The Music Mom

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Washington Family Magazine, June 2011

The psychology of music

The Psychology of Music
Effects on Behavior, Intelligence, Learning, Pain and Health


Read more at Suite101: The Psychology of Music: Effects on Behavior, Intelligence, Learning, Pain and Health



Studies indicate that music can have profound physical and psychological effects not only on people but also on animals and plants.
Research into the effects of music on behavior, intelligence, learning, pain tolerance and health have generated a number of interesting findings. This article describes the results of some of the more intriguing experiments and studies.

Music, Mice and Madness
A student named David Merrill devised an experiment to discover how music would affect the ability of mice to learn new things. Merrill had one group of mice listen to classical music 24 hours a day and another to heavy metal music. He then timed the mice as they ran through mazes to see if the music affected their speed of learning. Unfortunately, he had to cut the first experiment short because the heavy metal mice all killed one another. In a second experiment, mice that listened to Mozart for 10 hours a day dramatically improved their maze-solving abilities, while the heavy metal mice actually became worse at solving mazes than they had been at the beginning of the experiment.

Music, Intelligence and Learning
According to the Association for Psychological Science, intelligence test scores grew higher in children who took lessons in keyboarding or singing. In another study, boys between the ages of 6 and 15 who took music lessons scored higher on tests of verbal memory than a control group of students without musical training.

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Researchers found that patients who listened to harp, piano, synthesizer, orchestra or slow jazz experienced less post-surgical pain than those who did not.

Music Therapy and Autism
Music therapy is particularly helpful for autistic students, who have difficulty interacting with classmates and teachers and become agitated in noisy, changeable environments. Autistic students respond very well to music therapy, which can be used to help them remain calm under stress and socialize more effectively. In addition, many autistic children have spectacular music skills.

Music and Violence
In a study of university students, participants listened to seven songs with violent lyrics, while a control group listened to seven songs without violent lyrics by the same artists. Afterwards, when asked to classify words as violent or nonviolent, those who had listened to violent lyrics were more likely to ascribe aggressive meanings to words such as “rock” and “stick.” The American Psychological Society has also published a report stating that research has definitively proved the link between youth violence and violent media, including music.

Music and Suicide

Read on
Psychology of Classical Music
Music Psychology & Behavior
Careers for Art, Music, and Dance Therapists
On a stranger note, sociology professor James Gundlach found higher rates of suicide among those who listen to country music. However, Gundlach notes that the suicide link occurred only with older country music, which he believes is not as upbeat as today’s.

Music and Plant Health
Experiments conducted by Dorothy Retallack to learn about music's effects on plants are described in her 1973 book The Sound of Music and Plants. Retallack played rock music (Jimi Hendrix, Led Zeppelin and Vanilla Fudge) for one group of plants and jazz for another. When two weeks had passed, the jazz plants were healthy and bent toward the radio. The rock music plants grew very tall and droopy, with faded blooms, and most had died within 16 days.

Retallack tried other types of music, including country, to which the plants showed no reaction, and modern (discordant) classical music, which caused the plants to bend away from the speaker. The plants seemed to “like” Bach and North Indian sitar and tabla music.

Other people have conducted similar experiments, and some claim to have achieved similar results. However, Retallack has been criticized for using unscientific methods in her experiments.

Most music studies to date have used small sample sizes and some have not controlled for confounding variables, so although these findings are compelling, more research is required. However, given that many studies have generated similar results for certain types of music, the psychology of music is certainly worthy of further exploration.


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Summer Music Lessons

So it's almost summer time and our minds turn towards warm breezes, palm trees, vacations and free time!

No doubt summer vacation is a necessary time to wind down, re-connect with our family and relax.

School age children can stay engaged with their academics and musical training through the summer without interfering with this concept!

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Now Booking for Summer and Fall 2011!!!

Happy vacationing AND practicing!

The Music Momma

History of Jazz

Did you know that jazz was born in the United States? Did you know that the drum set was invented by jazz musicians? Did you know that the word "cool" and "hip" were originally jazz terms?

Join us in learning more about the history of jazz from its birth in New Orleans, Louisiana, to the music we hear on the radio today. Grammy-Award winning trumpeter and Artistic Director of Jazz at Lincoln Center Wynton Marsalis invites you to take a tour of jazz — see the people, read about the events, and listen to the music. The following history is adapted from the Jazz for Young People Curriculum by Jazz at Lincoln Center. You will need RealAudio to listen to the music pieces, to learn how to get RealPlayer, click here. (It's free!)




Late 1800s–Today
The Blues: Back to the Source
Born in the South, the blues is an African American-derived music form that recognized the pain of lost love and injustice and gave expression to the victory of outlasting a broken heart and facing down adversity. The blues evolved from hymns, work songs, and field hollers — music used to accompany spiritual, work and social functions. Blues is the foundation of jazz as well as the prime source of rhythm and blues, rock 'n' roll, and country music. The blues is still evolving and is still widely played today.

You shouldn't have to feel sad when listening to the blues. Wynton Marsalis explains why.

To learn more the blues, click here.





1900s
New Orleans: The Melting Pot of Sound

Mardi Gras in New Orleans at the turn of the century
Photo: Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division, Detroit Publishing Company Collection.
"New Orleans had a great tradition of celebration. Opera, military marching bands, folk music, the blues, different types of church music, ragtime, echoes of traditional African drumming, and all of the dance styles that went with this music could be heard and seen throughout the city. When all of these kinds of music blended into one, jazz was born." —Wynton Marsalis


Listen to this traditional New Orleans standard called "Second Line." The melody is repetitive and very singable. Notice the banjo rhythms in the background, and listen to the musicians break away from the melody into collective improvisations.


To learn more about New Orleans jazz, click here.




1901
Louis Armstrong is born: The Jazz Original

Louis Armstrong
Photo: William P. Gottlieb/Ira and Leonore S. Gershwin Fund Collection, Music Division, Library of Congress.
"Through his clear, warm sound, unbelievable sense of swing, perfect grasp of harmony, and supremely intelligent and melodic improvisations, he taught us all to play jazz." —Wynton Marsalis


Louis Armstrong was one of the most influential artists in the history of music. Born in New Orleans, Louisiana, on August 4, 1901, he began playing the cornet at the age of 13. Armstrong perfected the improvised jazz solo as we know it (see Improvisation). Before Armstrong, Dixieland was the style of jazz that everyone was playing. This was a style that featured collective improvisation where everyone soloed at once. Armstrong developed the idea of musicians playing during breaks that expanded into musicians playing individual solos. This became the norm. Affectionately known as "Pops" and "Satchmo," Louis was loved and admired throughout the world. He died in New York City on July 6, 1971.

Listen to the drama expressed by the trumpet and clarinet solos in "Potato Head Blues."

To learn more about Louis Armstrong, click here.





Improvisation: The Expression of Freedom
Improvisation is the most defining feature of jazz. Improvisation is creating, or making up, music as you go along. Jazz musician play from printed music and they improvise solos. From the collective improvisation of early jazz to the solo improvisation of Louis Armstrong to the free jazz of Albert Ayler, Ornette Coleman, and John Coltrane, improvisation is central to jazz.

Listen to Mr. Marsalis's explanation of improvisation.

To practice improvising, click on PBS's "Improvisation Station." (You will need to download a free plug-in.)




Mid–1930s
Swing: Sound in Motion
Swing is the basic rhythm of jazz. Swinging means being in sync with other people and loving it. Swing as a jazz style first appeared during the Great Depression. The optimistic feeling of swing lifted the spirits of everyone in America. By the mid-1930s, a period known as the "swing" era, swing dancing had become our national dance and big bands were playing this style of music. Orchestra leaders such as Duke Ellington, Count Basie, Fletcher Henderson, Paul Whiteman, and Benny Goodman led some of the greatest bands of the era.

Learn about the swing rhythm and listen to how the vocalists accent the second and fourth beats to create that rhythm. These accents give the music a sense of motion and make you want to dance.

To learn more about the swing era, click here.




Duke Ellington: Master Composer

Duke Ellington
Photo: Library of Congress
One of the most significant figures in music history, Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington was born on April 29, 1899, in Washington, D.C. He began studying the piano at the age of seven. He started playing jazz as a teenager, and moved to New York City to become a bandleader. As a pianist, composer, and bandleader, Ellington was one of the creators of the big band sound, which fueled the "swing" era. He continued leading and composing for his jazz orchestra until his death in 1974. "Ellington plays the piano, but his real instrument is his band. Each member of his band is to him a distinctive tone color and set of emotions, which he mixes with others equally distinctive to produce a third thing, which I like to call the 'Ellington Effect.'" —Billy Strayhorn, composer and arranger

Listen to Wynton Marsalis explain the "Ellington Effect."

To learn more about Duke Ellington, click here.



1940s
Bebop: The Summit of Sound
"If you really understand the meaning of bebop, you understand the meaning of freedom." —Thelonious Monk, pianist and composer

In the early 1940s, jazz musicians were looking for new directions to explore. A new style of jazz was born, called bebop, had fast tempos, intricate melodies, and complex harmonies. Bebop was considered jazz for intellectuals. No longer were there huge big bands, but smaller groups that did not play for dancing audiences but for listening audiences.

Listen to a short history of the beginning of bebop, and learn how to scat!

To learn more about bebop, click here.




Dizzy Gillespie: A Jazz Visionary

Dizzy Gillespie
Photo: William P. Gottlieb/Ira and Leonore S. Gershwin Fund Collection, Music Division, Library of Congress.
"The first time you hear Dizzy Gillespie play the trumpet, you may think that the tape was recorded at the wrong speed. He played so high, so fast, so correctly." —Wynton Marsalis

Trumpeter, bandleader, and composer John Birks "Dizzy" Gillespie was born on October 21, 1917, in Cheraw, South Carolina. He got his first music lesson from his father and took off from there. He moved to New York City in 1937 and met musicians such as Thelonious Monk and Charlie Parker. Together they experimented with jazz and came up with the bebop sound. Dizzy also helped to introduce Latin American rhythms to modern jazz through his collaborations with artists such as Machito and Chano Pozo. His bold trumpet playing, unique style of improvisation, and inspired teachings had a major influence, not only on other trumpet players, but on all jazz musicians in the years to come. He died in Englewood, New Jersey, on January 6, 1993.

How did Dizzy get his name? Wynton Marsalis explains his famous nickname and what made Dizzy so unique as a musician.

To learn more about Dizzy Gillespie, click here.



1950s
Latin and Afro-Cuban Jazz: Beyond the Borders
"Afro-Cuban jazz celebrates a collective musical history. Through its percussive beat, it unites ragtime, blues, swing, and the various grooves of Cuban music. It proclaims our shared musical heritage." —Wynton Marsalis

The combination of African, Spanish, and native cultures in Latin America created a unique body of music and dance. Jazz musicians from Jelly Roll Morton to Duke Ellington to Dizzy Gillespie combined their music with this Latin sound to create a powerful blend. In the 1940s and 50s, when musicians from Cuba began to play with jazz musicians in New York, the circle was complete. By combining the musical traditions of North, South, and Central America, Latin jazz celebrates our musical differences and helps us to find a common ground.

Gillespie and Chano Pozo, a Cuban musician, created a new form of Latin jazz called CuBop. Listen to the difference between swing and Latin grooves.

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The hope of music's healing powers

Yes, yes, it hath charms to soothe a savage breast (or beast, if you prefer to repeat a common mistake). But researchers are finding that music may be an effective balm for many other afflictions: the isolation of conditions such as autism and Alzheimer's disease, the disability that results from stroke, the physical stress of entering the world too early.

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Virtual Music Lessons - Take Lessons from Anywhere on your Mobile Device!!!

The future is here!!! You can now take your music lessons virtually.

With your mobile device you can now access quality professional music instruction over the internet.

Learn Now Music is now offering on-line group music classes as well as on-line private music classes on all instruments to all ages and levels.

Imagine logging on to a virtual guitar class with people from all over the world all learning simultaneously!

Contact us today to bring your instruction into the future!

www.LearnNowMusic.com

CustomerService@LearnNowMusic.com

800-399-6414

Reggae Music 101

The Beginning:
Reggae is a genre that grew out of several other musical styles, including both traditional Jamaican music, including ska and mento, and American R&B. In the early days of radio, stations were super-high-powered, and several stations from Florida and New Orleans were powerful enough to reach Jamaica. Reggae only came about as a distinct genre in the 1960s.
Characteristics of the "Riddim":
Reggae is characterized by a heavy backbeated rhythm, meaning the emphasis of the beat is on, for example, beats 2 and 4, when in 4/4 time. This backbeat is characteristic of all African-based musics and is not found in traditional European or Asian music. Reggae drummers also emphasize the third beat when in 4/4 time with a kick to the bass drum.
Rastafarianism:
Rastafarianism is a religion that is very common among Jamaicans of African descent. Many of the world's most famous reggae musicians practice this religion, and therefore many reggae lyrics reflect the beliefs and traditions of Rastafarianism.
Popularity of Reggae in the United States:
Bob Marley was reggae's best-known international ambassador. From his early days in a Rocksteady band to his later years as a Rastafari convert and political activist, Bob Marley planted himself deeply into the hearts of reggae fans throughout the world. Some people consider Marley to be exclusively responsible for the popularity of reggae worldwide, but many other artists, including Jimmy Cliff and Peter Tosh, were integral to the spread of the genre.


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