Hi All;

This isn't directly related to Parkinson's, but we all have brains...

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Melody for the mind: How music affects the brain
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Copyright =A9 1996 Nando.net    Copyright =A9 1996 Cox News Service


ATLANTA, Ga. (Jun 17, 1996 5:47 p.m. EDT) -- Justin Brandt pulls his=20
custom-made brown cello close to his tiny chest and, under the=20
watchful eye of his adoring teacher, starts bowing the eerily soothing=20
notes of a piece of "long-hair" music.

Six-year-old Justin has been studying at the Georgia Academy of Music=20
since he was 3 1/2 because his parents believe the notes he plays will=20
literally strike chords in his brain, jump-starting otherwise idle=20
neurons and giving him an intellectual lead on his peers.

Scientific evidence is mounting that they are right, that music may be=20
as powerful a food for the brain as for the soul. Not only does it=20
pluck at emotional heart strings, but scientists say it also turns on=20
brain circuits that aid recognition of patterns and structures=20
critical to development of mathematics skills, logic, perception and=20
memory.

Music programs in public and private schools like Justin's have=20
benefited from new findings. The Georgia Academy, located at=20
Westminster Schools, has 400 students ranging from age 2 to 75 and=20
about 30 teachers, said director Peggy Neuen.

John Mahlmann, head of the Music Educators National Conference in=20
Reston, Va., said no statistics are available on the growing number of=20
music students, but more parents "clearly believe that music helps the=20
brain" and are enrolling their kids in music lessons or encouraging=20
them to take up instruments.

"We've always been pretty full, but we have people in the office every=20
day now," Neuen said. "There is a huge awareness that there is a=20
correlation between music and learning skills."

And firms such as BMG Entertainment in New York are capitalizing on=20
the research, too. BMG's CD "Better Thinking Through Mozart" has=20
climbed to No. 18 on Billboard's classical music chart. Philips=20
Classics has a CD called "Mozart for Mothers-To-Be," though it's=20
unclear if fetuses benefit from listening in the womb.

Justin's mom, Yoshie, said he began taking lessons because "I heard=20
about the theory if you start before 6, it helps," and he has done=20
progressively better in school.

Beth Cantrell, his teacher, said music educators are glad that=20
scientists are saying "in a more objective way what we have always=20
known," that music with its own unique language utilizing math gives=20
kids a head start in "learning to learn."

A recent study in American Scientist magazine, for example, reports=20
that many great composers, including geniuses such as Wolfgang Amadeus=20
Mozart, inked their complex scores according to arcane mathematical=20
formulas.

That study found that Mozart, who was also a whiz at math, used a=20
ratio called the "golden" or "divine" proportion in many compositions.

Professor John Putz of Alma College in Michigan, who also reported his
findings in Mathematics magazine, said Mozart was obsessed with math=20
and divided the timing and variation of themes in more than half of=20
his piano sonatas using the precise ratio of 0.618. Putz said the=20
ratio has been considered an "aesthetically pleasing proportion" in=20
art and architecture since 500 B.C.

Dr. Mark Tramo of Harvard Medical School, a neurobiologist, believes=20
Mozart knew he was harnessing the orderliness of math to create music.=20
Structure is critical in both, he said, because "context sets up=20
expectancies for subsequent events," which "set up derived meaning and=20
emotion."

Tramo said precise musical structures seem to "excite" specialized=20
brain circuits essential for decoding complex ideas.

"Circuits in the left hemisphere of the brain mediate a number of=20
cognitive operations that we think are related language processing,=20
numerical processing, music," he said.

Mozart either used the ratio as a tool of precision or because he=20
wrote what he "heard in his head," Tramo said. In any case, he added,=20
it's clear that structure is key to math and that mathematical=20
patterns in music have an almost magical effect on the mind.

One question other researchers are trying to address now is whether=20
some mathematical structures prime the brain more than others whether=20
Mozart sonatas will do more for Junior's mind than rock 'n' roll or=20
rap.

Though the first real evidence that music makes brain cells hop came
several years ago, there has been a crescendo of supporting research
recently:

-- The British journal Nature reported last month that schooling in=20
music and the arts leads to major improvements in math and reading=20
skills. Martin Gardiner of the Music School in Providence, R.I.,=20
introduced groups of first-graders to an advanced music-arts course=20
and compared their performance with that of kids in "typical" classes.=20
After seven months, those who had advanced training far outstripped=20
the control group at mathematics. Plus, kids who had been poor=20
performers in kindergarten who were put in the advanced music-arts=20
program caught up with and passed peers in a normal curriculum.
-- Physicist Gordon Shaw of the University of California-Irvine said=20
he'll soon publish research that will reinforce findings reported in=20
1994. That study found that 17 of 19 preschool kids who received music=20
lessons for eight months increased their spatial-temporal IQs by an=20
average of 46 percent, but a group the same age who didn't get music=20
lessons improved only 6 percent. Shaw said the new, bigger study also=20
finds that the positive effects of music don't fade as youngsters age.
-- Researchers at the University of Konstanz in Germany found that=20
exposure to music "rewrites" neural circuits. Using magnetic resonance=20
imaging (MRI), they examined the brains of nine people who play string=20
instruments. A portion of the cortex dedicated to the thumb and fifth=20
finger of the left hand in that group was much larger than  in=20
nonplayers.

-- In a Nature article in 1993, Shaw reported on what he called the=20
"Mozart effect." Eighty-four college students took IQ tests after=20
listening to Mozart sonatas or a relaxation tape or just meditating=20
for 10 minutes. Those who listened to Mozart scored higher than they=20
had on earlier IQ tests, but the others didn't.

Atlanta lawyer Jonathan Fee, 46, is so impressed with the research=20
that he started taking piano lessons again after a 30-year hiatus, and=20
also enrolled his son, Stephen, 11, who plays the piano, and his=20
daughter, Abigail, 13, who plays violin.

"I have noticed now, more than as a kid, it seems to help memory," Fee
said.

And like many educators, Cantrell needs no more convincing. "Everyone=20
can develop this if they start early enough," she said.

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your parkie sister in paradise
where the royal poincianas are in full leaf, and about to bloom


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