Masterofcheese93's List: Research Paper 2012

• If music is not in our schools, then why do we have schools? I know this seems like an extreme point of view, but, really, what are our aims in education?
• agree with the view of Nel Noddings, professor of education emerita at Stanford University, who suggests that one of the fundamental aims of education should be happiness. Music, in some form or genre, brings happiness to almost everyone. I admit that the Western classical tradition of music does not appeal to everyone, but classical music is not the only music we should teach.
• Music also serves as a social agent. Nineteenth-century music advocate Lowell Mason believed that music was good for the mind, body, spirit and society. Many people agree with this notion. How else would we know "O Canada" or "God Save the Queen," or be able to hum the theme to "Hockey Night in Canada?

1 more annotation...

• The Kenny Rogers Effect--not named because it deals with gorging yourself on chicken or replacing your old, grandfatherly face with a shiny new rubber one--takes patients with visual neglect, the inability to recognize half of what they see, and lightens the effects of the damage.
• Patients with left-side brain damage who can no longer speak can find they are able to sing words, often without trouble or training.
• After that, it's just a matter of time before they're able to speak simple sentences with practice. That may not sound like much, but if you've ever tried to order a side of fries with left-hand only charades you'll understand what a blessing this can be.
• Melodic intonation therapy, or singing until you can talk, takes advantage of the fact that language functions are located in the left brain, but music lives over on the right side of the brain.
• It's been shown that music by Mozart played on the piano reduces seizure-causing activity in the brain within five minutes of exposure, with many cases showing immediate results in what scientists should called Seizure Wolfgang-banging.
• It's theorized that "the superorganization of the cerebral cortex . . . may resonate with the superior architecture of Mozart's music" which is a sciencey way of saying that probably Mozart gets all up in your brain in ways the Hamburger Helper jingle only wishes it could. Really though, this is another one of those medical shrug moments, as scientists really haven't figured it out yet. Kind of unfulfilling, isn't it?

4 more annotations...

• It seems that music, more than anything else, ties people together and tears them apart
• Music has an effect on every single aspect of some people's lives. Let's take rap. Some kids who like rap talk like rappers, dress like rappers, eat like rappers, and treat women like rappers treat women. Is it because they're influenced by what they see on TV or here on their favorite rap artist's album?

• Though the data from the bloodwork has not yet been analyzed, the psychosocial data shows that “in general, it seems that making music does have an overall positive effect on mood,” said Lisa Ehlers, a faculty associate in the Herberger College School of Music who is one of the research partners.

   

  “It seems to affect joyfulness most positively, and does relatively less towards alleviating worry. Energy is also affected more positively.”