MUSIC LESSONS MAY HELP BRIDGE ‘ACHIEVEMENT GAP’
Two years of music instruction were followed by positive changes in the brain for children, a recent study discovered. The researchers also found that it took two years of music instruction for this enhancement to occur.
A community music program for disadvantaged children boosted an important part of their brain development and function, according to a new study.
The benefits were seen in the youngsters’ ability to distinguish similar speech sounds, a process associated with language and reading skills, the researchers said.
The researchers also found that it took two years of music instruction for this enhancement to occur. One year of music training wasn’t enough to trigger changes in the brain, according to the study published Sept. 2 in the Journal of Neuroscience.
“This research demonstrates that community music programs can literally ‘remodel’ children’s brains in a way that improves sound processing, which could lead to better learning and language skills,” lead author Nina Kraus, a professor of communication sciences and of neurobiology and physiology at Northwestern University, said in a university news release.
The study included children aged 6 to 9 enrolled in the Harmony Project, which provides free music lessons to disadvantaged children in Los Angeles. While researchers observed a link between music lessons and brain development, the study didn’t prove a cause-and-effect relationship.
“These findings are a testament that it’s a mistake to think of music education as a quick fix, but that if it’s an ongoing part of children’s education, making music can have a profound and lifelong impact on listening and learning,” said Kraus, director of Northwestern’s Auditory Neuroscience Laboratory.
The results provide evidence of the benefits of long-term music lessons for children, according to Harmony Project founder Margaret Martin.
“Thanks to this finding, sustained music training is now an evidence-based method for closing the achievement gap between poor kids and their more advantaged peers,” she said in the news release.
By Robert Preidt | HealthDay News
http://www.everydayhealth.com/news/music-lessons-may-help-bridge-achievement-gap/
* * * * *
DEPRESSED? CHOOSE MUSIC TO BOOST HAPPINESS
Feeling depressed? You can make happiness happen. Create a happiness playlist to boost your mood. Want to be happy, or happier? Listening to lively, cheerful music might be the path to take.
Research reported in the Journal of Positive Psychology in January 2013 found that two weeks of consistently listening to upbeat music with the goal of becoming happier can indeed help you feel greater happiness. However, experts still recommend that people struggling with depression or major depressive disorder (MDD) should seek the help of professional mental health experts or music therapy providers.
Among happiness researchers and true believers, there’s some debate about whether you can actively seek and achieve happiness or simply realize it as a byproduct of other choices you make. In their examination of mood and music, the researchers noted that part of music’s impact on happiness is rooted in a person’s desire to be happy. So it’s not just music that matters, but the desire, too.
Finding the Beat to Happy
For the music and mood study, researchers Ken Sheldon, PhD, a psychology professor at the University of Missouri, and Yuna Ferguson, PhD, an assistant professor of psychology at Penn State, recruited 167 participants. Half were asked to listen to music with the intention of feeling happier; the other half were asked to just listen and enjoy. Then each group was given either classical music deemed happy (Aaron Copland’s “Rodeo”) or neutral (Stravinsky’s “Rite of Spring”) to listen to. At the end of the study, those who listened to the more upbeat music with the intention of being happy reported a greater improvement in mood than the other participants.
“We found that only participants instructed to try to boost their mood while listening to music showed boosted mood at the end — but only if they were given happy music to listen to: Copland, not Stravinsky,” Dr. Sheldon explained.
In a separate study, 68 participants listened to 15 minutes of music in a lab on five occasions over a two-week period. The music came from a variety of genres, but participants could select only from a list of pieces thought to enhance mood. However, half of them were told to listen to the music with the intention of becoming happier, and the other half were instructed to focus on the music itself. At the end of the study, those who listened to music with the intention of feeling happier were more likely to say they were happier than were those who had just been listening for the purpose of enjoying the music.
Sheldon pointed out that increasing happiness depends both on wanting to increase happiness and having a healthy way to achieve that goal. Listening to music is non-addictive, affordable, and generally acceptable, so it is, in many respects, a low-cost tool for boosting happiness. The second study, he said, suggested that listening to positive music over time improves mood, but again that’s only if you have the intention of doing so.
Although the studies don’t explore how music directly improves happiness, Sheldon noted, “we assume it is consonant harmonies, upbeat or fast music, music with memorable melodies, and with interesting lyrics or messages” that improve happiness.
In fact, research suggested that people instinctively know this, often choosing music that will help them feel more positive.
The Power of Pleasurable Experiences
“According to some research on music, music activates areas of the brain known to be associated with other experiences that are pleasurable,” Sheldon’s co-author, Dr. Ferguson, added.
Both agreed that music can help boost mood only if you want it to, and you enjoy it. Trying to force yourself to be happy with upbeat music when you’re not in the mood probably won’t work, so wait until you’re in the right frame of mind to try this.
The study results rang true for music therapist Robin Rio, director of the Music Therapy Clinic at Arizona State University in Tempe. She noted, however, that when music therapy is used for people with mood disorders, the first step often is to use music that matches the mood to validate a person’s emotion and experience. So, in a therapeutic situation, a therapist might begin with a more neutral or downbeat piece when someone is fighting depression or another mood, even if their ultimate intent is to become happier.
“A person can help to regulate his or her own mood by first matching what they are feeling emotionally through choice of music, then increasing the tempo and positive message of the music to create an improved mental state,” advised Rio.
She pointed out that people who have major depression or other mood disorders can certainly enjoy music, but should still seek professional help for treating their moods.
“It is always important to seek the help of a professional mental health counselor if your mood is interfering with school, work, or relationships,” she emphasized. “A music therapist with experience in working with people who have mood disorders, or one who specializes in wellness, can help you to develop a listening plan in combination with music-therapy sessions to get you started on a program that is most helpful for you personally.”
This might mean some homework, but it should be fun and easy and will likely include the styles of music you like most. Plus, noted Rio, music therapy seems to be most effective in addressing stress.
Also, improving your mood with music can be done in almost any appropriate situation, from simply sitting and listening, as study subjects did in the lab setting, to riding in your car or working out. Of note, music therapy sometimes includes group settings with people participating in the music together. Drum circle or chorale performance, anyone?
By Madeline Vann, MPH | Medically reviewed by Niya Jones, MD, MPH
http://www.everydayhealth.com/depression/choose-music-to-boost-happiness-3267.aspx
* * * * *