How Does Music Affect The Musical Brain

485 Words2 Pages
The Musical Brain Music has been a part of every culture throughout history and is enjoyed by everyone from babies, to famous musicians, to your average student. Music is also a powerful tool that can be used to change the way we think and the way we act. Many neurologists are studying the effects music has on the brain and their findings are enlightening. As we know, music has played an important role throughout history. In fact, many scientists believe that music played an essential role in evolution, as it was used to form strong social bonds and to pass along information long before written texts. In the past, musicians held positions of great power and creativity, making them important members of society and even making them more successful at reproducing. It could be argued that…show more content…
Studies show that a fetus can respond to sound at 20 weeks and infants are even able to remember music they heard in the womb. Babies are able to recognize changes in melodies, as opposed to learning isolated notes. This corresponds strongly to how we learn patterns in languages instead of individual words. Children who learn how to play a musical instrument also have faster brain development and on average have an IQ that is higher by seven points. This is due to the fact that playing an instrument requires the use of more parts of the brain than almost anything else. Music also has a very strong relationship with memory. Some of our earliest memories are musical, we may hear our mother’s voice singing to us before we are even born, and we continue to have this strong connection to music for the rest of our lives. Remarkably, our memories actually get bonded to music and this helps cement them into our brain to be recalled later. Listening to a specific song can even help bring back associated memories that were otherwise

More about How Does Music Affect The Musical Brain

Open Document