How Music Can Change Your Brain

How Music Changes Your Brain - by  Melissa Locker

There'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, Frozen paraphernalia, XBox games, and GoldieBlox presents that you may have purchased, and swap them out for music lessons for the kids in your life.

Original Article Here

Shame and Parenting

by Gary Benson

Throughout this article are links to click for books and DVDs on healing shame and emotional hurt.

If we heal ourselves as adults then we won't pass on our unhealed shame to our children. That is the best form of parenting  imaginable. 

Shame and growing up: As adults most of us carry shame. As baby's none of us have built in shame or unresolved hurt. It's learned and assimilated into our psyche.

Life should never be shamed or put down. From the time we are baby's we are told not to cry, what's right and wrong, we are spanked or hit with verbal or physical abuse. As baby's we have no way to process that. Babies are needy and that's okay. As babies we only want to be acknowledged and held. This doesn't mean parents need to give in to every whim of the crying baby. It's not about giving in. It's about the  ability to acknowledge your child's feelings and be there to hold them even though they may not be getting the candy they want. This neediness isn't about getting the object they want, it's about being respected and loved emotionally. Unconditionally.  But if, as a parent, you've never had that kind of love then it's impossible to provide that for your child.  Your shame stems from our parents inability to heal themselves and the pain they carry.  They don't do it maliciously but this is who they are and without healing there is no way to stop it. Each person has their own set of blocked up pain or/and shame so we have to find our own journey to healing. There's always clues because our body/mind ultimately knows what we're hiding.

When a flower sprouts do we look at it and shame it if it's not growing perfectly? Everything is an expression of  life and has a right to thrive. Contrary to some popular religious beliefs you are not born flawed or dirty. There is no judgment in your birth. There is no hierarchy with which to label good or bad, flawed or sinful. You are just an expression of life.

Just because we seem to have more control and power over our reality doesn't mean we are flawed. The sin comes in after our birth and it comes in the way of being afraid of fear and hurt and never healing. Somewhere along the line the pain was so great that we twisted it, hid it and denied it. We carry that on from father/mother to son and daughter. That may be where the Christian idea of original sin comes in. What other life on earth has the ability to twist itself up so much that it's constantly hurting and making an effort not to live?

If we don't ignore that ability of humans to inflict pain on themselves and ultimately lash out at others then we're left with the question of, "how do we really live?"

We can live fully engaged if we heal and accept ourselves, love ourselves and respect ourselves then the  same will be done for others. Any hurt we inflict on someone else is only an expression of our inability to deal with ourselves.

How to do this? How do we heal when we don't even know what it is to heal? Some people are so bound up in their shame that they will not ever be able to separate it from who they are and it will spin that web forever and ever. That actually may be the way things work in a balanced world. Maybe some will never heal and some will and that's the beauty.

If you're reading this you're on the road to healing. You have some awareness of the need. To keep things in balance it is your journey to heal your shame and move with love in the world. If we all do that there would be no war but if that happened then there would be no reason to be here. We would all be in metaphorical heaven and be dead. If we don't have any duality, good, bad, living/dying then we are dead and there is no pain.

While I'm here I'll choose to take the opportunity to engage in this life the way I was born into it, pure, living not shamed, in love. In this way I can help others onto this path and feel I lived a full life in the world. We all have choices. I'll choose to live while I'm here!

I have come to healing my shame through getting in touch with my emotions and my body. Originally I dealt with my shame by cutting off my heart from my head. Integrating the two and  facing my pain instead of running from it has become my vehicle  for healing. As I traverse this winding road I'll post more about my experiences. Now go out and find your journey to yourself! It's painful and exciting and as real as it gets!

by Gary Benson