"Musical activity involves nearly every region of the brain that we know about, and nearly every neural subsystem"
Music is the art of sounds. It is a language and a medium of expression which has been used by human beings to express, to entertain and to communicate. Music is, and has been, an extraordinary medium for societies to organise their time. A place to create a feeling of unity and coherence. Music is a powerful medium for both individuals and societies and it is part of most of the world’s cultures in which it often has an important role
The power of music on manipulating and affecting human feelings and behaviour was already known in ancient Greece, from where Plato wrote about Socrates in Plato’s Republic: ‘Musical training is a more potent instrument than any other, because rhythm and harmony find their way into the inward places of the soul’ (Plato, B. Jowett (translation), The Republic, p. 73).
Despite the research on effects of human behaviour and emotions, recent interest in the effect of music on the brain and the human body, from a physiological perspective, has led Neuroscientists to prove that music and music making can drive brain plasticity and develop and extend the regions where different capacities and processors lie. This new insight on Neuroscience backs up the ancient hypothesis that music has a big impact on the human being.
Much research has also been carried out on the power of music and the positive use of its effects in musical education.
Our data have confirmed a rapid transfer of cognitive benefits in young children after only 20 days of music training. The strength of this effects in almost all of the children was remarkable
Dr. Sylvain Moreno, Rotman Research Institute
The theory of relativity occurred to me by intuition, and music is the driving force behind intuition. My parents had me study violin from the time I was six. My new discovery is the result of musical perception.
Albert Einstein
Based on what we already know about the ways that music helps shape the brain, the study suggests that short-term music lessons may enhance lifelong listening and learning.
Nina Kraus, the Hugh Knowles Professor of Neurobiology, Physiology and Communication Sciences at Northwestern.
