Music and the Brain
by Alan Pritt
But before I continue typing, I'm just going to head over to my music player and turn on some Mozart...
[click]
That's better.
Far from just being a cheesy gimmick for this article, I do frequently listen to Mozart while I work. Not just Mozart, but many pieces of classical music. I do so, not because of the hype, but because of the observable experience I felt when I tried it.
I consider my mood, energy levels, and all kinds of other factors when I choose what to listen to; but mainly it is intuitive. Since it has become more intuitive, I have been listening to rock music less and less while studying. When I do listen to it, I find I want to sing along, and sometimes I even start jamming along on my air guitar! It's very distracting.
This makes classical music my biggest avenue for brain enhancing music.
There's a reason why classical music is used a lot in films: it doesn't distract and it is mood enhancing. Lots of the music I listen to is music from particular scenes in a film. Listening to that music again makes me feel the way I did when I heard it the first time in the movie.
One reason for this may be the association I have made between the music and the film scene.
Association
One thing that music will contribute to, is the ability to remind you of previous learning states. Music will often make us think of certain events in our lives when we play them. Often this is because the music was playing when the event happened. Other times we may have been listening to a song while we thought about something specific.We can utilise this with learning by always listening to the same music when we study or work. If a particular piece of music is always played when we do certain activities, we will associate it with what we are doing. This will help us enter the best state-of-mind for doing our mental task.
Tuning in our brains to the musical beat
Music also has a more direct effect on the brain. The rhythm stimulates our brain like a binaural beat, resonating with the frequency of our brain. Some music literally coaxes our brains to operate at a frequency that is receptive to specific mental tasks.Some, but not all, music by Mozart seems to do this. Certainly many classical pieces do.
What scientific experiments have failed to show is any long-term increase in intelligence. The original study that showed improvements in memory after listening to Mozart, reported that the results only last 10 to 15 minutes. For longer term benefits (as the Music and the Brain website investigates) actually learning to play music is more beneficial. For listening to music I recommend you take account of the more easily observable immediate effects.
I could make general recommendations of what type of music will make you feel certain ways, but I think it is better to experiment individually. Go out there and listen to music while you do certain activities and see how it makes you feel. Try to think objectively. Do you just like the music, or does it really have a positive impact on your brain? Depending on you as an individual, what type of work you are doing, and how you are feeling that particular day, the best music will differ. Often silence will be the best option.
Brain Enhancing Play Lists
To really make this useful you will need to make that music really accessible. With portable MP3 players (like ipods), this is easier than ever. I personally have my entire collection of music on my computer, ready to play at a moments notice.The main benefit of this is the fact that I can organise music in more ways than by album. It makes it extremely easy to create a variety of play lists of music, for particular moods. For example, I am currently listening to a play list I created titled 'writing'.
I highly recommend that you create a similar play list full of the music that helps you study, learn, create or whatever work you do. This will ensure you can easily get in the mood for your work, whenever you need to.
The perfect play list will be something that you refine over time as you discover new music and investigate the effect it has on your brain.
There's a chance it may indirectly improve your IQ as well; but the main benefits are more immediate. The key is to experiment. Music has the potential to make your brain work more efficiently, less efficiently, or have little to no effect at all. It depends on you, your activity, and the particular music.
