prq
Health
JEWISH
FAMILY
SERVICE
of Michigan
DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
J
Leine
ENINIZIE
Music Lessons:
Good For The Brain
PRESENTS
ZVI HERSH WEINREB, PH.D.
A nationally recognized speaker on
family life issues and spirituality
who will present two enriching, informative workshops on
*tAIG A HO
Monday, September 22, 1997
Agency for Jewish EducatiO
SUSAN DUERKSEN
Copley News Service
IV
*th rows of little key-
boards lined up neat as a
newly planted garden,
Mrs. Dobbs' first-grade
music class is growing synapses.
"Every little finger takes a place,"
Marlene Dobbs announces as she
walks the rows. "OK, let's play our
first-finger C, now second-finger D.
No, second finger, honey. That's right."
Seven budding musicians struggle
to control their disobedient fingers, to
hit the right keys in the right sequence.
Through headphones, each child gath-
ers the auditory fruits of his or her
individual efforts.
21550 W. Twelve Mile Road
Southfield
(located between Evergreen and Lahser)
Contact Betty Barach at (248) 559-1500
to make your reservations
• • • • •
aring for the
0°4 cs, Soul
riteractive Workshop for Caregivers
Tuesday, September 23, 1997
9:00-11:OOam
Breakfast
(Jewish dietary laws observed)
Fleischman Residence
6710 W. Maple
West Bloomfield
(located on the Jewish Community Campus)
Contact Margot Parr at (248) 661-2999
to make your reservations
These programs are
FREE of CHARGE
Make your reservation today!
Marlene Dobbs helps DeAngelo De Witt
through a tune.
As notes on paper are translated to
finger movements and then to a pleas-
ing tune, each young brain in the room
is building connections that researchers
say will do much more than remember
the scales. Music-making at a tender
age, some scientists believe, creates and
sharpens synapses between neurons in
preparation for a lifetime of recognizing
symbols, judging distances, solving
problems and, generally, thinking.
A small but growing collection of
scientific study backs up that theory,
suggesting that early music exposure,
like Dobbs' music magnet class in San
Diego, may be one of the best ways to
bulk up the intellectual capacity of a
developing brain.
The brain responds readily to music,
scientists are finding, because it is set
up from birth to do so.
"There's incredibly strong evidence
that music has a deep biological basis,"
said Norman Weinberger, a University
of California at Irvine neuroscientist
who compiles international research on
music and the brain. "Human infants
have musical competencies far beyond
what anybody thought."
Susan Duerksen writes for Copley
Collaborative Agencies:
9/19
1997
1,30
Young Israel Council of Metropolitan Detroit
Midrasha/Agency for Jewish Education
News Service.
Babies are born with an innate
capacity to understand music, a few
recent studies have indicated. Music
appreciation probably evolved as a way
for parents to communicate emotion
to infants and to get and hold their
attention, said Sandra Trehub, a psy-
chologist and music researcher at the
University of Toronto.
"You can't find a culture where peo-
ple don't sing to infants," she said. "It's
something that seems to engage
infants."
That natural attraction to music
could make it a key tool for learning.
"Can you think of an activity for
children that requires this much brain
work and that they enjoy so much?"
asks Dr. Mark Tramo, a neuroscientist
at Harvard Medical School and
Massachusetts General Hospital.
"Music, you've got to say, it's fun. But
it's not frivolous."
Especially before age 3 — and to a
lesser degree from ages 3 to 10 —
children's brains are being molded and
sharpened by their experiences. If the
brain is used repeatedly for certain
tasks, the connections necessary for
that work are forged and strength-
ened. If the stimulation is absent,
those unused connections may fade
away.
Playing and listening to music are
now thought to stimulate many brain
functions that apply widely to nonmu-
sical tasks, Tramo said. While music
training apparently builds up specific
segments of the brain, he said it also
imparts general skills to higher brain
mechanisms that control many func-
tions.
But while a few studies have pro-
vided some evidence that music can
boost brain power, the scientific proof
is lagging behind the parental advice
trumpeted by some magazines, books
and television shows.
For example, no study to date
backs up anchorwoman Katie Couric's
pronouncement on the April 15
"Today" show that, "A little music
apparently does wonders for your
child's IQ."
While researchers say signs point to
some intellectual benefit from music
training, they need to do more experi-
ments to determine how much benefit,
what type, how long it lasts and
whether just listening to music also
enhances brain power.
So far, the scientists have reached
two solid conclusions about the effects
of music on young brains: a)
Stimulation in general is good for
brains, and b) Music can't hurt.
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