Posts Tagged classical music
Music Develops Human Potential and the Brain
Music has a far reaching and significant influence on human potential then what many people realize.
Today, scientists and neuromusicologist in many countries are conducting research on how music affects human development, our behavior, thinking, learning abilities and well being.
Dr Gordon Shaw and Dr Frances Rauscher, scientists at the University of California at Irvie and many others within the brain research community have shown that music has an extensive education and brain development value. Listening to classical music can increase memory and concentration, and studying a music instrument has shown to increase spatial reasoning.
When music form part of your home environment, it creates a positive and conducive atmosphere for learning and aids in the acquisition of early language. It was found that when music is taught comprehensively and sequentially in schools, it increases the children performance in math, science, reading, history and SAT score. In some cases, it also help children with learning disability to become more confidence and make their learning process much easier.
A person who study music and learn to play musical instrument tend to be more creative in their thinking, stronger in imagination, communication and team work skills. Incidentally, these are important attributes for a successful life, especially in the highly competitive twenty-first century.
Many government in the world such as Singapore and the US have recognized the importance of music education for the benefits of their citizens. They have invested a lot of financial and human resources at national level to promote music education in their countries. In these countries, collaborative efforts between schools, arts organizations and corporations are organized to make music and arts education a reality across the nation.
Recent studies show that music learning involve our bran at every level. One of the research done by Anne Blood at McGill University in Montreal found that music and the arts utilize both the cortex and limbic systems which are essential to helping us in learning that lasts. Music brings out our emotion such as joy, happiness, love, sorrow and tenderness. When we make music part of our learning process, our education becomes richer, more meaningful, long lasing and has greater impact in our lives.
Personally I discover that if you want to learn something and commit it to memory, the key is to set the information to music – majority of us learnt the alphabet by singing the ABC Song: ‘ABCDEFG-HIJKLMNOP-QRS-TUV-WXY-and-Z…’, isn’t it?
Tags: children, classical music, education, importance of music education, learning, learning disability, make music, music, music and art, music education, music instrument, music learn, music learning, musical instrument, play music, reading, school, schools, university, university ofRelated posts
Music College Education – Going For a Bachelors Degree
With all the talented people in the music world and the influence music has on our culture you think opportunities for musicians would be plentiful. Sadly, this is not true. Although the debate for whether or not a bachelors degree in music will help you get a job is waging right now. This article will just tell you the basics of what you should expect when entering a music college education program to get your bachelors degree.
The beginning of your bachelors degree in music will usually have an introduction to music itself. This means you will be covering many forms of music, mostly classical music in your first year, and the different eras of music. Very rarely will you ever learn about modern music such as jazz, blues, rock, rap, etc. You will just get a basic level of the history of music, not going into that much depth.
Regardless if you are getting your bachelors degree in music you still have to take the other required classes. This means along with your music education you are still going to have to take English, History, Math, Science, etc, as required by the school. The good news is you will usually only have to take a few of these classes.
Now, once you have finished your first year of music college education you will be able to move onto whatever specialty course you are interested in.
If you are going to get into the world of music performance and want to get a bachelors degree on it you must already know an instrument. There are no college classes that will teach you an instrument. This means that you have to be fairly proficient with whatever instrument you play before you are able to take a class on it. In fact, you are usually required to audition to get into the bachelor program.
The other major form of music education is music composition. When majoring in music composition you are going to be required to take many courses on composition. These classes usually start out pretty basic and will eventually get advanced. The early courses will have you just write and read music. As you progress into the advanced courses you will actually have to begin writing your own compositions. Your final independent project before you graduate will usually require you to write a full out sonata or concerto.
Tags: bachelors degree, classical music, college, college education, college education program, education, music, music college, music education, read music, school, teachRelated posts
Music Teaching – Generation and Evolution
Nowadays, one could easily find persons with ear or headphones, caught up in their own world, listening to music through the gadgets of their choice. Music. It’s as familiar as mobile phones, and now as portable! If it wasn’t that important, why else did the mobile phone manufacturers think of integrating music players on their products! So who will argue that music is not interesting? But classes, that’s another story.
During primary and secondary education, learning music is not exactly given much attention. It is but one of those “filler” subjects. But for a few more artistically-inclined people, this serves as a foundation for their future interest, or even way of living. And when one does decide to enter schools of music, one would know for sure that it is a passion, a dedication.
It is during these formative years that music teachers play their pivotal roles as future musicians’ mentors, even inspirations. Teaching is indeed a noble profession, more so a vocation. Yes, it is far from teaching math, or science. Said subjects are purely academic subjects that entail a teacher’s thorough knowledge. Teaching music, on the other hand, necessitates both knowledge and aptitude…and, probably even more importantly, passion.
Music teaching possibly started as a way of passing on a community’s tradition. India has in their ancient scriptures references to Indian classical music. The “Great Book of Music” or Kitab al-Musiqi al-Kabir was written by the Arab scholar al-Farabi in the 9th century.
In the Western world, music teaching may have started from the church, with cleric/monks teaching their hymns to those next in line, or to the religious. In fact, in the U.S.A., the first singing school was created by Reverend Thomas Symmes in 1717 in Boston, Massachusetts for “the purposes of improving singing and reading in the church”. With the continued popularity of music and its commercialization, organized instruction evolved and schools of music sprung forth around the world.
Albeit the acclaim of many musicians who graduated from these schools, music education does not seem to receive the recognition it deserves. Thus, an organization, the International Society for Music Education, was formed in 1953 in a conference convened by UNESCO. It aims “to stimulate music education as an integral part of general education”. It is now considered to be “a worldwide service platform for music educators” for their works to be recognized. It now has affiliations with national music education organizations of different countries to promote music and teaching to as many people as possible, if not to all.
Music instruction has evolved through time, in tune with the evolution of music. It also has changed, along with the changes of the times, of the people. Somehow, music teachers, of all levels, are now given the commendation they are rightfully due. More importantly, music teaching is slowly but surely winning the respect, it has earned. For what is, the worth of music if it is not taught, hence, shared.
Tags: classical music, education, educator, learning, learning music, music, music education, music educators, music instruction, music player, music teacher, music teachers, music teaching, reading, school, schools, schools of music, teach, teacher, teachers, teaching, teaching musicRelated posts