How Does Music Influencepeople at Each Age Level?
1
How Does Music Influencepeople at each age level?
Group 2
Dan Craig
Carter Dodeci
Rosemary Eberly
Kelly Wannemaker
EDP 101C
Humans have a long-standingrelationship with music. From earlier ancestral tribes beating on drums to civilized societies creating complex melodies to soothe the ears, music has always been an integral part of human life. We use music to lubricate social situations, ease our minds, and exercise. Music is used as a tool to learn and remember. Students often use made up songs to remember scientific and mathematical formulas or listen to classical music while studying. Hearing a song on the radio from our past,through a spark of vivid memories, takes us back to that time we first heard it. Parents use lullabies to develop a relationship with their child and help ease them into sleep. Music plays a large role in the development of our mind and lives, which is why it is imperative to understand this life-long affair.
The past twenty years have shown a rise in studies conducted on the affects of exposing the child to music while in the womb. However, the practice of engaging with the child while still in the womb through music has been a long standing tradition of the Chinese since ancient times. The mothers would walk by streams, talk and sing to their children. While they couldn’t scientifically prove that this had an effect on the child’s development, thousands of year’s later science corroborated their theory. According to Dr. Alexandra Lambert of Keele University, “The auditory system of the fetus is fully functional about twenty weeks after conception.” (Levitin, 2006, pp 223)
Most babies are exposed to music before they take their first breath. Considering music can be a collaboration of many different sounds, mothers introduce music to their child in the womb without necessarily knowing it. The sounds of the mother’s heartbeat, intestinal activityand breathing are the first music the fetus hears (Abrams).An experiment conducted by Lambert found that babies are able to remember sounds a year after they were heard in the womb. However, babies will not remember music played to them prior to the third trimester as the inner ear is not fully functioning until that time. In the study, the babies weren’t identifying specific genres of music, but the rhythm and pace of it. The babies showed preference to the music they were exposed to in the womb over other music to which they were not predisposed (Babies Remember Womb Music). The study shed light on why babies identify their mother’s voice, as they often hear their mother speaking during their time in the womb.
Babies may be able to remember music and sounds heard in the womb, but Lambert does not agree that prenatal exposure to music increases a baby’s intelligence. “The Mozart Effect” hypothesizes that playing classical music to a child prenatally will have a positive effect on their intelligence. The theory is gaining much credence by modern day mothers despite variousscientific studies’ inability to prove the theory correct (Babies Remember Womb Music). “The Mozart Effect” is named after a classical artist, but its popularity has created a niche for companies in the modern marketplace. The Lullabelly, a belt that straps around an expectant mother’s stomach which holds speakers and an MP3 player, is one of many products taking advantage of the need for mothers to keep their child one step ahead. Even if that step ahead is before the baby can actually walk (Becoming Mothers).
Music may not raise a baby’s intelligence levels; however, it may help lower a baby’s stress levels. A mother made a routine of listening to Ella Fitzgerald at the same time everyday while pregnant. When her baby was born, she played the same music during times the baby was irritated and it helped to calm her down (Babies Remember Womb Music). There are proven positive effects music has on a child’s prenatal development as well as the role it has in helping transition the baby into the world. So while all theories may not hold true, they haven’t been shown to hurt.
As babies grow into toddlers, music has shown to have positive effects on this stage as well. Research has been found that playing Mozart music to premature babies seems to help them gain weight faster and become stronger. At Tel Aviv Medical Center in Israel doctors played either 30 minutes of music by Mozart, or no music, to 20 pre-term babies once a day for two consecutive days. After listening to the music, the babies were calmer than the ones that didn’t listen to the music. Since the babies who listened to Mozart were calmer they expended less energy. This is very important in premature babies because when energy expenditure is decreased, the babies don’t need as many calories to grow, so they can gain weight and thrive more quickly (Moskowitz, 2010).
Music can also have a positive effect on the development of the brain. Babies are born with billions of brain cells. During the first years of life, those brain cells form connection with other brain cells. Over time, kids use these connections regularly and they become stronger. When babies or small children are exposed to music early on they develop strong music-related connections. These music pathways can actually affect the way people think. For example listening to classical music can improve the spatial reasoning of children helping them sharpen their mind. Classical music, such as works composed by Bach Beethoven, or Mozart has a more complex musical structure. Babies as young as 3 months old can pick out the structure and even recognize classical music they have heard before. Researchers think that the complexity of the structure in classical music helps the brain solve spatial reasoning more quickly (Bales, 2009).
One of the newest forms of introducing music to our toddlers is baby Einstein. These types of videos are meant to help children develop faster. However, according to a Time Magazine article, this may not be the case. A research team at the University of Washington found that few vocabulary words and slower language skills were learned by child watchers of the popular videos. Studies have shown that babies learn faster and better from a native speaker of a language when they are interacting with that speaker instead of watching the same speaker talk on a video screen. This would suggest that hearing music from real instruments and real voices will have a better affect on children than from videotapes such as Baby Einstein (Park, 2007).
Music in a natural part of life for toddlers. They tap their feet to the rhythm of nursery rhymes and may even sing to their stuffed animals. However, the introduction of music at an early age does more than entertain, it can kick start learning. The connections toddlers make through listening to music can help them later on in school subjects such as reading and math. But one of the biggest impacts comes from kids actively participating in musical activities. Fine motor skills can be improved through dancing and using instruments. Vocal and speech development can improve through singing. Listening skills and concentration improve with listening to different music (Lyness, 2009).
Overall the benefits exposing babies and toddlers to music are excellent. Not only can music sooth babies and calm them down, but music makes important connections in the brain. These connections are important in the development of the brain and will help kids later in life. Listening to music, as a baby or toddler will definitely jumpstart the development of certain skills that will be used throughout life.
Music plays a crucial role in the development of young children and adolescents. It is almost instinctual to tap our feet or bob our heads when we hear a particular beat or rhythm that we like. Levitin says in his novel, “We listen to music that has a pulse, something you can tap your foot to, or at least tap the foot in your mind to” (165). The concept of music and rhythm is not a new one either. Societies from the start of man had developed their own forms of music from the huts of the Eskimos to the villages of South Africa; music is everywhere. What is interesting is that these early listeners did not have the ability to record their music and pass it down from generation to generation, yet societies from all over the world seemed to have one thing in common—music. This showed scientists that music was not a learned process, but an intrinsic one that we were born with.
The effects of music on the brain start out at a very young age. The part of our brain that controls our ability to differentiate between music and noise is the cerebellum, which interestingly enough, happens to be the oldest part of our brain. When asked to listen to a piece of music compared to random noise, the activity of the cerebellum greatly increased while listening to music. Seeing the effects of music on the brain, scientists turned to the effects of music on development, and how listening to music could improve memory. Many students struggle with learning disabilities and doctors have come to an impasse in terms of diagnostic results. They had not yet found a way to truly “cure” this problem and improve a child’s ability to retain information until they experimented with music. Studies have shown that classical and baroque music with a 60 beats per minute beat pattern, stimulate the right and left sides of the brain. The simultaneous left and right brain action maximizes learning and retention of information. The information being studied activates the left-brain while the music activates the right brain. Also, activities which engage both sides of the brain at the same time, such as playing an instrument or singing, cause more efficient information-retention.
World renowned scientists like Dr. George Lozanov used music as a means to improve students ability to memorize words. He developed a method of teaching foreign languages in a fraction of the normal learning time. He was able to take an entire semesters worth of vocabulary, and teach it to students in one day. What proved his work a success was the fact that the students’ retention rate was at 92%. He accomplished this by using the same methods that Daniel Levitin observed, that is, using certain classical pieces from the baroque period which had a beat of around 60 beats per minute. Lozanov has shown that foreign languages can be learned with 85-100% efficiency in only thirty days by using various baroque pieces of music. Amazingly, his students were still able to recall the information with 99% accuracy, even after not reviewing for four years.
We see the effects of music all around us. Although genres are constantly changing from generation to generation, the effects of their rhythm have remained unchanged. Scientists have proved that developmental changes in learning and behavior are greatly influenced by the music around us. Classical music evokes the learning process, while popular music has created a social network among teenagers generation after generation. Its influence not only makes us who we are, but can help shape us into the person we want to be.
Music has a different effect on every age level; elderly have a completely separate attachment to it. Being at an older age has an effect on what music they choose to listen to; it is uncommon to hear the elderly listening to hard rock and Hip Hop. Music has more of a healing effect on the elderly through things such as hospice and music therapy. It can help them with their sleeping and recovery from things such as amnesia and dementia. Music is used in a clinical way as well as a therapeutic and personal benefit.
Finding a way to relax can be hard when you have a lot going on. Many people turn to music to help de stress their life, including elderly people. Finding calming music such as instrumentals and a lighter genre such as classical or religious is common in helping to relax. But music is not specifically related to relaxation through a certain genre or type of music, it can be whatever you connect with. Many elderly people are suggested to relax for such things as high blood pressure and anxiety. If using music is a way to help relax them, than it is a prescription free solution. Finding your own way to use music towards achieving relaxation can involve listening to it in your home or a place you feel comfortable in. Elderly people are often in their homes due to the fact that they are retired so listening to music is a beneficial way of helping to relax the home even more.
Through reaching relaxation it can help reduce stress and anxiety of the everyday problems, which keep you from sleeping at night. Sleeping becomes more difficult as people age and often requires the elderly to take sleeping pills in order to get a good nights rest. If music can help them sleep at night than it is a beneficial suggestion. Many elderly people are suggested to do so at Nursing homes in order to reduce the usage of sleeping pills. A study done proved that elderly people who listen to music before sleeping improves their sleeping by more than a third. The results showed that both respiratory rates and heart rates lowered allowing for a better time getting to bed (TAKASHI, M.T. (2007)). Sleep disorders can lead to a great deal of increased issues such as depression and fatigue. Using music can help to prevent these from taking place as well as help to cure them if they already exist in elderly people.
In the same terms of finding cures for the elderly, music therapy has shown some great effects. Sickness such as dementia can be positively affected through the use of music. The results from tests show that blood pressure decreases as well as changes in the cortisol levels of the ill. Music therapy is used for relaxation as well for elderly who are forced to lie in bed. Tests using music therapy showed pain-relaxing in addition to other improvements (Asano, M.A. (2007)). Music therapy is something, which shows positive effects on the elderly and does so in a way without having to pump them with drugs.
As the elderly progress through life, some have to attend hospice towards the end of their time. Not only using music as a therapeutic tool during sicknesses but through care and comfort towards the end of life is helpful (Hilliard, R.E.H. (2005)). It can help bring about spirituality through religious music, lighten their mood, help them through physical discomfort, and reduce anxiety they are experiencing (Asano, M.A. (2007)). Music can help to improve the patient’s quality of life for the time they have left. Music itself is something people enjoy listening to on their own time, so playing it while you are unable to do anything else helps as a coping mechanism.
Music throughout the life span has different effects on each age level. We chose major milestone ages such as prenatal, infancy, adolescence, and the elderly. Music is a subject, which is so vast and has so many options for all personality types and age groups as well. Music has a different meaning to each age group whether it is through brain stimulation while still inside the mother or therapy for the ill elderly. Music in adolescence gives them something to relate to and help through a difficult transition through puberty while infants use music to create happiness and even to help them learn words and new languages. Something as simple as a little rhythm or the strum of a guitar according to Levitin can be characterized as music (Davis, S. F. & Palladino, J. J. (2007). Next to vision, the sense of hearing is our most important link to the environment, which is why music seems like such a necessity to many people (Levitin, D. J. (2006)). The ability to hear different tones or pitches is something our ears are programmed to perceive (Levitin, D. J. (2006)). Music can have such a great effect on a person’s mood and life in general. “Music speaks what cannot be expressed, soothes the mind and gives it rest, heals the heart and makes it whole, flows from heaven to the soul.”
References
Abrams, R. M. (1995). In I. Deliège & J. A. Sloboda (Eds.), Perception and cognition of music(pp. 83–101).Philadelphia, PA: Psychology Press.
(2001, July 11). In Babies Remember Womb Music. Retrieved Apr. 18, 2010, from
(08, June 1). In Becoming Mothers. Retrieved Apr. 18, 2010, from
Bales, Diane. (2009) Building Baby's Brain: The Role of Music. Retrieved April 21, 2010
from
Lyness, D’Arcy. (2009) Introducing Toddlers to Music. Retrieved April 22, 2010 from
Moskowitz, Clara. (2010) Mozart Effect Helps Premature Babies Get Stronger. Retrieved April 21, 2010 from 100113.html