Volume 2 Month 10 Day 18 – ALL CHILDREN BY NATURE HAVE A MUSICAL BRAIN
‘We are all musical; we just need the opportunity’, claims Welch (2001) and certainly he is right. Music is a language and expressing it in words constitutes a natural activity for us; so also our need to sing derives from our very same nature. Music was born with speech. In ancient Greece indeed our language was called ‘prosodic’ because it was sung. As characteristically mentioned by ancient writers on harmony, ‘Greeks used to sing through words and speak through song’.
International research has shown that when children are born not especially gifted in music, if they begin from an early age to study a musical instrument they will develop further skills, with positive results not only in music, but also in whatever other field they choose. Indeed recent research (see Gorman, 2005) shows that involvement with music can check the destruction which occurs in brain cells with Alzheimer’s disease.
Nevertheless, the human brain in each case is musical. Consequently we are all able to sing, whether in tune or out of tune. Also, irrespective of the level of our musical abilities, we all have the same disposition to express musically, listen to, or perform ourselves the melodies which touch our hearts.
The fact that Music educators have students to teach who biologically are always in command of a musical brain significantly facilitates their work. In each case the Music educator can trust to the abilities of all his students regardlessly, as well as expressing high expectations for them. On the other hand, students could develop their skills to the highest level if at the same time they did the requisite practice (see Picture 1). This readiness to study is inspired in them chiefly by their teacher or by an individual from their background (family or friends) who they really love and through their progress want to please.
Even the exceptionally talented Mozart possibly would not have achieved the same success in music if he had not been so industrious as well. As characteristically mentioned in the book Mozart (see Solomon, 1995), this great composer was successful since ‘he simply wanted to learn music’. In short the existence of musical abilities which a musical brain affords is not sufficient. Even Mozart’s progress in music was significantly due to the fact that he actually studied a great deal. In constant study his true love guided him to music itself, a matter, however, which again stems from what you command, as we all do – a musical brain.
What occurs in the inner part of the human brain?
According to research carried out in the Centre concerned with the Education of Gifted Children on Rhode Island in America, one of the prevailing myths about our brain is that we employ only 10% of it. By contrast, in neurological studies carried out up to the present moment it has been demonstrated that there is not a single person on earth who has any part of the brain albeit small, unexploited. This favours us educators if a person considers that in the course of our teaching we address ourselves to students of whom 100% of their brain is functional. Besides, it leads us to stricter self-assessment when we measure the results of our teaching.
As regards what happens in our brains concerning the development of our musical skills, Trainor et al. (2002) confirm the view that our brains are musical from birth. The researchers in question claim that the registering of special elements of music takes place automatically in the human brain and consequently there exists a certain part of our brain which is mainly concerned with music
According to research carried out, the brain of a professional musician who has begun studying music from a very early age presents a disproportionate size in the acoustic crust (see Zatorre et al., 1998; Pantev et al., 1998). Likewise, in a study by the pathologist Thomas Harvey on the brain of Einstein (his brain has been preserved for purposes of research) a small clot was located in his kinetic crust. This usually relates to musical ability. In fact Einstein played the violin from a very early age. One further finding from the same research which deserves to be mentioned is that genius in whatever branch of science or art has nothing to do with the size of the brain, but with difference in its structure (see www.press–argolida.blogspot.com). As noted, Einstein’s brain differs chiefly in this respect from the average.
Are the musically talented created or born?
We are all by our nature gifted with musical abilities. An exception is the case of ‘Congenital Amusia’ (see Peretz, 2001), which nevertheless most probably is acquired and brought on by damage to the brain chiefly owing to lack of a suitable environment during the course of critical periods for the development of musical ability. Also, one other special case for children is the exceptionally talented in music who could really survive or learn music no matter what the environment (see Markea, 2005).
Most students command a musical brain. Nevertheless, finally their development in music will depend chiefly on the environment in which they grow up. For all of us, our first favourite music was our mother’s singing when we were still in her womb. With her singing began the acquired development, just in our foetal stage, of our musical skills. Indeed, as has been demonstrated, it is of great significance whether our mother’s singing was in a musical tone. This will function as a ‘diapason’ and will later ‘tune’, correctly or not, our own singing also. Moreover, according to the musical preferences of the background in which we develop, we usually choose what music we will listen to for the rest of our lives.
The attempt to develop motivation for learning music from children’s backgrounds has been demonstrated also to contribute to their musical development. According to Deci & Ryan (1985), when students’ motivation proceeds from within themselves, they are instigated by external factors, or their behaviour is based on the choice which proceeds from their own decision and is boosted by their self-awareness, which is also the basis for autonomous orientation. According to McPherson & Davidson (2006) also, students succeed in music when they have acquired their own motivation, their own goals and sense of purpose for learning to play music. Then they will form their own methods for dealing with technical or musical difficulties on each occasion and will find under their own responsibility the way to secure the necessary time for their daily study as well as tailoring the world of their study according to their own tastes. Also, they will be able to evaluate their playing by themselves. In each case, even the exceptionally talented students, will have better results if they have close to them people (such as their teachers, parents or relatives and friends) to support them in their studies.
Gagné (1991; 1995) distinguishes the terms ‘gifted’ and ‘talented’. A gifted person is considered to be the one who has natural abilities in a certain field, while a talented person is one whose abilities are moulded and developed within the environment. In each case, whether we characterize a student as ‘talented’ or ‘gifted’ it will be difficult for us to evaluate with certainly the level of talent which he commands. And this is because even the students who attend the same classes never have the same truly musical background. This is usually influenced by the student’s musical environment (chiefly family). If children’s parents have the appropriate culture they will have succeeded in guiding them promptly to study music or at least to love the world of art. Also the social background of children can have a positive or negative influence on their interest in music as well as their performance in it.
The connection between innate musical talent and the appropriate learning environment is what leads to the most perfect outcomes in the Music lesson. Nevertheless, according to research carried out in the Greek environment (see Markea, 2005), it seems that the exceptionally talented students on each occasion get better results than their fellow-students, not however because of the teaching or the environment in which they develop, but chiefly because of their innate talent.
Conclusion
If we accept that we are all by nature musical, our expectations for our students can really become greater, but also the interest of the community in the Music lesson is in urgent need of being increased. In the contemporary Greek educational system which rests on interdisciplinariness, in accordance with which all topics complement each other, Music cannot but constitute in itself ‘nothing more nor less’ than a major lesson.
References
Deci, E. L., & Ryan, R. M. (1985). Intrinsic Motivation and Self-determination in Human Behavior. New York: Plenum.
Gagné, F. (1991). Toward a Differentiated Model of Giftedness and Talent. In N. Colangelo & G. A. Davis, Allyn & Bacon (Eds.), Handbook of Gifted Education. Boston: MA.
Gagné, F. (1995). From Giftedness to Talent: A Developmental Model and Its Impact on the Language of the Field. Roeper Review, 18(2), 103-111.
Gorman, C. (2005). Music and the Mind. www.time.com, 14 November 2005.
Markea, G. G. (2005). Talent in Piano Playing: A Study of Exceptionally Gifted Soloists. Athens: Athens Institute for Education and Research. ISBN 960-88672-1-5.
McPherson, G. E. & Davidson, J. W. (2006). Playing An Instrument. In G. E. McPherson (Ed.), The Child As Musician: A Handbook of Musical Development. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Pantev, C., Oostenveld, R., Engelien, A., Ross, B., Roberts, l. E., & Hock, M. (1998). Increased Auditory Cortical Representation. Nature, 392, 811-813.
Peretz, I. (2001). Brain Specialization for Music: New Evidence from Congenital Amusia. In B. Zatorre & I. Peretz (Eds.), The Biological Foundations of Music. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 930, 153-165.
Solomon, M. (1995). Mozart. London: Hutchinson.
Trainor, L., McDonald, K.L. & Alain, C. (2002). Automatic and Controlled Processing of Melodic Contour and Interval Information Measured by Electrical Brain Activity. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 14(3), 430-442.
Welch, G. F. (2001). United Kingdom. In D.J. Hargreaves and A.C. North (Eds.), Musical Development and Learning: The International Perspective. London: Continuum.
Zatorre, R., Perry, D., Beckett, C., Westbury, C., & Evans, A. (1998). Functional Anatomy of Musical Processing in Listeners with Absolute Pitch and Relative Pitch. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 95, 3172-3177.
www.press–argolida.blogspot.com, PRESS–Argolida, 27 April 2009.
Georgia G. Markea – Doctor in Music Education of the University of London (Institute of Education),
Comment
