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WMM 4In the news 4 2018, 12:01am,?The Sunday TimesAndrew Lloyd Webber: Squeeze on school music is a scandalCutting back on lessons in schools hits children and is a false economy that fails to recognise the money arts bring in, says composerJulia HortonLloyd Webber says music is a proven asset for behaviour and academic successA funding squeeze that is sharply reducing music education for children has become “a national scandal” that will damage youngsters and communities, and will rebound on the government cost-cutters, Andrew Lloyd Webber has warned.The composer said last week that the removal of public funding that has forced schools to charge for music classes, or scrap them, was a “huge, false economy”.“If there’s a civil servant with a brain in the Treasury . . . he or she should brief the chancellor on how much tax he collects from the ever-increasing contribution that the arts make to the British economy,” the former Tory peer said, adding: “Strangle the arts at birth and the cash cow that this government seems to take for granted just might dry up.”Last month it emerged that Bingley Grammar School in West Yorkshire is charging pupils ?5 a week to study for a music GCSE.The Department for Education said it was investing ?400m between 2016 and 2020 “for a diverse portfolio of music and arts education programmes designed to improve arts provision for all children”.'Help us to keep music alive in schools in these challenging times'Mark Lehain2nd February 2018 at 12:08Times Educational SupplementMusic can have a life-changing impact on children – so we need schools to come together and share the ways in which, despite the funding cuts, they are providing a rounded musical education, writes Parents and Teachers for Excellence director Mark LehainI can still picture clearly the exact moment that ultimately led to my music addiction.It was a Year 8 music lesson and?Mr Hayes played us the a capella start to Paul Simon’s?Diamonds on the Soles of her Shoes.?I’d never heard anything like it. A shiver literally went down my spine. I mentioned this to one of my big brother’s mates later that day. “Just wait ‘til you hear some Simon and Garfunkel,” he said. “I’ll do you a mix tape of their best songs.”Holy cow. That was it. I asked for a guitar for Christmas and was lucky enough to get a little acoustic one. There was no looking back. It opened up a world of music that had previously passed me by and inducted me into the fraternity of teenage rock wannabes.I hunted down my parents’ vinyl collection in the loft. It wasn’t massive, but it was the perfect gateway drug for a sonic addiction that lasts to this day.Music has seen me through the good times and the bad. It’s reached me when no one else could get through. It gave a nervy teenager something to bond with others over, and also led to my falling in love with musical theatre.For this and many other reasons, I’m always sad when I read about the various ways that arts provision is under pressure in some of our schools.?The findings of the Education Policy Institute-BBC research that came out earlier this week?suggest that many schools feel that funding and accountability measures mean that they need to reduce access to art, music, drama and the like, to make ends meet and create more time for “academic” subjects.I don’t doubt that where this has happened heads and governors have done so after exploring alternatives. That said, there are still lots of places where the arts are not just standing still but thriving. Schools that are teaching every student a musical instrument and immersing them in a rich canon of classic, traditional?and contemporary pieces. Where exhibitions and theatrical productions are inclusive and high-quality and at the heart of a school calendar.Music?education for allGiven how important the arts are, at?Parents and Teachers for Excellence?we want to learn from these schools what it is that has enabled them to grow and sustain these things, and then share lessons as widely as possible so others can adopt or adapt as they see fit. The answers to the challenges we face lie within our profession – and this is where we need your help.One of our major projects this year will be “Music for all in every school”. At PTE we already know of many great schools that have developed thriving music scenes, often at no cost or low cost to students and their families.For instance, there’s?King Solomon Academy in central London, where every child learns an instrument and plays in the school orchestra, and?Dixons Music Primary in Bradford, where pupils get vocal, instrumental, and ensemble tuition in a variety of groups, from specialist music teachers. And I can’t overlook my baby, Bedford Free School, where they teach every kid violin or guitar for free,?and also around 10 per cent of our students?get free brass lessons from the wonderful local Salvation Army corps. We had to be a bit wheeler-dealer to pull this off, but we felt it was such an important part of education that it was worth it.However, we are really keen to go beyond the people and places we already have contact with and learn about as many ways as possible of systematically giving every child in school a high-quality musical education. It might be through whole-class instrumental lessons, enrichment opportunities, drop down days, trips – whatever it is, if you believe that your school is doing a great job in promoting and delivering musical education, we’d like to hear from you.Get in touch and tell us about it?– we want to discover, share?and promote the ways that people are enthusing children about music across the country, so that we can all learn more ways to do it elsewhere. Mr Hayes changed my life with one snippet of a song, and I was lucky enough that my mum and dad could get me a guitar to take things from there; let us know what you do now to have the same impact on the children in your school, and help keep the arts alive in these more challenging times.Mark Lehain is the director of Parents and Teachers for Excellence, is on the advisory council for the New Schools Network and was the founder of Bedford Free School. He tweets?@lehain study aims to improve quality of life for seniors with musicResearchers from Germany and Switzerland have teamed up to investigate the effects of music on the brains of elderly people. DW talked to the research leader about the challenges and possible outcomes of the study.People who play an instrument will often have learned the basics in early childhood, but brain researchers from Hanover and Geneva want to show that music lessons can be valuable even later in life."This new study examines the effects of music on the quality of life of senior citizens. It aims to draw attention to the important role of well-being in old age and to support elderly people in trying new things in their lives again," said the musical neurophysiologist and research leader Eckart Altenmüller in an interview for DW.More than 100 participants will get piano lessons or classes of theoretical music education for one year as of summer 2018. Anyone between the ages of 64 and 76 with no prior experience in playing an instrument is allowed to take part.Deutsche Welle: You investigate how music affects the quality of life in older people. What results do you hope to obtain??Eckart Altenmüller: We hope that music will have a positive effect on various psychological factors. We expect to improve participants' well-being and decrease depression, but we also focus on stimulating thinking, memory, combination skills and mental control.What makes the study very complicated is that we aim to examine how the brain functions in later stages of life and what effects music and theoretical music lessons in control groups have on brain structure and brain networks.What scientific evidence do you rely on in your study?Prof. Dr. Eckart AltenmüllerWe examined students between the ages of 20 and 30 many years ago, and we were able to document that even a single piano lesson leads to creating new networks between the centers of hearing and moving. They are stable even several weeks afterward.Now we want to see whether a similar change, which is called neuroplastic adaptation, also takes place in brains of older people.You test two groups: one gets piano lessons while the other gets trained in music theory. Why?It was important for us to maintain the so-called parameter constancy. In other words, the two groups have to be distinguished by only one thing, and in this case, it is the physical experience with the instrument.The music theory group receives lessons in Music history and an introduction to Harmony. The classes are designed to be very entertaining and motivating, but only the piano group learns to play the instrument.Are you suggesting that mere listening to music is not enough to achieve the desired or similar effect?That's right. Listening to music is good and can probably also improve the quality of your life, but making music is far more incisive and formative.How can you be sure that the effects are a direct result of making music? That they are not just a by-product of seniors having a good time?We must exclude the so-called unspecific motivational effects, of course, which is why we introduced the control group that does not learn to play the piano, but still enjoys learning something interesting about music.In other words, could other creative activities besides music also have the positive impact?That is not the subject of our research, but we can assume that, for example, a pottery class or a painting course can have a similarly positive effect on the brain. There are already indications of it in children and adolescents. The changes in the brain are, however, different.Could music have a negative effect on your health?Only if such activity is exaggerated. There is a thing called compulsive practice that can be harmful if, for instance, you practice music with high levels of volume or carry out the same movements repeatedly.The so-called over-practicing is not beneficial either as it can affect fine motor skills and lead to exhaustion or even burnout. But such disorders are usually developed under pressure.? for a good causeMusic for music's sake - art for art's sake: they're unwritten laws for many creative spirits. But the World Doctors Orchestra demonstrates what else music is capable of, including serving as a source of therapy.Twice a year, it's out of the doctor's coat and into a tux or evening gown for roughly 100 of the members of the World Doctors Orchestra. Directed by internal medicine specialist and conductor Stefan Willich, these medical musicians from around the world perform benefit concerts, with proceeds going toward medical aid projects.How it all beganBerlin-based physician Willich got the orchestra off the ground. A music lover at an early age, he learned to play the violin as a child, then studied piano and conducting. After graduating from high school, he even began studying music until he had a horrible epiphany: "If I have to make music every day as a professional, I'm going to lose my love of it," he recalled. So he changed his major to medicine.Internist and conductor Stefan WillichYears later, an internist at Berlin's Charité hospital, he realized many of his colleagues enjoyed making music in their free time. So Willich founded a doctors' orchestra in 2007. But his vision went well beyond Berlin: a group of amateur musicians made up of physicians from around the world.The World Doctors Orchestra performed for the first time in public in 2008 at Berlin's Philharmonie. In the following years - from 2009 to 2012 - the musicians performed in celebrated concerts in the United States, Armenia, China and South Africa. But Berlin, the orchestra's home base, saw a benefit concert nearly every year.The body of musicians around Stefan Willich keeps charitable causes at the top of the agenda. Concert proceeds go in part to support international and regional projects. The World Doctors Orchestra also encourages its audience to donate money to improve medical care and access in developing countries.The orchestra now consists of 700 members from over 40 nations. Around 20 percent of the musicians and medical professionals come from Germany.Logistical challengesDealing with members spread around the world is a feat of planning and preparation."The musicians get notice well in advance of when a concert is taking place and what pieces will be played. Weeks or even months ahead of time, we send the scores to our members so that everyone, whether in Asia, Africa or the US, can rehearse on their own," said Stefan Willich.The participants in a given performance then meet in the city where the concert will be held. Often they have just a couple of days to rehearse. No problem, though, the conductor says: "After all, doctors are accustomed to working hard. And since we all love music, the rehearsals hardly feel like work."The World Doctors Orchestra on stage in the Berlin PhilharmonieMusic and medicineA willingness to work hard isn't the only reason Stefan Willich sees doctors as well suited to a volunteer orchestra. Music and medicine both have to do with very nuanced structures, he says."In music, you have the compositions. In medicine, the natural sciences. But in both, you have to give yourself over to emotion, subjectivity and passion," he said, noting also that music can have a relaxing effect on people who spend their days confronted with illness or death.Two women taking part in music therapyPower to healStefan Willich views music therapy as a remarkable interface between music and medicine. Although this form of therapy has often been neglected by modern medical practitioners, it's currently undergoing a renaissance. Willich offers two examples of how music has been shown to have the power to heal: "Music can lower blood pressure. And people suffering from dementia are able to use music to stay in contact with the world around them much longer, even after they've lost the ability to use language."The musician doctor sees those facts as a strong argument for including music therapy in modern medicine.As part of this year's Beethovenfest, the World Doctors Orchestra gave a benefit concert in Bonn, with the proceeds going in part to a project called "Dentists for Africa" that was founded by German dentists. Funds also went to the paediatric department at the University of Bonn's hospital. & Mental Health: Why We Should All Learn A Musical InstrumentDONNY GRUENDLER25 DECEMBER 2017,?06:54It's no secret that learning to play a musical instrument aids in keeping the mind sharp, particularly as one gets older.?There are studies on it.?And additional benefits?include reducing stress and lowering blood pressure, as well as helping to combat anxiety and depression. With so many advantages to making music, why aren't more people picking up an instrument and immersing themselves in its beneficial world?During my youth, growing up in Detroit, Michigan, I was always surrounded by music. These formative years forged a successful performance and recording career as well as leading to a life in the music industry. I have learned firsthand that music can enrich your life in countless ways, of which the most important is happiness.Mental HealthIt's well known that channelling your energy into something positive plays a?considerable role in helping anxiety and depression. Many family doctors and counsellors suggest focus and relaxation. As a result, practising yoga and meditation have become essential tools to mental wellness, which can be applied to learning music as well. By focusing on the melody and the notes you're playing, you will bring attention to the task at hand. Immense focus on rhythmic and/or melodic patterns can often be relaxing and soothing.Lower Your Blood PressureLearning to play an instrument can also be influential in helping to combat stress, a leading cause of high blood pressure.?Current findings indicate that music around 60 beats per minute most effectively engages the brain, causing it to synchronise with the rhythm, which induces alpha brainwaves. This process of learning is vital, as it's our brainwaves that set the tone for a relaxed and conscious state. Two genres that often use this ‘golden' bpm are jazz and classical, so learning these styles can be particularly beneficial.?Professors at the University of Florence in Italy claim that recent research illustrates the positive impact music has on blood pressure, really highlighting the potential benefits.Memory and Brain FunctionIt may seem obvious, but our ‘memory' and ‘ability to learn an instrument' are closely connected. That is, we practise the same song over and over until we can play a piece without looking at the sheet music. However, the way the brain functions when we learn an instrument is extraordinary, and?musicians have functionally different brains to non-musicians. The part in charge of memory becomes more active and can grow in some cases. So while you may associate brain training with Sudoku puzzles and crosswords, learning a musical instrument can give your grey matter a real workout. Plus, your friends would rather hear your rendition of "Brown Eyed Girl" than learn what 30-across was in the crossword puzzle.Sense of Achievement and PatienceThere's nothing quite like the satisfaction of completing something you've put a lot of time and effort into, like slotting in the final piece of a jigsaw or turning the last page of a book. When the task is as demanding as learning a musical instrument, that sense of accomplishment becomes even more significant. It's no quick or easy feat though, and you'll face obstacles on your journey from novice to virtuoso. Cracking those tricky chords, or gliding through to the end of that dream song without a hiccup, will require patience – another valuable skill to develop for your everyday life.With all these benefits – and the bragging rights of having a new skill to flaunt to family and friends – what are you waiting for?Donny Gruendler is president at the?Musicians Institute. Music Lessons Keep Aging Brain in TuneBy?Stephanie Pappas, Live Science Contributor?|?April 20, 2011 02:06pm Learning how to play an instrument as a child can boost cognition later in life, even if you don't continue playing as an adult.The Tiger Mothers were right all along: Music lessons as a kid may make you a sharper grown-up.A new study finds that older adults with musical experience perform better on some cognitive tests than those who had never studied music. With only 70 participants, the study was small, but the results match those from other studies of challenging tasks, including findings that learning a second language?protects against dementia?."Musical activity throughout life may serve as a challenging cognitive exercise, making your brain fitter and more capable of accommodating the?challenges of aging," study researcher Brenda Hanna-Pladdy, a neurologist at the Emory University School of Medicine, said in a statement. "Since studying an instrument requires years of practice and learning, it may create alternate connections in the brain that could compensate for cognitive declines as we get older."?The study participants ranged in age from 60 to 83. One group had no musical training, one had one to nine years of musical study, and the third group had 10 or more years. None of the participants had Alzheimer's disease, and all had similar levels of education and fitness.None of the musicians in the group were professionals. Most had started playing an instrument around age 10, with more than half playing the piano and about a quarter playing woodwind instruments such as the flute. [Read:?Music 'Tones the Brain']The participants each underwent a neuropsychological assessment, including tests of verbal functioning, memory and attention. Those who had studied music the longest performed best, followed by the next group of musicians. The non-musicians scored lowest on all tests.The score differences between higher- and lower-level musicians weren't statistically significant, but there were significant differences between high-level musicians and non-musicians, the researchers reported online April 4 in the journal Neuropsychology. High-level musicians were better at visuospatial memory, naming objects and adapting to new information.Whether the participant continued to play music into old age didn't matter, the researchers found. Instead, long-term study in youth seemed to confer benefits far down the road."Based on previous research and our study results, we believe that both the years of musical participation and the age of acquisition are crucial," said Hanna-Pladdy, who was a professor at the University of Kansas Medical Center when she conducted the research.The study was correlational, so further research is required to definitively show whether music learning causes?a late-life brain boost. A possible alternative explanation, the researchers wrote, is that more intelligent people tend to study music longer. Future research should track individuals over time, the researchers wrote, and also compare music learning with other brain-stimulating tasks.? Best Study Music: What to Listen to While StudyingWhether you listen to any of these recommendations, Miley Cyrus, Tupac, or whatever else, it really doesn't make a difference - as long as it works.Elizabeth HoytNovember 07, 2017If you like to listen to music while you study, choosing the right type can be vital to your overall productivity level.Listening to music can calm you down, leading to more conscientious studying, elevating your mood, motivating you to stay focused and studying for longer periods of time.While it can be a challenge to stay away from the hottest hits, selecting the wrong type of music can distract you from your studies and become counterproductive.So, what type of music is considered “music for the mind?”The following types of music are recommended for studying, along with tips to help you choose which genre will keep you most focused on your objective – studying.Below each genre there’s a recommendation so that you can test out the genre and discover which type of music works best for you.Happy listening!1. Never underestimate the power of classical.Classical music is known for being both peaceful and harmonious, creating a calm and serene study environment for the listen.It’s recommended as one of the best studying genres for students, because listeners report side effects like better mood and increased productivity. As far as side effects go, those aren’t too shabby!Recommendation: Brandenburg Concerto #3 – Bach2. Timed TemposStudies have shown that music timed at 60 beats-per-minute can help put people’s minds into ease; putting brains into a more productive mode where thinking are creativity are easier.Recommendation: Concertos for Recorder – Telemann & Vivaldi3. Instrumental Ambient SoundsIf you prefer a more modern flair, this may be the perfect option for you. Relaxing sounds of instruments can be paired with modern tunes to get the best of both worlds – so you don’t have to sacrifice a thing.Recommendation:?VSQ?Performs the Hits of 2013, Volume 2 – Vitamin String Quartet4. Nature SoundsThis type of “music” is perfect for those not so into classical music. It’s known for increasing concentration levels and keeps the listener’s mind engaged at a more subconscious level.It also can be very calming, which is why many use it to help with meditations and to fall asleep.What falls into this category are soundtracks of nature like waterfalls, rain or the sounds of the seashore rolling in.Recommendation:?5. Modern ElectronicModern electronic is also commonly referred to as “chill out” music. The genres include Ambient House, Ambient Trance, New Age and Trip Hop.They are known to relax the mind, encouraging it to roam. Be careful not to let it roam too much, however – you want to stay focused on the task at hand!Recommendation: Music for Airports – Eno6. Volume control.Make sure that your background music is, indeed, in the background and is not distracting you or any of the students around you.Think about it: it’s nearly impossible for you to be completely focused if your head is about to, um,?explode. Keep the noise level to a minimum so that the study level is at a maximum.7. Plan out your playlist.Don’t wait until the time you’ve set aside for studying to create a playlist. Create it on your downtime so that, when it’s time to study, studying is the only task at hand and all you need to do as far as music is concerned is press play.That way, you’ll be able to stay focused and won’t take any time away from what you should be accomplishing.If you forget to plan ahead or don’t want to create your own playlist, don’t sweat it! There are some great resources that will do it for you, like the?Study Music Project, which gives you a playlist of free study music each time you press play for more than an hour.8. Break it up.Plan your playlist so that, when it ends, it will be an indication that it’s your break time.It’s helpful for you to not have to shift modes and have to worry about changing your music and you have the added benefit of never having to look at the clock because your playlist will function as a built in timer.9. Studying is more important than music.Avoid spending hours creating your playlist. After all, it should essentially just become background noise. What you should ultimately focus on is your studies.You can spend hours on playlists for your road trips in the summertime when school is out!10. The bottom line.Whether you listen to any of these recommendations, Miley Cyrus, Tupac, or whatever else, it really doesn’t make a difference – as long as it works.Remember: what’s most important – what?actually?matters is that whatever you’re listening to doesn’t distract you, calms you and truly puts your mind into study mode so that you can be productive and retain as much information as possible. OF LEARNING AND PLAYING MUSIC FOR ADULTSCognitive Benefits/Facts:Have you ever felt chills down your spine while listening to music? According to a study by Nusbaum and Silvia (2010), over 90% of us have. How powerful the effects of music, though, depends on your personality. People who are high in one of the five personality dimensions called ‘openness to experience’, are likely to feel the most chills while listening to music (Nusbaum and Silvia, "Shivers and Timbres?Personality and the Experience of Chills From Music," Social Psychology & Personality Science, 2010).A Stanford study shows that music engages areas of the brain which are involved with paying attention, making predictions and updating events in our memory (Baker, Mitzi. "Music moves brain to pay attention, Stanford study finds." Stanford Medicine. Accessed February 24, 2015).Much like expert technical skills, mastery in arts and humanities is closely correlated to a greater understanding of language components (Trei, Lisa. "Musical training helps language processing, studies show." Stanford News. Accessed February 24, 2015).Musicians are found to have superior working memory compared to non-musicians (Berti, et al., 2006; Pallesen et al., "Cognitive Control in Auditory Working Memory Is Enhanced in Musicians," PLOS One, June 15, 2010).Musical experience strengthens many of the same aspects of brain function that?are impaired in individuals with language and learning difficulties, such as the neural timing precision?which allows differentiation between speech syllables (Kraus, N. and B. Chandrasekaran, Music training for the development of auditory skills. Nature Reviews Neuroscience, 2010.11: p. 599-605.)Both music and language are complex communication systems, in which basic components are combined into high-order structures in accordance with rules.? Whether music was an evolutionary precursor to language or merely a byproduct of cognitive faculties that developed to support language, music is pervavise across human cultures and throughout history (Nina Kraus, Jessica Slater, "Music and language: relations and disconnections," The Human Auditory System: Fundamental Organization and Clinical Disorders, Vol. 29, 3rd Series, 2015).Cross-sectional comparisons of musicians to non-musicians have established a variety of musician enhancements in auditory skills and their neural substrates, extending from enhanced perception and neural encoding of speech, most notably in suboptimal listening conditions, to more proficient auditory working memory and auditory attention (Nina Kraus, Dana L. Strait, "Emergence of biological markers of musicianship with school-based music instruction," Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 2015).Adults who receive formal music instruction as children have more robust brainstem?responses to sound than peers who never participate in music lessons and that the?magnitude of the response correlates with how recently training ceased. These results?suggest that neural changes accompanying musical training during childhood are?retained in adulthood (Skoe, E. & Kraus, N. 2012. A Little Goes a Long Way: How the Adult Brain Is?Shaped by Musical Training in Childhood, Journal of Neuroscience, 32, 34,?11510. DOI: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.1949-12.2012).Music therapy utilizing improvisation on hand drums helped veterans modulate their "often misdirected, exaggerated, and unrecognized emotions," with the goal being generalization of these skills to everyday life. Drumming provided an opportunity for the men to express and control their feelings and helped build a sense of connectedness and group mission (Burt, J. W. (1995). Distant Thunder: Drumming with Vietnam Veterans. Music Therapy Perspectives, 13, 110-112; quoted in, "Music Therapy and the Military," by Ronna Kaplan, Huffington Post, March 4, 2013).Researchers found that those who played an instrument for two years showed a stronger "neurophysiological distinction" between certain sounds than children who didn't get the instrumental training. For instance, the music-makers more easily could tell the difference between the words "bill" and "pill," a key skill in learning to read (Skoe, E. & Kraus, N. (2012). A Little Goes a Long Way: How the Adult Brain Is?Shaped by Musical Training in Childhood, Journal of Neuroscience, 32, 34,?11510. DOI: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.1949-12.2012).Researchers from Ohio State University's Wexner Medical Center looked at how different types of music and silence were processed in the brains of 21 people with epilepsy. Whether listening to classical music or jazz, all of the participants had much higher levels of brain wave activity when listening to music, the study found. Brain wave activity in the epilepsy patients tended to synchronize more with the music, especially in the temporal lobe, the researchers said (Robert Preidt, HealthDay, August 10, 2015).Social Benefits/Facts:Seven in ten Americans (71%) say that the?learnings and habits from music education equip?people to be better team players in their careers (July 2014 Harris Poll).People high in openness to experience are more likely to play a musical instrument, and more likely to rate music as important to them (Nusbaum and Silvia, "Shivers and Timbres?Personality and the Experience of Chills From Music," Social Psychology & Personality Science, 2010).A review of 23 studies covering almost 1,500 patients found that listening to music reduced heart rate, blood pressure and anxiety in heart disease patients (Bradt & Dileo, "Music for stress and anxiety reduction in coronary heart disease patients," , 2009).In research by Ferguson and Sheldon (2013), participants who listened to upbeat classical compositions by Aaron Copland, while actively trying to feel happier, felt their moods lift more than those who passively listened to the music. This suggests that engaging with music, rather than allowing it to wash over us, gives the experience extra emotional power (Ferguson and Sheldon, "Trying to be happier really can work: Two experimental studies," The Journal of Positive Psychology: Dedicated to furthering research and promoting good practice, 2013).A study by Logeswaran et al. (2009) found that a quick blast of happy music made participants perceive other’s faces as happier. The same was true for a snippet of sad music. The biggest effect was seen when people looked at faces with a neutral expression.?In other words: people projected the mood of the music they were listening to onto other people’s faces (?Logeswaran et al., "Crossmodal transfer of emotion by music," Neuroscience Letters, 2009).Four out of five Americans (80%) believe?their music education has contributed to their level?of personal fulfillment (July 2014 Harris Poll).Two-thirds (67%) of Americans say music?education provides people with a disciplined?approach to solving problems (July 2014 Harris Poll).Two-thirds (66%) of Americans say that music?education prepares someone to manage the tasks of?their job more successfully?(July 2014 Harris Poll).Graduates from music programs report that creativity, teamwork, communication, and critical thinking are skills necessary in their work, regardless of whether they are working in music or other fileds (Craft, A. 2001. An Analysis of Research and Literature on Creativity and Education. Report Prepared for the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority. Coventry, England. Strategic National Arts Alumni Project,?SNAAP. 2010. Forks in the Road: The?Many Paths of Arts Alumni: Strategic?National Arts Alumni Project 2010?Findings. Bloomington, IN).Both the Greek and Roman armies used brass and percussion instruments — including the ancestors of the modern cornet and tuba — to convey information on the march, in the field and in camp. Greek armies on campaign employed musicians to accompany poetic recitations of odes and paeans designed to remind soldier and citizen alike of the valor of past heroes. After the collapse of Rome in the West, its tradition of martial music was preserved and refined by the Eastern empire in Byzantium (HistoryNet Staff, "The Music of War," , June 6, 2012).The formal discipline of music therapy has a rich, long history in providing services for our American heroes. It began after World Wars I and II, when community musicians performed in veterans' hospitals and medical professionals noticed patients' positive and emotional responses to music. In 1944, when it became evident that these hospital musicians required special training, the first music therapy degree program was founded. Currently, approximately 50 qualified music therapists work in VA hospitals throughout the U.S., according to Al Bumanis, director of communications at the American Music Therapy Association ("Music Therapy and the Military," by Ronna Kaplan, Huffington Post, March 4, 2013).Since 2005, the VA has more than doubled the number of music therapists at its clinics (Abbie Fenress Swanson, "Music helps vets control symptoms of PTSD," Time, March 8, 2010).When the first American soldiers manual — compiled by Maj. Gen. Wilhelm von Steuben — was issued to the Continental Army in 1778, it contained a list of beats and signals modeled on those used in European armies. More quickly than in Europe, however, the bugle replaced the fife and drum ensemble in the American ranks. In 1867 bugle calls for the U.S. armed forces, mostly patterned after French models, were codified and standardized into a form that largely survives today (HistoryNet Staff, "The Music of War," , June 6, 2012).?While burgeoning technology eclipsed the need for music to accompany movement on the battlefield by the mid-20th century, it remained an effective means by which states could manipulate the morale, energies and attitudes of armies and indeed entire populations (HistoryNet Staff, "The Music of War," , June 6, 2012).Health Benefits/Facts:A study of healthy male college students found that, while riding stationary bicycles, the participants worked harder while listening to fast music. Extra bonus: They also enjoyed the music more (Scott Christ, "20 surprising, science-backed health benefits of music," USA Today, December 17, 2013).One study found that playing soft music (and dimming the lights) during a meal can help people slow down while eating and ultimately consume less food in one sitting (Scott Christ, "20 surprising, science-backed health benefits of music," USA Today, December 17, 2013).Listening to classical music has been shown to effectively treat insomnia in college students (Scott Christ, "20 surprising, science-backed health benefits of music," USA Today, December 17, 2013).Scientists have found that the emotions patients experience while listening to music have a healthy effect on blood vessel function. Music both made study participants feel happier and resulted in increased blood flow in their blood vessels (Scott Christ, "20 surprising, science-backed health benefits of music," USA Today, December 17, 2013).One study found that listening to music after a workout can help the body recover faster. While slow music produced a greater relaxation effect post-exercise, it seems that any kind of music can help the physical recovery process (Scott Christ, "20 surprising, science-backed health benefits of music," USA Today, December 17, 2013).Studies show that music can trigger the brain to release chemicals that distract the body from pain. When music reaches the brain’s auditory cortex, there’s communication between the cortex and the brain’s areas that control emotion, memory, and motor control (Abbie Fenress Swanson, "Music helps vets control symptoms of PTSD," Time, March 8, 2010).Educational Benefits/Facts:?The College Entrance Examination Board found that students involved in public school music programs scored 107 points higher on the SAT's than students with no participation (Profiles of SAT and Achievement Test Takers, The College Board,?compiled by the Music Educators National Conference, 2002).Nearly half of parents and teachers support?integrating music into the professional?development of all educators (NAMM Foundation and Grunwald Associates LLC, 2015.?Striking a Chord: The Public’s Hopes and Beliefs for K–12 Music Education in?the United States: 2015).Soldiers of the 1700s were required to function almost as automatons, to obey, smoothly and in formation, whatever commands were given by their superiors. With clouds of gunsmoke added to the din of combat, oral commands or personal example were not always reliable means of giving direction to an army. An order that was not heard — or worse, not understood — could be as dangerous as the enemy. Musically transmitted signals, however, could be heard above the crash of gunfire. The voice of the trumpet and the cadence of the drums were clear and unambiguous, making them vital to command and control (HistoryNet Staff, "The Music of War," , June 6, 2012).The formal discipline of music therapy has a rich, long history in providing services for our American heroes. It began after World Wars I and II, when community musicians performed in veterans' hospitals and medical professionals noticed patients' positive and emotional responses to music. In 1944, when it became evident that these hospital musicians required special training, the first music therapy degree program was founded. Currently, approximately 50 qualified music therapists work in VA hospitals throughout the U.S., according to Al Bumanis, director of communications at the American Music Therapy Association ("Music Therapy and the Military," by Ronna Kaplan, Huffington Post, March 4, 2013).Quotes/Testimonials:"Look carefully and you’ll find musicians at the top of almost any industry. Woody Allen performs weekly with a jazz band. The television broadcaster Paula Zahn (cello) and the NBC chief White House correspondent Chuck Todd (French horn) attended college on music scholarships; NBC’s Andrea Mitchell trained to become a professional violinist. Both Microsoft’s Mr. Allen and the venture capitalist Roger McNamee have rock bands. Larry Page, a co-founder of Google, played saxophone in high school. Steven Spielberg is a clarinetist and son of a pianist. The former World Bank president James D. Wolfensohn has played cello at Carnegie Hall." -?Joanne Lipman, "Is Music the Key to Success?" The New York Times, October 13, 2013. "Music may not make you a genius, or rich, or even a better person. But it helps train you to think differently, to process different points of view — and most important, to take pleasure in listening."-?Joanne Lipman, "Is Music the Key to Success?" The New York Times, October 13, 2013. "Music learning supports all learning.? Not that Mozart makes you smarter, but it's a very integrating, stimulating pastime or activity."-?Kenneth Guilmartin, cofounder of Music Together, quoted in "The Benefits of Music Education," , Laura Lewis Brown“Music has impacted me… helping my ability to do math and to read, and to think critically.”-?Fatima Gomez, BGCS/Latino Arts Strings Program Alumnus“Music became my voice and it became the bridge to a larger culture.”-?Dinorah Marquez, Program Director, Latino Arts Strings Program“Music is a tool for social justice.” -?Dinorah Marquez, Program Director, Latino Arts Strings Program??“We don’t see these kinds of biological changes in people who are just listening to music, who are not playing an instrument. I like to give the analogy that you’re not going to become physically fit just by watching sports.”-?Nina Kraus, director of Northwestern’s Auditory Neuroscience Laboratory, quoted in Melissa Locker, "This Is How Music Can Change Your Brain," Time, December 16, 2014"You have to understand what it means for a combat veteran to be agitated in the waiting room. Their pupils are dilated. They are angry or waiting for something to happen. But when we have live music that day, they come to me far more relaxed. It's like an amazing miracle, and I don't say that lightly."-?Dr. Hani Khouzam, quoted in, "Live music at Fresno's VA Hospital makes a big difference," by Diana Marcum, Los Angeles Times, January 16, 2013"When you play a musical instrument you have to learn about tone and about scores and your ability to store audio information becomes better. So not only does this make it easier to pick up other languages and have a better verbal memory in your own language, we have also seen that musicians are able to pick out exactly what others are feeling just on the tone of their voices. Empathy, disappointment, that kind of thing."-?Quoted in ,"Playing a Musical Instrument Makes you Brainier," by Richard Alleyne, The Telegraph, 10/27/2009"After silence, that which comes nearest to expressing the inexpressible is music."-?Aldous Huxley"I would say that music is the easiest means in which to express, but since words are my talent, I must try to express clumsily in words what the pure music would have done better."-?William Faulkner"Music expresses that which cannot be put into words and that which cannot remain silent."-?Victor Hugo"The state of mankind improves through music; music not only trains but educates individuals and makes them fit for a life of community.? Music is spiritual and mental food, an edifying and educational power.? In comparison with sports (the motion of bodies), music (the motion of sounds) belongs to a higher sphere.? In extreme cases, one encounters the tenet that music actually elevates man into a higher realm, transforming him into a new form of the human species." -?Albrecht Riethmüller, "Music Beyond Ethics," Archiv für Musikwissenschaft, p. 170, Volume 65, Issue 3, 2008"Music is a higher revelation than all wisdom and philosophy."-?Ludwig van Beethoven quoted in "Music Is a Potent Source of Meaning," Tom Jacobs, August 20, 2015"Music is awesome. It’s human. It’s universal. It’s big business precisely because it is something that everybody wants."-?Peter Greene, "Stop 'defending' music education," The Huffington Post"Music is freakin’ magical. In 40-some years I have never gotten over it — you take some seemingly random marks on a page, you blow air through a carefully constructed tube, and what comes out the other side is a sound that can convey things that words cannot. And you just blow air through a tube. Or pull on a string. Or whack something. And while we can do a million random things with a million random objects, somehow, when we just blow some air through a tube, we create sounds that can move other human beings, can reach right into our brains and our hearts. That is freakin’ magical."-?Peter Greene, "Stop 'defending' music education," The Huffington Post, June 11, 2015“We need people who think with the creative side of their brains—people who have played in a band, who have painted…it enhances symbiotic thinking capabilities, not always thinking in the same paradigm, learning how to kick-start a new idea, or how to get a job done better, less expensively.”-?Annette Byrd, GlaxoSmithKline"Music has positive affects on people's emotions and creativity. When we sing together, we synchronize our breathing and feel more connected. Music is also an effective, almost magical medium for learning and retaining information, [because] it activates three different centers of the brain at the same time: language, hearing, and rhythmic motor control. By inducing emotions, it also creates a heightened condition of awareness and mental acuity. Words paired with music are far easier to retain. As an example, most of us can remember the words and meanings of songs we haven't heard for years. Isn't it interesting how you still remember your ABCs?"-?Don McMannis quoted in, "Use Music to developm kids' skill and character," Edutopia, March 19, 2009More Benefits and Facts:Music therapy was recently found to reduce psychological stress in a study of 236 pregnant women (College of Nursing at Kaohsiung Medical University in Taiwan)Playing music reduces stress and has been shown to reverse the body's response to stress at the DNA-level (Dr. Barry Bittman).Playing music "significantly" lowered the heart rates and calmed and regulated the blood pressures and respiration rates of patients who had undergone surgery (Bryan Memorial Hospital in Lincoln, Neb., and St. Mary's Hospital in Mequon, Wis.)Blood samples from participants of an hour-long drumming session revealed a reversal of the hormonal stress response and an increase in natural killer cell activity (Bittman, Berk, Felten, Westengard, Simonton, Pappas, Ninehouser, 2001, Alternative Therapies, vol. 7, no. 1).Anger Management Music therapy can help people identify the emotions that underlie anger and increase the patient's awareness of these feelings and situations that can trigger them. If a situation or emotion is presented in a song the healthy options for expressing that feeling can be discussed and conflict resolution and problem solving can be practiced in a positive manner.Drumming is also used by music therapists to help patients appropriately vent anger and other emotions. Another use of drumming can be a non-verbal conversation on drums where the ability to listen to the other person's drumming is needed to "converse" on the drums.Playing a musical instrument can reverse stress at the molecular level, according to studies conducted by Loma Linda University School of Medicine and Applied Biosystems (as published in Medical Science Monitor).Making music can help reduce job burnout and improve your mood, according to a study exposing 112 long-term care workers to six recreational music-making sessions of group drumming and keyboard accompaniment. (As published in "Advances in Mind-Body Medicine") Engaging in playing music reduces depression. Recent research with long-term care workers showed reduced depression (21.8 percent) six weeks after the completion of a music-making program consisting of one hour per week (Source: A 2003 study conducted by Trip Umbach Healthcare Consulting, Inc.).Parkinson's Disease and Stroke: Rhythmic cues can help retrain the brain after a stroke or other neurological impairment, according to Michael Thaurt, director of Colorado State University's Center of Biomedical Research in Music.Researchers have also discovered that hearing slow, steady rhythms, such as drumbeats, helps Parkinson patients move more steadily (Friedman, “Healing Power of the Drum,” 1994).Cancer Subjects who participated in a clinical trial using the HealthRhythms protocol showed an increase in natural killer cell activity and an enhanced immune system. While this does not indicate a cure for cancer, such results may be of benefit for those facing this disease. (Bittman, Berk, Felten, Westengard, Simonton, Pappas, Ninehouser, 2001, Alternative Therapies, vol. 7, no. 1).Playing music increases human growth hormone (HgH) production among active older Americans. The findings revealed that the test group who took group keyboard lessons showed significantly higher levels of HgH than the control group of people who did not make music (University of Miami).?Working AdultsRecreational Music Making (RMM) has been scientifically proven to help the U.S. workplace by:Reducing employee stressReducing employee depressionReducing employee burnoutImproving employee retentionEmployee stress is expensive for companies and widespread. Research shows that the economic impact is estimated at $300 billion each year (Source: New York Times). Experts claim that 60 to 90 percent of doctor visits involve stress-related complaints.Engaging in RMM reduces stress. RMM has been shown to reverse the body’s response to stress at the DNA level (Source: Dr. Barry Bittman).Depression is widespread in the workforce and is expensive for companies. The economic impact of depression in the workplace is estimated at $34 billion annually—$11 billion for treatment, $11 billion in decreased productivity, and $12 billion in absenteeism. Depression affects about 19 million people, 70 percent of whom are in the workforce. (Figures are according to Braun Consulting News).Engaging in RMM reduces depression. Recent research with long-term care workers showed reduced depression (21.8 percent) six weeks after the completion of an RMM program consisting of one hour per week. (Source: A 2003 study conducted by Trip Umbach Healthcare Consulting, Inc.)RMM can help companies reduce turnover, saving them millions. The research with long-term care workers showed an 18.3 percent overall reduction of employee turnover by implementing an RMM program. The total annual savings was projected at $1.46 billion.Every worker can participate in RMM. There are no physical limitations or requirements.Weekend Warrior ProgramThe?Weekend Warriors program?is a national recreational music making initiative that encourages adult music lovers to make the jump to being music makers. Participants learn how to play music from a professional musician who coaches the group through five to eight weeks of song building on the weekends. At the end of the session, the group shows off their new musical skills during a performance at a local venue.The program was launched in 1993 by Skip Maggiora of Skip’s Music in Sacramento, Calif., and was designed to encourage older adults who once played an instrument or who have never pursued the activity to start playing for real.Maggiora licensed the idea to the National Association of Music Merchants (NAMM), which encourages its NAMM Member retailers across the United States to offer the program in their community stores and provide adults with the opportunity to experience the many proven social, physical and wellness benefits of making music.Since the program was started, thousands of middle-aged, career-minded adults such as doctors, lawyers and engineers, have become “weekend warriors” and are now living out their rock star dreams by playing in a band on the weekends.New Horizons Music Program (Orchestral Groups for Boomers and Seniors)Started by NAMM in the early 1990s,?New Horizons Music programs?provide entry points to music making for adults, including those with no musical experience at all and those who were active in school music programs but have been inactive for a long time. Many adults would like an opportunity to learn music in a group setting similar to that offered in schools, but the last entry point in most cases was elementary school. We know that for most of the last century, about 15-20 percent of high school students nationally participated in music. From that, we can estimate that at least 80 percent of the adult population needs beginning instruction in order to participate in making music. New Horizons Music programs serve that need. LIVING?13/01/2017 15:24 GMT?|?Updated?26/01/2017 19:20 GMTBeing A Musician Is Good For Your BrainPeople who play an instrument are sharper and have faster reaction times. HYPERLINK "" By Carolyn GregoireBIM VIA GETTY IMAGESPlaying music keeps your brain sharp.?Science has shown that musical training can?change brain structure and function?for the better,?improve long-term memory?and lead to?better brain development?for those who start in childhood.?Musicians may also be more mentally alert, according to new research. A?University of Montreal study, slated to appear in the February issue of the journal Brain and Cognition,?shows that musicians have significantly faster reaction times than non-musicians.?The findings suggest that learning to play a musical instrument could keep your brain sharp as you age, and may help to prevent certain aspects of cognitive decline in older adults.?“As people get older, for example, we know their reaction times get slower,” Simon Landry, the study’s lead author and a Ph.D. student in biomedical ethics,?said in a statement. “So if we know that playing a musical instrument increases reaction times, then maybe playing an instrument will be helpful for them.”For the?small study, the researchers compared the reaction times of 19 non-musician students and 16 student musicians who had been recruited from the university’s music program and had been playing an instrument for at least seven years. The participants included violinists, percussionists, a viola player and a harpist.?Each participant was seated in a quiet room and asked to keep one hand on a computer mouse and the other on a small box that occasionally vibrated silently. The participants were instructed to click on the mouse when the box vibrated, when they heard a sound from the speakers in front of them or when both things happened at once.?The stimulations were done 180 times each.As hypothesized, the musicians had significantly faster reaction times to non-musical auditory, tactile and multisensory stimuli than the non-musicians.?Landry says this is likely because playing music involves multiple senses. With touch, for instance, a violin player has to feel the string on her finger, but she also needs to listen for the right sound to be produced when she’s pressing on the string.?“This long-term training of the sense in the context of producing exactly what is desired musically leads to a strengthening of sensory neural pathways,” Landry told The Huffington Post. “Additionally, using the senses in synchronicity for long periods of time ― musicians practice for years ― enhances how they work together. All this would lead to the faster multisensory reaction time.”?Previously, Landry also investigated how musicians’ brains process sensory illusions. Together with their previous findings, the results suggest that musicians are better at integrating input from various senses,?the study’s authors noted. More studies are needed, however, to determine whether and how musical training might slow the natural cognitive decline that occurs as we age.?“Playing a musical instrument has an effect on abilities beyond music,” Landry concluded. “We’re only now starting to better understand the benefits of musical training and they seem to range beyond simply playing music.”If you needed any more reason to pick up an instrument, check out this TEDEd video on how playing music benefits your brain: great leadership and music have in commonOct 18, 2016?/?Jim CrupiJim Crupi is a management consultant with a long, brilliant resume. (Heard of CNN? He helped set the strategic stage that led to its creation.) Here, he distills some of his best leadership advice into one memorable metaphor.Music is all-consuming. Our reaction to a great song can be so visceral that we are forever connected to it. Hearing that song can bring you back to a moment in time, and often, it binds you to a person too; every time you hear it, you are there with them again, reliving a wonderful moment. This is something every leader aspires to do with those around them as well: to inspire and move people like great music does.In 1996, I watched a concert with singers from around the world, including Zucchero and Pavarotti. I was amazed by the performers — but beyond that, I was enthralled by the leadership lessons embedded in the music. That concert helped me frame these lessons, which pull together stories and insights from some of the great people I’ve worked with.1. A leader is both a singer and a songwriter.People don’t really listen unless there is an emotional impact that causes them never to forget. As a leader you have to touch people’s hearts as well as their heads. What you say, the lyrics, must tell a meaningful story — and the way you tell that story, the music, must resonate in the heart of the listener.Many executives tend to deal more with the mind and not so much with the heart. One executive I’ve worked with is really, really good at solving for this. He’s the company’s founder and is looked at by everyone as the person in charge. Yet in every company-wide meeting, he talks about what the company has accomplished as a whole, and he calls out other people in very positive ways. He focuses on their values and their commitment to excellence. It is the music of his leadership, and it is subtle but powerful.He pays attention to the little things. For example, he asked a nutritionist to study the snacks in the company break room and make sure all of them provided nutritional value. It’s one thing to tell people “we care about you” — it’s another thing when somebody is paying that kind of attention. Every time you go into the break room, you know you’re cared for. It’s a decision that’s been made intellectually, but it impacts you emotionally because you know it’s in your best interest. That’s the music.Ted Turner was another leader who was really good at this. His counter-intuitive insights forced people to think in ways that touched people’s hearts beyond normal business decisions. I was asked to help frame a strategic workshop that ultimately led to the creation of CNN and headline news on a global scale. At one point in the discussion, the company’s MBA-educated executives in the room were thinking: “Okay, we need to figure out how we’re going to broadcast in German, in Chinese, etc.” And Ted Turner, as only Ted could, says, “Y’know, I know that’s what they taught you in business school, but we’re not going to do that. How many of you have ever heard of the Tower of Babel?” All these executives looked at each other as if to say: “What is he talking about?” Ted went on: “We’re going to broadcast CNN in English in order to teach the world a common language, so that people can understand each other and create peace in the world.” You could see the intellectual business argument immediately dissolve and the music take hold. Trust me, nobody has forgotten that moment in the history of that company — nobody.2. Make sure everyone is on the same sheet of music.At the concert, every violin player, drummer and singer knew why they were there and what their role was. The result was harmony. The same is necessary in any organization. Each employee needs to be on the same page. And that page must be seen, understood and emotionally absorbed.When I first start working with any new company, I go onsite and talk with the key people and write a report about what I have learned. In my first conversations with one particular company, I asked 15?people: “What’s the vision of this company?” I got fifteen different answers. So I wrote my report, and recommended that the executive I was working with should take this group offsite for a workshop, to create a vision statement and set three strategic goals they could commit to. Eighteen months later, I came back and interviewed this group and a few more people, a total of thirty employees. This time when I asked them what the company vision was, everyone had the same answer. Everyone was on the same sheet of music and understood how their role and the role of others created strategic harmony.3. Develop a simple theme — then repeat it.Have you ever noticed how a song’s lyrics repeat themselves over and over again? They become so familiar that you sing along; you absorb them into your being. An effective vision statement does the same thing. As a leader, you need to put it in language so everybody can “see” it and understand it. And get it into everybody’s hands. Remember that company that had 15 different ideas of what the vision was? When they developed their new vision statement, the CEO held a company-wide meeting for it. He said, “Every time you make a decision within your own department, ask one question: ‘Does it line up with our objectives?'” If you go into his employees’ workspaces today, they have that vision statement on a card in their offices. What’s amazing is, they can tell you the vision and the key strategic objectives without even looking at the card. It has become part of who they are and how they do what they do.It’s the job of a leader to get a team to see and feel the mission, vision or task. People tend to focus on the familiar, on their previous experience. You need to get their attention on the vision — and keep it. They have to hear and see what you are after, over and over again, until that story becomes so dominant that they commit it to memory and their focus is absolute and intuitive.The vision should be one sentence long, simple and picture-like, or it’s worthless. When General Tommy Franks led the 2003 invasion into Iraq and the overthrow of Saddam Hussein, his vision statement was simple: “Get to Baghdad as fast as you can.” Now that’s visual. He left it up to his individual commanders to figure out how to execute that vision.4. Get the right players around you.Playing in the concert were people from many nationalities and ethnic groups, children and senior citizens, women and men, it did not matter. All were dedicated to excellence and being in harmony with one another for a common purpose. Their cultural diversity built a harmony and strength that fed off itself to produce results. It is the same in an organization.When I used to hire people for my organization, I was always reviewing a pile of resumes. Of course, by the time the resumes got to me they were all good — everyone was equally qualified. So I always asked these final candidates just two questions. First: Tell me about your life. I wanted to hear people talk about who they were, and what formed them. The second question: Rank, in order of importance, the five most important things in your life. Some people would say money, faith, family, etc.; others faith, family, money, etc. Everybody had a different answer. But their stories and answers gave me a clue to their character. I really listened and watched their behavioral response. Once the interview was over and they left the room, I’d ask myself one question: If I’m in a boat in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean and the boat is in trouble, who do I want in that boat with me? Those are the people I’d hire. They were the people who had the character I could count on when things got tough. Every organization has tough moments. You want people working with you whom you can count on when the tough moments come. I always chose character and attitude over skill, and that insured I always had the right people in the boat.5. Let others shine.The concert in Modena, Italy, had three conductors, who were somehow invisible. It was the same with Zucchero and Pavarotti. One minute they were stars; the next minute, they were in the background, replaced by the voices of children or the sound of a guitar player. The focus was on the music, not the individuals. It is the same in a company. The focus should be on the message and the music.One executive I worked with had been an Army company commander — a leader of 150 people. The military regularly takes units into the field for training, in order to grade the leader and their unit’s combat readiness. So one night this commander is about to start a graded night attack exercise. Just before the exercise starts, he turns to the evaluator and says: “Before you start, I’m telling you right now that I’m dead, one of my sergeants who is responsible for resupplying ammunition to the troops is dead, and one of my lieutenants is dead.” The evaluator says, “Are you out of your mind? Your unit is going to fail the test!” But the former company commander said: “If they can’t do this without me, then I’ve not served them well.” Guess what: His unit had the highest scores of any company evaluated. He had ensured that his team was well trained. They had the confidence to act in spite of unforeseen and compromising circumstances. He said, “I wasn’t out front, I wasn’t even there.”6. Cultivate commitment and enthusiasm; they’re contagious.As the music reached into the hearts of the audience, everyone began singing along and clapping their hands with the singers and the orchestra. At the end of the song, the singers and the orchestra and the 1,000 people in the audience were as one, united by purpose.I remember once?talking to some pension fund managers, and I asked one of them: “What are you here to do?” And I love what he told me: “Well, if I’m successful, I’ll be providing jobs for people.” There’s a difference between people who think “I’m investing money for this pension fund, or that university,” and others who say, “We’re making it possible for people to live their lives. Our real clients are the students who need a scholarship, the families whose livelihood is preserved by our fund.” That kind of commitment permeates the culture of the company.It is my experience that people who commit themselves to something bigger than themselves are just different people. There’s some new research that shows that these people have a more significant impact than those who see what they do as just a job. They are so driven beyond the normal that their actions are contagious. People stand in awe of their determination and drive.7. Commit yourself to a bigger cause than yourself.The concert was not just about the music; it was dedicated to raising money for Bosnian refugees. People will follow you if they come to believe that you are about something greater than yourself.I’ve helped build leadership development programs across 40 countries in the world as a volunteer, and all I can tell you is that you can’t compete with the heart of a volunteer. There are 62 corporate executives, some with their spouses, who volunteer to serve as facilitators and coaches in these leadership programs; they pay their own way to the Middle East, Southeast Asia or Central Eurasia and spend two weeks of their own time with no compensation. Big things happen when people see others giving of themselves with nothing expected in return. One of the participants in a two-week leadership program in the Middle East was involved with a local NGO in Oman that served the deaf. He was so inspired by the example of these volunteers that he wanted his NGO to produce the very first Braille book in Arabic — and he did it. He told me later, “This program taught me that I needed to do something bigger than myself, beyond this program, beyond my family and beyond my country. I said to myself that if these people will come 10,000 miles away from home to help me, why not expand my efforts to serve the entire Middle East?”The key to understanding the music of leadership is to understand that really good leaders know how to manage emotions as well as direction. In effect, they are in tune with those around them. And when the time comes to sing a new song so that they can take people in a new direction, they do just that.ABOUT THE AUTHORJim Crupi?is president and founder of Strategic Leadership Solutions. He thinks about the best and smartest ways to manage business, a lot. reasons you should take up a musical instrument5 January 2018, 14:47Learning to play a musical instrument has so many benefits – whether it’s building your confidence, enhancing your memory or widening your social circle. Here are the ten reasons you should consider taking up an instrument this year.1. Playing an instrument makes you smarterEinstein once said: “Life without playing music is inconceivable to me. I live my daydreams in music. I see my life in terms of music... I get most joy in life out of music”. And as it turns out, Einstein was onto something: many studies show a correlation between musical training and academic success, in both children and adults. Learning to play an instrument stimulates the brain, improving functions like memory and abstract reasoning skills, which are essential for maths and science.2. Your social life will improvePlaying an instrument isn’t only good for your brain, it’s also great for expanding your social circle (sorry, pianists and organists). Joining a musical group at any age encourages you to develop relationships with new kinds of people. It also builds skills in leadership and team-building, as well as showing you the rewards of working with others.3. Playing an instrument relieves stressMusic keeps you calm. It has a unique effect on our emotions, and has even been proven to lower heart rate and blood pressure.?Psychologist Jane Collingwood?believes that slow classical music is often the most beneficial. “Listening to music can have a tremendously relaxing effect on our minds and bodies, especially slow, quiet classical music. This type of music can have a beneficial effect on our physiological functions, slowing the pulse and heart rate, lowering blood pressure, and decreasing the levels of stress hormones.”4. Playing an instrument gives you a sense of achievementMessed up your double-stopping in rehearsal, then totally nailed it at the performance? Playing and succeeding at a musical instrument gives you a huge sense of pride and achievement, especially when you manage to perfect a passage you’ve been struggling with for weeks.5. It builds your confidencePlaying an instrument helps you get comfortable with self-expression. As children begin to master their instrument, they will probably end up playing to a few audiences, starting with their music teacher or parents, and branching out to groups of other pupils and concert audiences. Playing in public can help children feel confident in presenting their work in a non-academic context.6. Practising a musical instrument improves patienceOK, Franz?Liszt wrote some insanely difficult music. But it’s an important lesson to learn that the more effort you put into something, the better the result will be.?Dawsons Music?advises to “give it a year” before you see big improvements in ability and confidence. “[Then,] you’ll look back and be glad of those hard first few months. Indeed, those first few months will forever be a badge of honour, saying you stuck it out and earned your stripes. There are no shortcuts to learning an instrument.”Just imagine how good it’ll feel when you can play Liszt like this:7. It helps improve your memoryResearchers have found?that learning to play a musical instrument can enhance verbal memory, spatial reasoning and literacy skills. Playing an instrument makes you use both sides of your brain, which strengthens memory power.8. It increases discipline and time management skillsUnless you’re an out-of-this-world child prodigy, learning to play an instrument isn’t a skill you can master overnight. Learning music takes time and effort, and helps children understand that if they want to be good at something, they’ll need to put in the hours and organise their time effectively.9. Playing music makes you more creative?Practising and perfecting a piece of music does wonders for the creative side of your brain. No matter how much a composer annotates their composition, they cannot fully express how a piece of music should be played. So it is up to the player to put their own stamp on a piece, to inject some of their personality into the music. There’s a reason classical artists win awards for their performances – here’s Julian Lloyd Webber with his super-emotional performance of Elgar’s Cello Concerto.Lovely stuff.10. Playing music is fun!We can harp on about all the scientifically accurate benefits to learning a musical instrument – but what matters most is that it’s enjoyable for the player. While other hobbies like watching TV or flicking through social media are passive, playing music actively engages and stimulates the brain, making you feel happy and occupied magazine:This Is How Music Can Change Your Brain HYPERLINK "" Getty ImagesBy?MELISSA LOCKER?December 16, 2014There’s little doubt that?learning to play?a musical instrument is great for developing brains.Science has shown that when children learn to play music, their brains begin to hear and process sounds that they couldn’t otherwise hear. This helps them develop “neurophysiological distinction” between certain sounds that can aid in literacy, which can translate into improved academic results for kids.Many parents probably read the above sentence and started mentally Google-ing child music classes in their local area. But if your kid doesn’t like learning an instrument or doesn’t actively engage in the class–opting to stare at the wall or doodle in a notebook instead of participating–he or she may not be getting all the benefits of those classes anyway.A new study from Northwestern University revealed that in order to fully reap the cognitive benefits of a music class, kids can’t just sit there and let the sound of music wash over them. They have to be actively engaged in the music and participate in the class. “Even in a group of highly motivated students, small variations in music engagement — attendance and class participation — predicted the strength of neural processing after music training,” said Nina Kraus, director of Northwestern’s?Auditory Neuroscience Laboratory, in an email to TIME. She co-authored the study with Jane Hornickel, Dana L. Strait, Jessica Slater and Elaine Thompson of Northwestern University.Additionally, the study showed that students who played instruments in class had more improved neural processing than the children who attended the music appreciation group. “We like to say that ‘making music matters,'” said Kraus. “Because it is only through the active generation and manipulation of sound that music can rewire the brain.”Kraus, whose research appeared today in?Frontiers in Psychology,?continued: “Our results support the importance of active experience and meaningful engagement with sound to stimulate changes in the brain.” Active participation and meaningful engagement translate into children being highly involved in their musical training–these are the kids who had good attendance, who paid close attention in class, “and were the most on-task during their lesson,” said Kraus.To find these results, Kraus’s team went straight to the source, hooking up strategically placed electrode wires on the students’ heads to capture the brain’s responses.Kraus’s team at Northwestern has teamed up with The Harmony Project, a community music program serving low-income children in Los Angeles, after Harmony’s founder approached Kraus to provide scientific evidence behind the program’s success with students.According to?The Harmony Project’s website, since 2008, 93 percent of Harmony Project seniors have gone on to college, despite a dropout rate of 50 percent or more in their neighborhoods. It’s a pretty impressive achievement and the Northwestern team designed a study to explore those striking numbers. That research, published in September in the?Journal of Neuroscience, showed direct evidence that music training has a biological effect on children’s developing nervous systems.As a follow up, the team decided to test whether the level of engagement in that music training actually matters. Turns out, it really does. Researchers found that after two years, children who not only regularly attended music classes, but also actively participated in the class, showed larger improvements in how the brain processes speech and reading scores than their less-involved peers.“It turns out that playing a musical instrument is important,”?Kraus said, differentiating her group’s findings from the now-?debunked?myth that just listening to certain types of music improves intelligence, the so-called “Mozart effect.” “We don’t see these kinds of biological changes in people who are just listening to music, who are not playing an instrument,” said Kraus. “I like to give the analogy that you’re not going to become physically fit just by watching sports.” It’s important to engage with the sound in order to reap the benefits and see changes in the central nervous system.As to how to keep children interested in playing instruments, that’s up to the parents. “I think parents should follow their intuitions with respect to keeping their children engaged,” said Kraus. “Find the kind of music they love, good teachers, an instrument they’ll like. Making music should be something that children enjoy and will want to keep doing for many years!”With that in mind, it’s not too late to trade in those Minecraft Legos,?Frozenparaphernalia, XBox games, and?GoldieBlox?presents that you may have purchased, and swap them out for music lessons for the kids in your life. ................
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