l component of education. [The strongest possible reasons for music education are then provided.]
MU: We agree with everything you have said.
MP: Music budgets get cut but sports budgets survive the axe. That's crazy! It is certainly not in the best interests of the students.
MU: We agree completely.
MP: So, if you agree with us, why do you MUs insist on promoting activities that hurt music education?
MU: We agree that music should be studied because of its intrinsic merit. We disagree with the premise that "effect" studies are bad for music education. We believe that music should not be excluded from research on any aspects of behavior it touches. In short, music is a sufficiently important subject to command the attention and efforts of both arts workers and science workers.
MP: But you are using the arts as stepping stones to the sciences. The arts are of at least equal importance in education.
MU: Yes, and so are the humanities. If music education is found to be beneficial for learning and intellectual development in the other arts and in the humanities, would you object to such research? If humanities education is found to facilitate music education, would that be bad? Not nearly enough is presently known about the development, nature and employment of cognition and intellectual functions in general, much less their role in any given discipline, to limit research.
MP: You have completely convinced us of the superiority of your position and we now agree with you.
That last imaginary remark was just wishful thinking by us MUs. Let's try another response of the MP faction to conclude this imaginary conversation.
MP: We are reasonable and rational people and are always ready and willing to listen to other perspectives. Therefore, we invite you MUs to begin a serious and extended dialogue with us MPs. Together, we should find ways to set and achieve common goals.
Yes, I like that one better. So, let's begin...
Brain Coherence, Musicianship and Gender
Everyone has brain waves (the electroencephalogram or simply EEG),
which reflect the massed activity of synaptic potentials in countless brain
cells. . Does the amount of EEG similarity or "coherence"
among different regions of the brain reflect differences in experience
or training? To approach this question, Johnson, Petsche, Richter,
von Stein and Filz (Music Perception,, 1996, 13, 563-582)
analyzed the degree of EEG coherence during spontaneous waking
periods that were presumably devoid of any particular mental activity.
They studied the relationships of coherence both to gender and
degree of musical training. Females had higher coherence than
males. The authors conclude that the gender differences are in
accord with anatomical studies showing that females have more
interhemispheric connections than males. Of particular interest
for music, subjects with music training exhibited significantly
more EEG coherence within and between the hemispheres than matched
controls without such training. The authors suggest that greater
coherence in musicians "...may reflect a specialized organization
of brain activity in subjects with music training for enabling
the experiences of ordered acoustic patterns. ... music training
may influence the cortical connectivity that is observable even
in the spontaneous EEG." That is, the authors hypothesize
that musical training increases the number of functional interconnections
in the brain.
Music Improves Reasoning in Preschool Children
that music training significantly and specifically enhances spatial-temporal
reasoning in young children has recently found strong support.
Rauscher, Shaw, Levine, Wright, Dennis and Newcomb (Neurological
Research, 1996, in press) studied 78 children (3-4 years old)
divided into three groups. Thirty four children received private
piano keyboard lessons, 20 received equally frequent private computer
lessons and 24 served as other controls, receiving either singing
lessons (n=10) or no special lessons (n=14) for six months. Four
standard, age calibrated, spatial reasoning tests were given before
and after training