research has shown that students who play a musical instrument perform better in school, also.

 

Apparently they do. Here's some info:

 

Music Education Facts and Figures

 

musint