Can Music Make You Smarter?

The other day I was sitting in the Starbucks on campus, sipping my non-fat white mocha and passing the time before my next class. This has become a normality for me seeing as this particular Starbucks is right next the Messick Theatre Arts Building, which is where I have most of my classes. All of us ECU Thespians congregate here often to unwind after class and talk, very loudly at times; making the others around us uncomfortable at times. Despite this reason, I also really enjoy the music that they play in the shop. It's lusually something new and fresh that I've never heard before. But on this particular coffee excursion, something came over the loud speaker that I wasn't used to. Classical music. I know, right. I was shocked too. Usually classical selection don't go over well in public settings. I, despite my "Artsy" background and interest, don't really have a taste for classical music, but this experience made me reconsider. As I began to listen, I became so relaxed and comfortable. The people sitting around me and even the Starbucks itself began to melt away and my senses were completely enhanced and sharpened. Although my experience sounds like I'm placing you in the middle of an episode of the Twilight Zone, the effect that Classical music has on people is not fiction at all. On the contrary, studies have shown that it even improves brain function and development.

In the article titled Music and the Brain, author Lawernce O'Donnel speaks on this very subject. He talks mostly on Mozart's 60 beats per minute pattern and it's effects on both the left and the right side of the brain. He says "learning potential can be increased a minimum of five times by using this 60 beats per minute music". He goes on by recalling a study done by Dr George Lozanov, who devised a method of teaching a foreign language in less time with the help of classical music. If the method was done correctly, then his students should have be able to learn and recall a whole semester's worth of information in just one day. As a result, 92% of his students were able to recall all of the information given to them; by simply playing classical music while he taught. http://www.cerebromente.org.br/n15/mente/musica.htm

Now, imagine if we treated every subject like that; if we played classical music in every classroom in every school in America everyday. I believe that we would have higher test scores, a lower percentage of high school dropouts, and a higher employment rate. With all of these things reinstated in our society, we could continue on the road that we were on; the road that is redolent with promise and happiness. To me, this seems like an easy thing to do. Set your Pandora to the Mozart channel and just let the genies envelop you until you become smarter; have a "Starbucks" experience. Simple, right? As simple as Do Re Me!!

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