Charles Limb: Your brain on musical improvisation

Musician and researcher Charles Limb wondered how the brain works during musical improvisation — so he put jazz musicians and rappers in an fMRI to find out. What he and his team found has deep implications for our understanding of creativity of all kinds.

Info from TED

Capturing Grace: intersection between modern dancing and Parkinson's disease

"Capturing Grace is a story about two realms. One is occupied by some of the most acclaimed modern dancers in the world. The other is inhabited by a group of people with Parkinson's disease. This film is about what happens when those worlds intersect.

For me, it's also a personal story. I was diagnosed with Parkinson's eight years ago, the third member of my family to receive that news. A few years after my diagnosis, my colleagues at Kikim Media and I made a film about Parkinson's for the PBS Frontline series called My Father, My Brother and Me . It was during that production that I first learned about the Mark Morris Dance Group's unique partnership with people with Parkinson's from the Brooklyn Parkinson Group. Later, I did a short profile of the program for the PBS NewsHour, but I've always felt there was a deeper story to be told.

This is a film about rediscovery, the rediscovery of a lighter step and the sweetness of motion.  And it's a story about a remarkable community of dancers - some professional, some not - but all coming together to move in space...and in doing so, rediscovering grace.  And it is in that rediscovery that each becomes whole."

Dave Iverson, filmmaker and director

Info from Capturing Grace

Childhood depression maybe cured by music therapy

In the largest ever research of its kind, the scientists have found that music therapy can be a possible cure for depression in children and adolescents having behavioural and emotional troubles.

The study, conducted by the researchers at Queen’s University Belfast along with the Northern Ireland Music Therapy Trust, found that children or teens who received the music therapy treatment showed remarkable improvements in their self-esteem and also reduced their depression symptoms significantly as compared to those who were deprived of the music therapy treatment.

During the study, the researchers also found that those depressed kids who received music therapy had also improved their communicative and interactive skills as compared to those who received usual care options alone.

The research work was conducted between the period March 2011 and May 2014 and involved 251 children and young people who were divided into two groups. The first group included 128 people who were given the usual care options and the second one that involved 123 participants who were also getting an additional music therapy treatment along with the usual care.

All the participants were getting treatment for the emotional, developmental and behavioural problems. The early findings suggested towards the benefits of music therapy that are sustained in the long term.

Dr Valerie Holmes, Centre for Public Health, School of Medicine, Dentistry and Biomedical Sciences and co-researcher, “This is the largest study ever to be carried out looking at music therapy’s ability to help this very vulnerable group, and is further evidence of how Queen’s University is advancing knowledge and changing lives.”

Ciara Reilly, Chief Executive of the Northern Ireland Music Therapy Trust, said, “Music therapy has often been used with children and young people with particular mental health needs, but this is the first time its effectiveness has been shown by a definitive randomized controlled trial in a clinical setting.”

Concluding the study, Reilly said that the findings are dramatic and underline the requirement for music therapy as a mainstream treatment option for the patients suffering from the stress and depression problems.

Written by James Kent at Wall Street OTC 

How playing an INSTRUMENT benefits your BRAIN

When you listen to music, multiple areas of your brain become engaged and active. But when you actually play an instrument, that activity becomes more like a full-body brain workout. 

What’s going on? Anita Collins explains the fireworks that go off in musicians’ brains when they play, and examines some of the long-term positive effects of this mental workout.

Music has the power to heal

There is an old belief, now being revisited, that music has the power to heal. Where does this idea come from, and how does it apply to traditional Chinese music?

"Our ancestors believed that music had the power to harmonize a person’s soul in ways that medicine could not. In ancient China, one of music’s earliest purposes was for healing. The Chinese word, or character, for medicine actually comes from the character for music.

During the time of the Great Yellow Emperor (2698-2598 B.C.E.), people discovered the relationship between the pentatonic scale, the five elements, and the health five internal and five sensory organs. During Confucius time, scholars used music’s calming properties to improve strengthen people’s character and conduct. 

Today, scientific research has also validated music’s therapeutic ability to lower blood pressure, reduce anxiety, enhance concentration, stabilize heart rate, and more."

 Gao Yuan 

You can find the whole interview with Shen Yun Symphony Orchestra Composer Gao Yuan here

Lullabies reduce pain in children, say academics

A study at Great Ormond Street Hospital suggests lullabies do more than just help babies sleep – they reduce pain in sick children

Parents should sing to their children when they hurt themselves as lullabies help to reduce their pain, a study has found. 

Singing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, Hushabye Baby and Five Little Ducks to sick children was found to alleviate their suffering by researchers at London’s Great Ormond Street Hospital. 

They sang the songs to a group of children under three, some of whom were waiting for heart transplants, and monitored their heart rates and pain perception. 

The scientists then compared this with two other groups, one in which the children had been read to and the other where they had been left alone, and found only those who had been sung to showed a reduction in pain or heart rate.

Professor David Hargreaves of Roehampton University, one of the study’s authors, said the results went further than many parents' intuitive sense that singing lullabies calms children.

"It shows that children can be affected physiologically by music," he said.

He underlined that the research was still in the early stages, but added: "The practical applications are fairly obvious. Music therapists are going to be a lot cheaper than drugs to numb pain."

Professor Tim Griffiths, a consultant neurologist with the Wellcome Trust, told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: “There’s an ancient part of the brain in the limbic system which is responsible for the emotional responses to music.

"What I think is happening here is that the emotional part of the brain is being stimulated by music, more so than the reading stimulus," he said of the study at the London children’s hospital.

“This is decreasing the arousal level, and that in turn is affecting their pain response levels.”

The songs researchers used to reduce pain:

• Hush Little Baby
• Hushabye Baby
• See Saw Margery Daw
• Donkey Riding
• Little Fish
• Twinkle Twinkle
• Five Little Ducks

By Theo Merz at Telegraph.co.uk

This is your brain in your favorite song

Illustration by Mark Alan Stamaty

When people listen to music they enjoy, their brains drift into a resting daydream, regardless of the genre.

Some prefer the twangs of the steel guitar in country, others the soaring arias of opera. Yet despite individual preferences, people’s favorite tunes generate strikingly similar brain activity patterns and can even enhance their creative ability, according to new research.

We already know that emotional connections to music can be strong, but exactly how favorite melodies influence brain patterns is an ongoing area of discovery.

The researchers scanned the brains of 21 young adults using an MRI machine while piping in music recordings. Each person listened to a genre they liked, one they disliked and their favorite song. 

By separating out the patterns that were related to the music’s beat or lyrics, the researchers found the underlying changes in brain activity related to enjoying a favorite song.

A person's preferred music enhances connections between different regions of the brain, a pattern called the default mode network (DMN), the researchers report. This network is associated with introspection, self-awareness, mind-wandering and possibly imagination. 

When the DMN is activated, another network, the task-positive network (TPN)—which is involved in goal-oriented activity—is shut down. The two states can be thought of as focus on the outside world (the TPN) and focus on inner thoughts (the DMN). Earlier this month, another research group figured out how to switch between these two modes in mice. 

Certain brain disorders seem to involve trouble with activating one mode or another or with switching between the two. For example, since people with autism seem to have problems with DMN activity, the new study’s authors suggest that music therapy may help.

More work needs to be done to investigate the connection between music and mental states before we know if music can help people with autism, but for now, know that the frisson of happy feelings you get when you listen to your favorite song has basis in biology.

Author: Marissa Fessenden

Info from: Smithsonian.com

How Repetition Enchants the Brain and the Psychology of Why We Love It in Music

“Music takes place in time, but repetition beguilingly makes it knowable in the way of something outside of time.”

“The repetition itself becomes the important thing; it’s a form of mesmerism,” Haruki Murakami reflected on the power of a daily routine.“Rhythm is one of the most powerful of pleasures, and when we feel a pleasurable rhythm we hope it will continue,” Mary Oliver about the secret of great poetry, adding: “When it does, it grows sweeter.” But nowhere does rhythmic repetition mesmerize us more powerfully than in music, with its singular way of enchanting the brain.

How and why this happens is precisely what cognitive scientist Elizabeth Hellmuth Margulis, director of the Music Cognition Lab at the University of Arkansas, explores in On Repeat: How Music Plays the Mind(public library). This illuminating short animation from TED Ed, based on Margulis’s work, explains the psychology of the “mere exposure effect,” which makes things grow sweeter simply as they become familiar — a parallel manifestation of the same psychological phenomenon that causes us to rate familiar statements as more likely to be true than unfamiliar ones.

Margulis writes:

"Music takes place in time, but repetition beguilingly makes it knowable in the way of something outside of time. It enables us to “look” at a passage as a whole, even while it’s progressing moment by moment. But this changed perspective brought by repetition doesn’t feel like holding a score and looking at a passage’s notation as it progresses. Rather, it feels like a different way of inhabiting a passage — a different kind of orientation."

In On Repeat, a fine addition to these essential books on the psychology of music, Margulis goes on to explore how advances in cognitive science have radically changed our understanding of just why repetition is so psychoemotionally enticing.

Info from Brain Pickings

Seven Ways That Music Benefits Your Health - part II

Lets see the effect music can have on a physical/ mental and psychological level. Take a look at the first part of this post here;

4) Makes you Happier

Music affects our emotional state, making you feel happy, ecstatic or even sad. According to a study, your brain releases dopamine, a feel-good chemical, when you listen to tunes that move you. Sometimes you also experience feeling of shivers or chills while listening to a particular track, this shows that brain releases large amount of dopamine, that gives you happiness and pleasure. So listening to music gives us the same hit of happiness that we would get from a piece of chocolate, sex or drugs.

While another study shows that Music with a quick tempo in a major key, brought about all the physical changes associated with happiness in listeners. In contrast, a slow tempo and minor key led to sadness.

Even when we listen to happy music with the intention to feel happy, it always works as opposed to simply listening to music without attempting to alter our mood.

5) Boosts your immune system and reduce Pain

Music has been found to reduce the levels of stress hormone, cortisol, which can weaken the immune system and is responsible for many illnesses. If you like to dance to uplifting music, then you are definitely on a path to better health. Scientists found that after listening to just 50 minutes of uplifting dance music, the levels of antibodies in participants’ bodies increased.

Different types of music might have different effect, but it also depends on your personal preference and what tunes resonate with your soul. What resonates with the spirit, does have a healing effect.

6) Reduces Depression and Anxiety

Listening to music has much more effect on the human mind and psyche. Researchers say that it can helpease anxiety among cancer patients, have positive effects on their mood, pain and improve quality of life. Researchers from Drexel University found that cancer patients who either listened to music or worked with a music therapist experienced a reduction in anxiety, had better blood pressure levels and improved moods.

7) Keeps an aging brain healthy

Having musical training could help keep the brain healthy as people grow older. Any kind of musical activity in life serves as a challenging cognitive exercise, making your brain sharper and more capable of dealing with challenges of aging.

Even someone with brain damage or dementia can recover memories through listening to music. It is ingrained in our deepest core of being, no matter the language, the sound and the rhythm resonates deep within. Like Kahlil Gibran puts it, “Music is the language of the spirit. It opens the secret of life bringing peace, abolishing strife.”

Info from The Mind Unleashed

Seven Ways That Music Benefits Your Health - part I

“I think music in itself is healing. It’s an explosive expression of humanity. It’s something we are all touched by. No matter what culture we’re from, everyone loves music.” 

Billy Joel

From reducing stress levels, to elevating your current state of consciousness, or taking you in a state of trance – it opens the doors to newer dimensions – dimensions which can only be accessed in a certain state of mind.

Music seems to be part of our biological heritage, because infants have excellent musical abilities, that’s why many to-be mothers sing to their unborn child, because they respond/dance to different types of music.

No human culture on earth has ever lived without it: Music has been used across different cultures for healing purpose. In ancient Greece, music was used to ease stress, promote sleep, and soothe pain. Native Americans and Africans used singing and chanting as part of their healing rituals, like the shamans. Even the Chinese character for medicine includes the character for music. Music and healing goes hand in hand.

Lets see the effect music can have on a physical/ mental and psychological level: 

1) Improves your visual and verbal skills

Early music education stimulates a child’s brain, leading to improved performance in verbal intelligence. This was suggested in a study among 4-to 6-year-olds who received only one month of musical training. It included training in rhythm, pitch, melody, voice and basic musical concepts, and this proved to have a “transfer effect,” enhancing their ability to understand words and explain their meaning.

Another study among 8 to 11-year-olds found that those who had extra-curricular music classes, developed higher verbal IQ, and visual abilities, in comparison to those with no musical training.

Even one-year-old babies who participate in interactive music classes with their parents smile more, communicate better and show earlier and more sophisticated brain responses to music.

2) Affects the heartbeat, pulse rate and blood pressure

As Nietzsche, said, ‘We listen to music with our muscles.’ Studies have proved that music can not only strengthen the heart but also improve the recovery of patients suffering from heart disease.

No matter the genre of music, listening to one’s favorite music releases endorphins in the brain that improves the vascular health. (Opera, classical and other types of ‘joyful’ music were more likely to stimulate endorphins as opposed to heavy metal)

At Abbott Northwestern Hospital in Minneapolis, men and women who listened to music soon after undergoing cardiac surgery were less anxious and reported having less pain than those who just rested quietly.

At Massachusetts General Hospital, a nurse-led team found that heart patients confined to bed who listened to music for 30 minutes had lower blood pressure, slower heart rates, and less distress than those who didn’t listen to music.

The rhythm, the melody and harmony, all play a role in the emotional and cardiovascular response.

3) Improves sleep quality in students

Young or old, we all face sleep problems, in some cases, regularly, in other cases, when we’ve had an overactive day. Listening to soft music is indeed relaxing, hence improving the quality of your sleep.

Research shows that music can help reduce several factors known to interfere with sleep (including stress and anxiety), promote physical changes that support more restful sleep (such as lowered heart and respiratory rates), and aid in treatment of Insomnia.

Info from The Mind Unleashed

Heartbeat Music Therapy

The heartbeat is the most basic, beautiful metronome. It is such a powerful, audible representation of life and of the human experience.

A mother of a patient once told me, “I’m afraid that I’m going to forget my daughter’s voice.” This comment compelled me to begin recording portions of music therapy sessions to proactively build a reservoir of positive and natural experiences with patients and their families.

When I began working in the CICU, NICU, PICU, it was more difficult to capture these moments, because some of these patients cannot speak, whether it is due to their age (infant), progression of illness, or intensive medical care (intubation).

I had heard of other music therapists in the medical field adding recordings of in uteroheartbeats to lullabies created with high-risk pregnant mothers to increase bonding between the mother and baby.

But it wasn’t until I saw a piece of news highlighting a mother’s response to hearing her bereaved daughter’s heart still beating inside a recipient that sparked a light bulb. With an improvised stethoscope microphone, I realized I could capture patients’ rhythmic essence – their heartbeat – and add it to music that is meaningful to the patient and his or her family.

Working from a clinical foundation of palliative care, a specialized care for people with serious illnesses, my aim has always been to enhance or improve the patient and families’ quality of life. At Cincinnati Children’s, family-centered care is at the root of every intervention we facilitate.

So I realized this music therapy intervention could potentially fulfill those needs as well, and assist with increased coping, anticipatory grief, and pre/post loss and bereavement.

I have found that the process of performing this intervention together with the family is more important than the product, but aesthetic beauty and musicianship is necessary to truly honor the patient and family. I will ask the family what songs are important to the patient and meaningful to them, then the chosen songs are added instrumentally over the beat of the patient’s heart.

The resulting songs are as individualistic as the patients and families I serve and the outcome is a preservation of the patient’s legacy in the form of music.

Families in a situation in which their loved one has a serious illness feel an overwhelming sense of powerlessness. Giving them something proactive and productive to focus on helps to normalize the situation and gives them a little bit of control. This is really the foundation of music therapy: utilizing music to help and support patients and family members address their emotional and social needs and improve quality of life.

I recently helped create a video which explains this heartbeat music therapy and how it has helped one family. You can hear the songs the patient’s father and younger brother chose together, and how the patient’s heartbeat and their love will never stop.

“So I think there is again this word love. It’s capable of so many transformations that can be then something quite practical. Music is the one way in which you can imagine that world—Music that speaks to the human soul, but originates somewhere else, that tells the music, the human soul, that you originate somewhere else. This is the voice of home.” 

Robbins, C. (2005). Personal Interview. Nordoff-Robbins Institute. New York, NY: NYU

http://cincinnatichildrensblog.org/patient-family-experience/and-the-beat-goes-on/#more

Therapy dog helping children with their fear of the dentist

Many people, especially children, dread going to the dentist. To help calm the nerves of some of his young, nervous patients Dr. Paul Weiss has trained his golden retriever Brooke to act as a therapy dog.

Weiss enrolled Brooke in a two-week boot camp and then had her certified by Therapy Dogs International in May. With her certification Brooke was brought on as the newest team member of Weiss’ pediatric dental practice in Williamsville, New York.

Each Thursday, the 4-year-old golden retriever is on hand to help comfort nervous patients. “If a child is afraid of getting her teeth cleaned, Brooke can sit next to them in the chair and the kid can have their hand on the dog,” said Weiss. Brooke also works the reception area to greet the patients.

Weiss takes proper precautions with Brooke. All patients are notified ahead of time that Brooke will be present. Therefore anyone with an allergy or reason to avoid dogs will know. Brooke also is bathed before each visit and the office is cleaned thoroughly after she leaves.

Many patients love having Brooke around and try to schedule their appointments for Thursdays. “If demand increases we may have to up her hours,” said Weiss.

Info from Life with dogs

Skoog: The easy-to-play instrument for everyone.

Music-making is an important part of every child’s education. The benefits are well-recognised and include improved concentration, language, sympathetic engagement and social interaction. 

A new musical instrument has been created specifically for disabled users: the SKOOG. This video gives a quick overview of what it is, how it works and has some clips of users making music with the skoog.

Tap it. Shake it. Squeeze it. Give it a little twist.

The Skoog software allows you to customise the instrument's sensitivity to suit your playing style, which means that anyone can rock out to their favourite tunes, or use programmes like GarageBand to open up a new world of amazing music and sound.

Skoog plugs straight into your computer’s USB port.

Dynamic sensors within the Skoog are cleverly arranged to respond to your every move, no matter how gentle or forceful you are feeling.

Play the Skoog with any part of your body!

Designed to adapt and fit with your own natural movements, the Skoog sets you free to explore sounds and music in your own way. By adjusting the Skoogmusic software you can challenge yourself and grow as a musician. Whether you have very limited mobility or bags of agility, you can make your Skoog fit your style.

How to play the Skoog?

You play the Skoog by physically interacting with it. Dynamic sensors within your Skoog are cleverly arranged to respond to your every move, no matter how gentle or forceful you are feeling. By pressing, squeezing, rubbing, stroking, tilting or shaking your Skoog in different ways you control how the different instruments sound.

Info from http://www.skoogmusic.com
Visit to find out more

APCC vence Festival Europeu da Canção - vídeo

A Associação de Paralisia Cerebral de Coimbra venceu o Festival Europeu da Canção para pessoas com deficiência, em Estocolmo, no dia 2 de Maio de 2014.

Músicos: Paulo Jesus, Pedro Falcão, Paulo Casal e Márcio Reis. 

Diretor artístico: Paulo Jacob. 

Chefe da delegação portuguesa: Rui Ramos, ARCIL (Associação para a Recuperação de Cidadãos Inadaptados da Lousã).

APCC vence Festival Europeu da Canção

Paulo Jesus, Pedro Falcão, Paulo Casal e Márcio Reis venceram, em 2 de maio de 2014, o Festival Europeu da Canção para a Pessoa com Deficiência Mental. 

Representaram a APCC – Associação de Paralisia Cerebral de Coimbra e Portugal, em Estocolomo, Suécia, depois de terem conquistado, em 20 de outubro de 2012, o Festival Nacional da Canção para Pessoas com Deficiência, na Lousã.

Acompanhados pelo professor Paulo Jacob apresentaram «Mundo de Contradições» que, com letra de Paulo Casal, conquistou o júri e lhes permitiu viver uma experiência memorável. Foi com este mesmo trabalho que Paulo Jesus e Pedro Falcão se estrearam em palco.

Nas palavras de Paulo Jacob foi para todos «uma honra» participar num festival europeu no qual competiram 12 concorrentes. Representaram a instituição e um país que, segundo disse o apresentador do festival, tem uma «língua exótica, suave e agradável».

Os colaboradores da APCC receberam, em 4 de maio, estes vencedores que chegaram a Portugal visivelmente felizes e orgulhosos por todo o trabalho desenvolvido.

Foi a segunda vez que a APCC venceu o Festival Europeu da Canção. Este é, aliás, o segundo título conquistado por Márcio Reis, pois em 2005, e acompanhado por Rita Joana, sagrou-se vencedor, em Áustria, com «Maior que o Mundo».

PARABÉNS!

Notícia de APC_Coimbra

5 reasons why music helps children with special needs

Making music can improve pro-social behaviour and the problem solving skills of young children

Building on existing research (Kirschner and Tomasello in 20102) which found that making music significantly improves pro-social behaviour in young children) the current study investigated not only the potential effects of music making (singing or playing an instrument) on pro-sociability but also its effects on problem-solving and whether there was a difference between boys and girls.

The study, carried out by undergraduate student, Rie Davies, and academics Dr Maddie Ohl and Dr Anne Manyande from the School of Psychology at the University of West London, explored the pro-sociability, co-operation and problem-solving abilities of 24 girls and 24 boys aged four.

The children in the study were randomly assigned to either a 'Music' Group (Group 1) or a 'No Music' Group (Group 2). Children in Group 1 (Music) sang and played the percussion bullfrog and children in Group 2 (No Music) listened to a story. These sequences were then followed by two games a 'Co-operation' game and a 'Helping' game. The children's problem solving ability was tested by observing their reactions during the 'Helping' game.

Music improved helpfulness for both girls and boys with children in the 'Music' group over thirty times more likely to help than those in the 'No Music' group. Girls were over twenty times more likely to help than boys. Making music was also shown to improve co-operation among all the children in the 'Music Group' who were six times more likely to co-operate than those in the 'No Music' Group. Once again girls were even more likely to co-operate after music making than boys. Boys in the 'Music' Group were also four times more likely to problem solve.

Rie Davies said: "This study provides support for prior research by Kirschner and Tomasello (2010)1 and also highlights the need for schools and parents to understand the important role music making has in children's lives in terms of social bonding and helping behaviours. Music making in class, particularly singing, may encourage pupils with learning differences and emotional difficulties to feel less alienated in the school environment."

Info from Science Daily

Your kid's brain on music: Amazing!

Your Kid’s Brain on Music – Infographic

Some things are pretty logical, such as how fun and motivating music can be. But others are pretty awesome. Did you know that people who learned an instrument when they were young are actually better at picking up foreign languages – for the rest of their lives? Another study showed that high school students involved in music actually do better on their SATs. Improvements can be seen in all portions of the tests, but guess which one gets the highest boost in scores? No, not math: the verbal portion. Amazing!

There are a lot more fascinating facts on how learning to play an instrument or studying music actually works on young minds.

Info from Loog

The scientific power of music

AsapSCIENCE analyzes music as humanity’s drug of choice. Listening to music can cause the release of the neurotransmitter dopamine, in the same pleasure or reward circuits that cause cocaine addiction.

Do melodies, harmonies and rhythms tap into the same kind of brain reward systems that drive our desires for food, sex and other basic behaviors? What do you think the evolutionary basis behind it could be? Does it predate humans being social or is this a just a random byproduct of our brain wiring?

Source: youtube.com

Playing classical music to your child can improve their listening skills later on in life

Susan Hallam, professor of education and music psychology at the Institute of Educadtion, Univeristy of London, evaluated a programme which introduces children aged seven to ten to classical music and its composers. 

The scheme involves a whole school assembly followed by six lessons at class level, with children experiencing different instruments and musical concepts and a formal concert.

Musicians explain what children should listen for and launch question and answer sessions. As the sessions progress, the listening tasks become more complex. 

The programme has been delivered to 4,500 children in 26 primary schools in Hackney and Tower Hamlets, East London, as well as to over 22,000 youngsters in assemblies and concerts. 26 members of staff and 252 children in nine primary schools were questioned about the programme.

Teachers rated developing the ability to listen as the main benefit, followed by musical knowledge and development and the boosting of concentration levels, aspirations, self-discipline and personal and social skills. Some staff also pointed to improvements to English.

One teacher said: ‘The children really enjoy the sessions. I think that listening to music in such an intimate environment (the classroom) engages them and allows them to develop their listening skills.’ Another said that pupils’ communication skills improved.

In a report on the scheme, Professor Hallam said children developed ‘enhanced listening skills and the development of other skills necessary for careful listening to take place including concentration and self-discipline’.

She added: ‘For some of the children the programme was inspirational. The children’s positive reactions suggest that they were ‘open-eared’ and had not developed prejudices against classical music. We know that preferences for music are affected by the extent to which individuals are exposed to them, the greater the exposure the greater the liking. Opportunities to listen extensively to classical music in the early years of primary school are therefore likely to lead to children appreciating a wider range of music than might otherwise be the case.’

Meanwhile a study from the University of St Andrews, Fife, Scotland, last September suggested that musicians have sharper minds and are less likely to suffer a mental decline.

Researchers said that mastering instruments such as the piano, flute or violin improves people's ability to pick up mistakes and fix them quickly. They perform tasks faster and do not allow occasional slip-ups to derail them due to their hours of practice.

The study indicated that playing an instrument could protect against a deterioration in mental abilities through age or illness.

Info from DailyMail