Final Paper - Music Education

8/23/2019 Final Paper - Music Education

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Ricky Chung Music Ed – A Musically Educated Stimulation December 3rd

, 2012

Music can be used in a variety of ways. Calming the soul, feeling energized before a big

game or setting the mood for a special occasion are only a few ways that music can be used in

different settings. Even though millions of people listen to music on a daily basis, they may not

understand the deeper aspects of music and how they are actually being affected by it. Today, we

see that out of all the subjects in education, science and math are favoured amongst the rest since

they are often portrayed as being beneficial in one’s life. Unfortunately, people do not know the

effects that music can induce and that it is a significant part of people’s everyday lives. As such,

music should be seen of and thought of as a highly valued subject in the field of education

because it promotes and helps certain elements that are beneficial to a person. Music is unique in

that it offers the following utilitarian benefits: the promotion of creativity and expression, how

music can be used to relieve stress and how it can be used as a stimulant to increase cognitive

functions. By presenting and analysing these three elements, one will be able to discover that

music is indeed an important aspect in education and is required to develop a balanced, well-

rounded human being.

Stress is often found in students who are a part of a school system. The cause of this

burden can range from personal issues in the household, relationship problems or the amount of

homework in one day. Additionally, the amount of stress that can increase depending on the

situation can be “detrimental to one’s mental and physical health” (Hadany, Beker, Eshel, &

Feldman, 2006). As a result, stress should be dealt with immediately to prevent these problems

from arising. Music plays a huge role in “relieving stress as it is often seen relaxing the

individual’s mind” (Labbé, Schmidt, Babin, & Pharr, 2007). Specifically, “[l]istening to classical

and self-selected relaxing music after exposure to a stressor should result in significant

reductions in anxiety, anger, and sympathetic nervous system arousal, and increased relaxation”




, 2012

(Labbé, Schmidt, Babin, & Pharr, 2007, p. 163). Looking at this quote, one can see that music

can be used as an alternative method of stress relief as it is healthy and does not negatively affect

the body. Especially in today’s society, where adolescents both in high school and post-

secondary schools are seen abusing alcohol or drugs as a way to escape from the weight that

school is bringing onto their shoulders, music can be used as a healthy alternative. When one

relates stress to the education system today, students are seen as having excessive amounts due to

poor work habits, pressure from parents or school. For this reason, students begin to “[suffer]

mental health problems” (Robotham, 2008, p. 736) and experience negative emotions that may

lead to dropping out or fatality. Commonly, out of the three levels of education (elementary, high

school and post-secondary), “students undergoing the transition from home to university”

(Robotham, 2008, p. 736) are mostly found experiencing high levels of stress which lead to the

aforementioned problems. Music is unique in being able to reduce stress as it affects the

listener’s emotions at the time of hearing the music. Often, people are found having lower levels

of anxiety and stress if they listen to a particular type of music. Looking at a study guided by

Labbé, Schmidt and Babin (2007), the three researchers were interested in what kind of music

helped the listener to feel less anxious. After sampling 56 college students, they found out that

when listening to classical or self-selected music, the listeners “experienced decreases in state of

anxiety” (Labbé, Schmidt, Babin, & Pharr, 2007, p. 166). On the contrary, when the listeners

heard heavy metal they “did not experience a decrease in state anxiety” (Labbé, Schmidt, Babin,

& Pharr, 2007, p. 166). Looking at the graph below, one can see a significant change in stress

levels when heavy metal or classical music was heard.




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(Labbé, Schmidt, Babin, & Pharr, 2007)

A similar study conducted by North, Hargreaves and O’ Neill (2000), sampled 2465

adolescents and determined the rate of involvement they had in music, the importance of music

and why they might listen to it. In all of the cases, the choice, to relieve tension/stress, was

always found as being the middle ground between the others. This means that of all choices,

relieving tension or stress were not necessarily popular or unpopular; instead, it fell in between.

Below, the two charts illustrate the reasoning behind why students listen or play music. Looking

at Fig. 1, the chart shows it is indeed true that listening to music to relieve tension/stress is

chosen on average, supporting the idea that music is used as an approach to stress relief.

Additionally, listening to music to get through difficult times was highly popular and can be seen

as being directly linked to stress. Similar to Fig. 1, Fig. 2 illustrates why students play music

instead of listening to it. Consequently, the results are the same in terms of the in order in which

they are rated. In relating these statistics to the value of music education, one can see music is

invaluable since many people today use it as a way to cope with high levels of stress or anxiety.




, 2012

Fig. 1 (North, Hargreaves, & O’Neill, 2000)

Fig. 2 (North, Hargreaves, & O’Neill, 2000)

Not only does music help with stress, but it also promotes creativity in an individual,

allowing for abstract thinking or expressiveness in writing to occur. In today’s curriculum, one

can see that knowing the theories and being able to apply them when necessary is highly

emphasized. No longer is creativity seen as being a key component in an individual’s work, but

knowing the knowledge behind the subject being studied is highly valued over creativity. The

arts in general can be seen as outlets to allow for expressive qualities to be shown and for

individuals to express what they cannot with words. Music, being considered as one of the main

arts, is an essential tool for creativity and is commonly used as a way of showing expression. As

more and more research is being done on the effects of creativity and expression on children

through music, researchers are finding that,




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[i]t is now recognized that a child’s development can be helped through stimulation of his

need for expression; through his need for and experimentation with tools of expression;

and through improvement of his power of application. In this way creative activitycontributes toward his development as a person and discourages misapplication of energy

to wrong aims. A highly gifted child, as a result of creative expression, ultimately may

add something of value to the art of his period. The less highly gifted will at least becomea more responsible and effective individual. Even the below-average child can find acreative interest at his own level, an interest into which he can sink his repetitious

personality and feel himself accept to his world. In his search for creative outlets any

child — whatever his gifts — looks further and further into himself and finds there powersof which he may have been unaware. In the process he becomes a better balanced and

integrated personality. (Canfield, 1961)

Analyzing the quote above, one can understand that the development of a child is not only done

through logical thinking, but instead, expression can assist in the development as well. By

allowing for individuals to experience music while in school, they are getting away from the

scientific and mathematical side of education and drifting into a different part of education which

calls for the individual to tap into their own expressiveness, creativeness and imaginativeness.

Doing so will give a chance for the person to develop as a human being and allow for higher

levels of thinking. Moreover, having music in education provides opportunities for students to

explore and listen to an overabundance of music as they are most likely provided the resources to

do so. Looking at a study done by E. Glenn Schellenberg, he discovered that by playing “Mozart,

Albioni, or familiar children’s songs… drawing times were longer, and the drawings were

judged to be more creative.” (Schellenberg, 2005) This further supports the idea that something

as simple as listening to a piece of music, can enhance a child’s cognitive functions and give

them a greater sense of creativeness and expressiveness. The effects of music can be seen

through all levels of intelligence. Although they are affected differently, they share a common

theme, and that is attaining the ability to be creative. Ultimately, this results in the child having a

well-rounded personality. Referring back Fig. 1 and 2, one is able to notice that being creative

and imaginative was at or near the very top of the chart. This means that students in general




, 2012

choose to play or listen to music in order to let their creativity or imagination be expressed

musically.

The ability to be creative or imaginative is developed through the brain. Music is often

used to enhance the cognitive abilities of a human brain as it stimulates multiple areas while a

person is listening to it. To begin discussing about the cognitive effects on the brain while

listening to music, one must briefly understand the Mozart effect and the reasons why

researchers believe that listening to Mozart will enhance cognitive functions. In brief, “[t]he

Mozart Effect is the term used to label the temporary enhancement of spatial reasoning abilities

immediately after listening to a piece of music by Mozart” (Ivanov & Geake, 2003, p. 405).

Looking at the definition, one can see by listening to Mozart for a brief period of time, there will

be enhanced levels of cognitive abilities which will result in better evaluations. Moreover,

“listening to music enhances the organization of cortical firing patterns necessary for temporal-

spatial performance” (Ivanov & Geake, 2003, p. 406). This suggests that when listening to

Mozart, the neurons within the brain are more stimulated and active which cause for an increase

in performance. With the theory of the Mozart effect, music in education can be seen as

something positive since most schools tend to listen or play classical works, some of which

include Mozart, Bach and Beethoven.

Besides the Mozart effect, there are other theories as to why listening or playing music

results in an increase in cognitive development. Firstly, music is seen as something abstract and

at times can be extremely completed to play or understand. In order to achieve such high levels

of playing and comprehension, one must be able to process all the musical elements in order to

be aware of what is actually being played. For this purpose, one’s cognitive ability will steadily




, 2012

increase as they begin to do these kinds of musical analysis more often. According to

Schellenberg,

Music promotes intellectual development because of its inherently abstract nature. For

example, a tune is defined solely by relational information. A listener can identify a

particular tune (e.g., “Yankee Doodle”) when it is played fast or slow, at a high or a low

pitch level… tunes are abstractions… listeners’ representations must generalize even

farther to patterns that have similar but not identical relational information (Schellenberg,

2005, p. 320).

Schellenberg is correct in saying that tunes are abstractions. A piece of music comes in many

lengths, styles and forms, because of this, there is a plethora of music out there which one has to

be able to identify when needed. Being able to recognize changes or variations on a theme in a

piece can help to generally develop the brain as one is required to recall the original theme and

apply it when asked to point out the changes. This can be employed in an educational setting as

being able to think abstractly is a necessary skill in problem solving or creative thinking. Overall,

in the words of Schellenberg, “[l]earning to think abstractly and recognize musical similarities

across contexts could facilitate intellectual development more generally” (Schellenberg, 2005, p.

320).

In conclusion, music should be highly valued in the field of education as it can be used to

help or develop a student in many ways. Music can be used as a way for one to cope with stress

that is caused through personal issues or school. By listening or playing music as a source of

relief, levels of stress will drop and allow for the student to think rationally, giving room for

clear thoughts and avoiding irrational behaviour. In addition to helping with stress relief, music

can be seen as a motivator for creative and imaginative thinking. By having music in education,

one is able to creatively interpret music differently as they listen or play. Likewise, listening to

music allows for the process of imagination to happen as a person imagines a picture or a scene




, 2012

in which the music imitates the movements being done. Moreover, in relation to creativity, music

can be seen as a tool for increasing the cognitive functions of one’s mind. Music gives one a

chance to deeply and abstractly as a piece of music is played. This is because as one is listening

to a piece, a variety of musical elements are being played at different rhythms and pitches,

causing for the brain to work quickly and efficiently in order to process all the information that is

being given to the listener. As a result, this temporarily increases the capacity within the brain so

that the listener will be able to function at a slightly higher level than most people who did not

listen to the piece. All in all, music is beneficial to education as it provides students a way of

coping with problems or opportunities for growth. Without music in education, stress levels

amongst the student body may rise and higher levels of imaginative and creative thinking will be

minimal.




, 2012

Works Cited

Canfield, S. T. (1961). Creativity in music education. 48(2), 51. Retrieved from

http://www.jstor.org/stable/pdfplus/3389680.pdf

Hanady, L., Beker, T., Eshel, I., & Feldman, M. W. (2006). Why is stress so deadly? an

evolutionary perspective. 273(1588), 881-885. doi: 10.1098/rspb.2005.3384

Ivanov, V. K., & Geake, J. G. (2003). The Mozart Effect and Primary School Children. 31(4),

405-413. doi: 10.1177/03057356030314005

Labbé, E., Schmidt, N., Babin, J., & Pharr, M. (2007). Coping With Stress: The Effectiveness of

Different Types of Music. doi: 10.1007/s10484-007-9043-9

North, A. C., Hargreaves, D. J., & O'Neill, S. A. (2000). The Importance of Music to

Adolescents. 265-267. Retrieved from

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1348/000709900158083/pdf

Robotham, D. (2008). Stress among higher education students: Towards a research agenda. 56 ,

736. doi: 10.1007/sl0734-008-9137-l

Schellenberg, E. G. (2005). Music and Cognitive Abilities. 14(6), 318. Retrieved fromhttp://www.jstor.org/stable/pdfplus/20183055.pdf?acceptTC=true

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