Music and the Mind

After discussing my independent study with one of my students, she lent me these cassette tapes entitled Music and the Mind. I was not intending on using these as part of my research, but I am so glad I got the opportunity to. They are made by Michael Ballam.

Michael Ballam

He talks about music and its effects on the human mind. He mostly shares stories, which helped me stay focused and interested in what he was talking about. Here are summaries of a few of the stories that stuck out to me:

The Paper Boy

The paper boy in some small town came from a family that had 10 kids. After dinner, they would all pick up whatever musical instrument was laying around (because there were a lot of them) and would just start playing. They would spend an hour playing music that had been written by somebody else, and then would just start "jamming". This jamming could go on for 10 minutes, or it could go on for hours. It all depended on how much they were feeling the music that night. Kids in the neighborhood were really intrigued by that family and would often go over for dinner, not knowing what went on afterwards. One boy in particular was inspired by the musical talent that this family had and went home and asked his father for a violin. Beforehand, this kid was a troublemaker, and was really challenged in school. Soon after he got that violin, he was on the honor roll. The teachers didn't know what was going on, so they called in his father. The father was used to being called in by teachers to discuss the disciplinary problems his son was having in class. But this time, the teachers said something had changed. The father said, "All I did was buy him a violin."

                Albert

When Albert was six years old, his mother signed him up for violin lessons. Like most other kids, he didn't like it. He liked building houses of cards. In school, Albert's teachers constantly called him stupid and told him that he should leave school to work. It's a good thing Albert stuck with his violin, because at the age of 13, that's where he found his refuge. Improvisation on the violin helped Albert overcome his geometric problems. Playing the violin enabled him to have such intense thoughts that he, Albert Einstein, became one of the smartest people who have ever lived. Looking back, people say he lived in the right side of his brain. The visionary, poetic side. His violin helped him merge the two sides, and for almost 70 years, Albert used the violin to relax when he became stuck in his thinking processes.

Music and Deviant Behavior

People say introducing music classes in schools is too expensive. Jackson Elementary School in Salt Lake City, Utah tried it out. The results showed that the children were more interested and focused in all subjects, even if they weren't particularly good at it. The teachers said there was a lot less disruption in their classrooms. Perhaps there is a link between music education and delinquent behavior. Still, the argument remains that state-funded music education is too expensive. Deviant behavior is also costly. A violin will cost roughly $150. How far will that go in a reform school? Just something to think about.