When I was in grade school, a couple of my friends signed up
for piano classes and my parents seized the opportunity to sign me up as well. After
the first class, however, it was absolutely clear to me that I had no interest
in music. I was seven years old and I had adamantly given up on any future
career in music after that one piano class. I told my parents about my decision
and they laughed it off saying “you just need to give it a chance”. After a few
more classes I again pleaded with my parents to take me off the piano class.
Seeing how determined I was in my decision, they promised that if I didn’t like
the classes by the end of the month they would take me off them. What a
deception that was. I ended up going to piano classes every other week FOR AN
ENTIRE YEAR after what my parents had originally promised.
Why did my parents force me to take piano classes, even
after it was clear that I had no interest in music? Well, like most people,
they’d heard of all the great benefits that come with playing an instrument.
Claims such as the (largely debunked) Mozart
effect can lead anyone to think that playing music will turn us into
geniuses as soon as we pick up an instrument. However, while playing music does
positively affect the brain and how we think, these claims are often
exaggerated, incomplete, or both. The truth is that if you want to have any
significant effects on your brain, you must be engaged while playing an
instrument.
As explained in an article from TIME magazine, studies have
found that just going to music classes won’t result in any significant benefit to
a child’s brain. Instead, they must actively engage in the lesson if they want
to see any change in their neurons. In fact, neuron processing strength could
be predicted by the attendance and participation of individual students. By
using EEG machines, the study was able to monitor changes in neuron connections
before, during, and after each music session. Furthermore, compared to students
who regularly attended and practiced with actual instruments, students who
attended music appreciation classes showed no significant change in their
neuronal processing activity.
So, attending music classes won’t automatically turn us into
Albert Einstein; time to throw away the violin and do something productive, right?
Well, just wait a minute. As seen in Dr. Dye’s study on speech perception,
musical training does correlate with an increase understanding of specific
sounds. In this study he found that musicians (when compared to non-musicians)
were better at discerning and understanding sentences that were masked by unintelligible
noise originating at different sources. One of the reasons, the study argues,
for the added benefit is that musical training places significant demands on
auditory processing. Therefore, it is reasonable to expect that musicians will
have a more fine-tuned ability to discern and focus on independent sounds and their
sources.
Furthermore, the researchers that conducted the study discussed
in the time magazine decided to track what effects the Harmony project, music
program intended to serve low-income high school students, had on its
participants. Incredibly, they found that 93% of seniors who attended the
program graduated (compared to just a 50% graduation rate for the high school overall).
Although learning music was not the only reason these students had the
incredibly higher graduation rate, without a doubt, music played a significant
role.
However, when we talk about the benefits of music on the
brain and its functioning I feel as if we lose sight of the actual importance
of music. The real reason anyone should be practicing an instrument is not so
that they can better develop their brain; instead it should be because they actually
enjoy it. I guess the perfect analogy is playing a sport. Sure it’s nice to be
healthy, and practicing a sport is a fun way to keep active…but basketball is
not my favorite because it burns 300 more calories per hour than baseball. Instead,
it’s my favorite sport because I enjoy it, because I have a passion for it,
because I can forget about everything when I’m on the court. The same should
apply to practicing music. Yes, playing an instrument has benefits on brain
development; and yes, these benefits are practical and helpful for most of us;
but you can’t gain these benefits simply by going through the motions. It takes
active engagement and dedication to reap any benefit from music; and this is
not possible by someone who doesn’t enjoy playing an instrument. Therefore, the
only reason you should be playing an instrument is because you enjoy it, period
(but keep in mind that it’s probably made you a smarter person).
References
Locker, Melissa. 2014. "This Is How Music Can
Change Your Brain." Time, December 16.
<http://time.com/3634995/study-kids-engaged-music-class-for-benefits-northwestern/?iid=sr-link2>
