Life Is As Musical As A Play
What was the last music you listened to today? How did that
music, song or melody make you feel? Or more importantly, how
did it make you think?
There is a study that is out to discover whether brains that
have been trained musically are more stronger and able to resist
the degenerative effects of dementia brought about by old age
compared to those brains that are not in any way exposed or
trained musically.
This Canadian-made study wants to discover if kids who are given
early training in music has a more cognitive edge - in terms of
writing, reading and over-all verbal skills - as compared to
other kids who have no training in music in any way whatsoever.
The study has been given a grant of more than one hundred fifty
thousand dollars by an organization based in California that is
related to any and all kinds of research in music.
The researchers who want to conduct the study believe that the
human brain is extremely moldable and extremely malleable
especially when one is in his childhood and until one reaches
full-fledged adulthood.
The researchers hope that once it has been proven that early
training in music has a positive effect on how the brain
functions - and this functioning goes beyond anything that is
musically related - it is therefore essential that music be
involved in a child's early education. Music could also be well
utilized as an effective strategy to rehabilitate a brain that
has been, in any way, damaged due to disease or stroke.
Previous work done that is related with this study has been
conducted in Germany wherein the brains of musicians were
studied and wired in order to know how they process music and
how music is actually able to trigger any changes - especially
physical changes - in the hard wire of the brain.
This study was able to prove that musicians, believe it or not,
have an enhanced auditory as well as sensory parts in the brain
better than those who are not musicians. It was also seen that
musicians who started early training have large areas in the
brain, specifically the cortical, than those who started late.
The Canadian-made study will study children and the way their
brains function as well as adults who are older and have prior
training in music. The ages of the children range between four
years old and six years old. The ages of the older group range
between fifty to sixty five.
The children will be introduced to violin lessons as well as the
piano. Both groups will be going through a battery of tests that
will measure the degree of their perception and cognition
skills. These groups will then be compared to those groups that
are aged the same but have no training in music in any way
whatsoever.
The EEG will be used to measure any electrical change in the
rain. The MEG will also be used to measure any magnetic change.
The MRI will also be utilized to obtain necessary information
about the complex structures of the brain.
But basically, the goal of the study is to be able to find
various ways and means to utilize music as an effective form of
rehabilitation for human brains whose functions have been
unintentionally hampered by degenerative diseases like stroke,
heart disease, Alzheimers, accident or cancer, to name a few