Music lessons make you smarter

Music lessons make you smarter
by John Zachary Sullivan

Humans have made some scintillating discoveries about the human brain in the past few years:

1) We can grow new brain cells.
2) We can use memory training to grow brainpower – see the New York Times Research article on Memory Training – and we can apply these techniques to prevent mental deterioration such as Alzheimer’s disease.
3) As Malcolm Gladwell has pointed out in his work What the Dog Saw, kids (and probably humans at large) tend to perform better and more honestly when praised for their efforts instead of their naturally given intelligence. This is kind of a scientific affirmation of the old Tortoise and the Hare story – the hare could have won, but he became lazy because he was naturally gifted, whereas the plodder ends up making more progress sooner.

If you have NetFlix, have a green tea with honey and check out Music Instinct: Science and Song on Watch Instantly. I have no affiliate marketing with NetFlix, but the documentary is fascinating and informative.

All this is good – no, great news! Music can positively affect the young, the middle-aged, and the elderly. To paraphrase Beethoven, it bridges the gap between the physical and the spiritual. It expresses the soul and fills a need like no other medium. Studying music greatly enhances the ability to notice patterns and brings the student to ponder such otherwise ethereal concepts as time, space, tone, mathematics, and physics. Renowned author and thinker Malcolm Gladwell has done some quite interesting investigation into the mathematical analysis of patterns in music as well – check out this video interview with Gladwell & Mike McCready of the company Platinum Blue – Music Intelligence: 2012. [Caution: this is kind of a marathon of a video, so if you don't have a lot of time or interest, skip this one].

One of the most interesting ideas in the above interview is about how the most popular songs share commonalities of basically about 60 patterns or so and it is usually pin-pointable what the cause of the appeal is. Yes, hundreds of songs use the same chord progression. There are only so many good ones. The most famous of this is probably the I vi IV V(7) – example C Am F G(7), or G Em C D(7). This same mathematical sequence is used in countless songs and also known as the 50s Pop Progression. It’s still the formula for a hit pop song if you’re looking to write one.

Naturally, the greatest potential is with starting a musical education at age 5 or so as an investment in the enhancement of the lives of your children and your children’s children and the people they know. Any instrument is a good starting point, though for 5 year olds keyboard or piano is a classical choice as it is physically easier than fretted instruments, even ones with the greater playability of nylon strings / a lower action on the guitar.

As I remember seeing literally engraved in stone at Samford University, “A teacher affects eternity; he can never tell where his influence stops” – Henry B. Adams.

Enroll in music lessons now from Fret Zero Guitar! Guitar Lessons, Piano Lessons, Bass Lessons, and Ukulele Lessons in Birmingham, AL. Lessons are available via Skype and in person. Call (205) 910-8053 and talk to Zac or leave a voicemail or e-mail fretzeroguitar@gmail.com