Unraveling the Mystery of Music and Cognition

Answers, Strategies, and Tools to Effectively Use Music in the Classroom

Dr. Susannah RichardsDallastown Area School District In-ServiceFebruary 12, 2015

Unraveling the Mystery of Music and Cognition

• Introduction: Why Children STILL Struggle to Learn: Poverty in America

• Amazing Discoveries Link Music and the Brain

• Can Formal Musical Training Yield Long-Term Nonmusical Results?

• Music Strategies in the Classroom

• How Effective is the Use of Background Music in the Classroom?

• Conclusion/Discussion

Why Children STILL Struggle to Learn: Poverty in America

Jensen, E. (2013). Engaging students with poverty in mind: Practical strategies for raising achievement. Virginia: ASCD.

Sleep? Nutrition? Reading? Absent? Parents?Poor

Learning

The Seven Engagement Factors Jensen, E. (2013). Engaging students with poverty in mind: Practical strategies for raising achievement. Virginia: ASCD.

The Use of Music to Engage Low-Income StudentsYun, Y. B., & Kim, J. E. (2013). The effects of the Orff approach on self-expression, self-efficacy, and social skills of children in low-income families in South Korea. Child Welfare, 92(4), 123-158.

Results demonstrated a positive correlation between the Orff treatment sessions and the subject’s improved relationship with friends and ability to more adequately explain thoughts. The control sample did not demonstrate significant improvement in the same skills.

Music and the Brain: The Mozart Effect http://sunsalvario.it/nel-quartiere/mozart-nacht-und-tag-2011/

Rauscher, F. H., Shaw, G. L., & Ky, K. N. (1993). Music and spatial task performance. Nature, 365, 611.• College students listened to Mozart’s Sonata for Two Pianos in D.• Observed a short-lived increase in spatial intelligence, but validity of study in

question because comparison conditions were problematic.• The results created post-study furor!• Formation of new questions:

• Is it possible that music primes certain regions of the brain or overlaps in the processing of information, but is not utilized with a traditional approach to education?

• Is it possible to achieve positive transfer effects between cognitive domains? • What would happen if researchers explored the instructional use of music,

instead of the passive use of music?

Brain Basics: Music and CognitionA popular overgeneralization of brain function is the misconception that the left hemisphere is strictly analytical and right hemisphere is firmly artistic… Levitin, D. J. (2006). This is your brain on music: The science of a human obsession. NY: Plume.

http://www.learn.ppdictionary.com/brain_development.htm

Current Brain Hemisphere DelineationsLevitin, D. J. (2006). This is your brain on music: The science of a human obsession. NY: Plume.

• Right Hemisphere:• Determine the shape of a phrase (not the intervals)• Distinguish tones that are close in pitch

• Left Hemisphere:• Identify the title of a song• Name a performer• Identify an instrument • Recognize a musical interval

• Bilateral:• Discuss music• Listen to music • Perform music http://critical-thinking-implementing-mmusicmusic.wikispaces.com/

• Compose music

Cortical Auditory Response VariabilityStrait, D. L. & Kraus, N. (2011). Can you hear me now? Musical training shapes functional brain networks for selective auditory attention and hearing speech in noise. Frontiers in Psychology, 2(113), 1-10.

Results determined that musicians demonstrate strengthened brain networks for selective auditory attention; but nonmusicians demonstrated decreased prefrontal response variability with auditory attention. The researchers surmised that musical training may assist in the prevention and remediation of learners who demonstrate impairment in language-related skills.

Musical Ability Versus Music Lessons• Musical Ability• Douglas, S., & Willatts, P. (1994). The relationship between musical ability and

literacy skills. Journal of Research in Reading, 17(2), 99-107. • Gromko, J. E. & Poorman, A. S. (1998). Developmental trends and relationships in

children’s aural perception and symbol use. Journal Research in Music Education 46, 16-23.

• Lamb, S., & Gregory, A. (1993). The relationship between music and reading in beginning readers. Educational Psychology, 13(1), 19-28.

• Music Lessons• Schellenberg, E. G. (2003). Music lessons and IQ. Paper presented at the biennial

meeting of the Society for Research in Child Development, Tampa. FL.• Schellenberg, E. G. (2003). Does exposure to music have beneficial side effects? In I.

Peretz & R. Zatorre (Eds.), The cognitive neuroscience of music, (pp. 430-448). New York: Oxford University Press.

Neurological Studies and Cognitive Implications• The Dana Consortium Report on Arts and Cognition (2008). (Asbury & Rich, Eds.) Learning, arts, and the

brain. NY: Dana Press. • Habib, M., & Besson, M. (2009). What do music training and musical experience teach us about brain

plasticity? Music Perception, 26(3), 279-286. • Ho, Y-C., Cheung, M-C., & Chan, A. S. (2003). Music training improves verbal but not visual memory: Cross-

sectional and longitudinal exploration in children. Neuropsychology, 17(3), 439-450. • Levitin, D. J., & Tirovolas, A. K. (2009). Current advances in the cognitive neuroscience of music. Cognitive

Neuroscience of Music, 211-231. • Moreno, S., Marques, C., Santos, A., Santos, M., Castro, S., & Besson, M. (2009). Musical training influences

linguistic abilities in 8-year-old children: More evidence for brain plasticity. Cerebral Cortex, 19(3), 712-723. • Ratey, J. (2002). A user’s guide to the brain: Perception, attention and the four theaters of the brain. NY:

Vintage Books.• Schlaug, G., Jӓncke, L., Huang, Y., Staiger, J. D., & Steinmetz, H. (1995). Increased corpus callosum size in

musicians. Neuropsychologia, 33(8), 1047-1055.• Wong, P. C. M., Skoe, E., Russo, N. M., Dees, T., & Kraus, N. (2007). Musical experience shapes human

brainstem encoding of linguistic pitch patterns. Nature Neuroscience 10(4), 420-422.

Music Remediation for Learning Impairments• Gromko, J. E. (2005). The effect of music instruction on phonemic awareness

in beginning readers. Journal of Research in Music Education, 53(3), 199-209.• Kraus, N., & Chandrasekaran, B. (2010). Music training for the development of

auditory skills. Nat. Rev. Neuroscience, 11, 599-605. • Overy, K. (2000). Dyslexia, temporal processing and music: The potential of

music as an early learning aid for dyslexic children. Psychology of Music, 28, 218-229.

• Patel, A. D. (2011). Why would musical training benefit the neural encoding of speech? The OPERA hypothesis. Frontiers in Psychology, 2(142), 1-13.

Music Strategies for the Classroom

• Why use rhythm activities in the classroom?• What rhythmic activities promote engagement?• What are the foundational principles for pitch activities in the

classroom?• What pitch activities promote engagement?• How can I include music with language literacy activities?• Does background music enhance or decrease student learning?

Rhythm Strategies in the Classroom“Rhythm testing is not language-based—the same test can be administered to pre-readers of any language background” (p. 766). Moritz, C., Yampolsky, S., Papadelis, G., Thomson, J., & Wolf, M. (2013). Links between early rhythm skills, musical training, and phonological awareness. Reading and Writing: An Interdisciplinary Journal, 26(5), 739-769.

Echo clap 4-beat rhythm patterns (q n Q )

1. q q q q2. q q n q3. q n q q4. n n q q5. n n n q6. n n n n7. n q n q8. n q q q9. q n n q10. q Q q Q11. q q q Q12. q n q QChoksy, L. (1999). The Kodaly method I: Comprehensive music education (3rd ed.). New Jersey: Prentice Hall.

More Rhythm Strategies…• Perform the beat simultaneously with sung or spoken text.• Clap (or speak, using “ta” and “ti-ti”) the rhythm of a song.• Notate syllables of names. Examples:

John q Lindsay n Jeremy t Elizabeth y

• Incorporate movement: walk (q), tiptoe (n), gallop (o).• Integrate children’s games, riddles, and chants.• Employ body percussion.• Perform or move to an ostinato (repeated pattern) during a song or poem.• Return to seats at a particular tempo – set by the teacher – using imagery:

Walk as if you are on the moon…

Walk as if you are flying a kite…

March as if you are in a marching band…

Walk as if you are carrying heavy rocks

Tiptoe as if you are touching hot sand…

Rhythm Games…• Jump rope games• http://www.gameskidsplay.net/jump_rope_ryhmes/• http://www.buyjumpropes.net/resources/jump-rope-rhymes-songs-buyjumpropesnet/• http://www.aacs.wnyric.org/donius/jump_rope/rhymes.html

• Clapping games• http://funclapping.com/• http://childstoryhour.com/gamesclapping.htm

• Bucket drumming• http://bucketdrumming.net/• https://www.pinterest.com/drfaltys/bucket-drumming/• https://www.pinterest.com/musicteacher123/music-teaching-bucket-drumming/

Pitch Strategies in the Classroom• Most young children sing in a range of 5-6 notes (not below C or above C’). • Encourage singers to use a proper tone and dynamic level (relaxed – not forced – singing )• Use arm motions to distinguish pitch levels.• Communicate through song, using a descending minor third.• Rely on folk music and nursery songs.• Many children’s games and chants are based on three or four pitches. Examples:

Three: “Rain, Rain,” “Fuzzy Wuzzy,” “Rain, Rain,” “A Tisket, A Tasket”

Four: “Teddy Bear,” “Ring Around the Rosie,” “Mary Had a Little Lamb” http://www.publicdomainpictures.net/view-image.php?image=44329&picture=teclado-de-piano-notas-musicais&jazyk=PT

Song Websites

• http://kodaly.hnu.edu/collection.cfm

• http://www.schools.utah.gov/CURR/fineart/Elementary/Songbook/Music.aspx

• http://www.8notes.com/treble_clef_instrument/traditional/sheet_music/

• http://mainlymusic.weebly.com/elementary-music.html

Music and Language Literacy Ideas• Add instruments (sound effects) to stories and poems. Examples:• Sand blocks for train stories

• Dowel rod or rhythm sticks for a clock

• Create new lyrics to a familiar song. • Create homemade instruments:• Coconut shells - horse• Suspended spoons of different sizes – chimes http://bugaboominimrme.blogspot.com/2011/07/everyone-loves-parade.html

• Various containers partly filled with paper clips, sand, rice, or pebbles - maracas• Variety of containers - drum• https://www.pinterest.com/maestroclassics/homemade-musical-instruments/• http://www.buzzfeed.com/verymuchso/12-sweet-diy-instruments-for-cash-strapped-musici

ans#.apOdeqBwyr

Music, Poetry, and Prosody“Noise” by 4th grade class from Harlem:

Noise, noise everywhereWhat to do! It’s always there. Bang! Pow! Zoom! Crunch!Buzz! Crack! Crack! Munch!In the air, on the ground,Noise, noise all around.Dogs barking, cars parking,Planes flying, babies crying.Sh…sh…time for sleep

Not a single little peep. Oh no-through the door-Comes a noisy, awful snore.Tick-tock-stop the clock,Stop the yelling on my block.Close the windows, shut them tight. https://www.flickr.com/photos/jakefowler/6830911592/

Cotton in ear…nighty night.

Music, Poetry, and Sound Effects“If Things Grew Down” – Robert HoeftIf things grew down (descending slide whistle) instead of up (ascending slide whistle)A dog (low pitched bark – ruff, ruff!) would grow into a pup (high pitched bark)A cat (low meow) would grow into a kitten (high mew)Your sweater would grow into a mitten.A cow (low moo) would grow into a calf (high moo). And a whole would grow into a half.Big (crash cymbals) would grow into something small (finger cymbals).And small (finger cymbals) would grow into nothing at all (silence).

Music and Stories

• Pete the Cat: I Love My White Shoes – Eric Litwin, ill. By James Dean• Mousekin’s Thanksgiving – Edna Miller• Birdsongs – Betsy Franco and Steve Jenkins• Iktomi and the Boulder – Paul Goble• Three Snow Bears – Jan Brett• The Mitten – Jan Brett• Chicka Chicka Boom Boom – Bill Martin Jr. and John Archambault• The Westing Game – Ellen Raskin

Background Music Research• Petruzzellis, L., Chebat, J.-C., & Palumbo, A. (2014). Hey dee-jay let’s play that song and keep me shopping all day long: The

effect of famous background music on consumer shopping behavior. Journal of Marketing Development and Competitiveness, 8(2), 38-49.

• Ding, C. G., & Lin, C.-H. (May—June 2012). How does background music tempo work for online shopping? Electronic Commerce Research and Applications, 11(3), 299-307.

• Lai, C.-J., Chang, K.-M., & Lin, Y.-C. (2012). Emotional and cognitive response to placement method of background music in shopping website. Scientific Research and Essays, 7(46), 3953-3960.

• Lamont, A.M. (2001). Infants’ preferences for familiar and unfamiliar music: A socio-cultural study. Paper read at Society for Music perception and Cognition, August 9, 2001, at Kingston, Ont.

• Patston, L. L. M., & Tippett, L. J. (2011). The effect of background music on cognitive performance in musicians and nonmusicians. Music Perception: An Interdisciplinary Journal, 29(2), 173-183.

• Kӓmpfe, J., Sedlmeier, P., & Renkewitz, F. (2011). The impact of background music on adult listeners: A meta-analysis. Psychology of Music, 39(4), 424-448.

Background Music for Brainstorming Activitieshttps://sharepoint.dallastown.net/elementary/specials/Music/Forms/All%20Docs.aspx

William Tell Overture: Rossini

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YIbYCOiETx0

Symphony No. 4 in B Flat Major, Op. 60, Allegro ma non troppo: Beethoven https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PBpGIjmEVBA

Piano Sonata in A Major, K. 331, Allegretto: Mozart https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CWCx2dUXTVA

Flight of the Bumblebee: Yo-Yo Ma and Bobby McFerrin performance of Rimsky-Korsakov https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eLZGr3CIAMA

Lorca: Nova Menco

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VgjUaDi47YM&list=RDVgjUaDi47YM

Simple Melody – Fourth Movement: Benjamin Britten https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TRCx7rvPUFs

Background Music to Promote Calmhttps://sharepoint.dallastown.net/elementary/specials/Music/Forms/All%20Docs.aspx

Air – J.S. Bach

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GMkmQlfOJDk

Watermark – Enya

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NO5tb20qQnA

Weightless – Marconi Union

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nKsEqFgKhoA

Blue in Green – Miles Davis

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PoPL7BExSQU

Peer Gynt Suite No. 1, Morning – Grieg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wCEzh3MwILY

Mysterious Island – Mickey Hart

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4R5L79JkwZs•

ReferencesChoksy, L. (1999). The Kodaly method I: Comprehensive music education (3rd ed.). New Jersey: Prentice Hall.

The Dana Consortium Report on Arts and Cognition (2008). (Asbury & Rich, Eds.) Learning, arts, and the brain. NY: Dana Press.

Developmental trends and relationships in children’s aural perception and symbol use. Journal Research in Music Education 46, 16-23.

Ding, C. G., & Lin, C.-H. (May—June 2012). How does background music tempo work for online shopping? Electronic Commerce Research and Applications, 11(3), 299-307.

Douglas, S., & Willatts, P. (1994). The relationship between musical ability and literacy skills. Journal of Research in Reading, 17(2), 99-107.

Gromko, J. E. (2005). The effect of music instruction on phonemic awareness in beginning readers. Journal of Research in Music Education, 53(3), 199-209.

Gromko, J. E. & Poorman, A. S. (1998). Developmental trends and relationships in children’s aural perception and symbol use. Journal Research in Music Education 46, 16-23.

Habib, M., & Besson, M. (2009). What do music training and musical experience teach us about brain plasticity? Music Perception, 26(3), 279-286.

Ho, Y-C., Cheung, M-C., & Chan, A. S. (2003). Music training improves verbal but not visual memory: Cross-sectional and longitudinal exploration in children. Neuropsychology, 17(3), 439-450.

Jensen, E. (2013). Engaging students with poverty in mind: Practical strategies for raising achievement. Virginia: ASCD.

Kӓmpfe, J., Sedlmeier, P., & Renkewitz, F. (2011). The impact of background music on adult listeners: A meta-analysis. Psychology of Music, 39(4), 424-448.

Kraus, N., & Chandrasekaran, B. (2010). Music training for the development of auditory skills. Nat. Rev. Neuroscience, 11, 599-605.

Lai, C.-J., Chang, K.-M., & Lin, Y.-C. (2012). Emotional and cognitive response to placement method of background music in shopping website. Scientific Research and Essays, 7(46), 3953-3960.

Lamb, S., & Gregory, A. (1993). The relationship between music and reading in beginning readers. Educational Psychology, 13(1), 19-28.

Lamont, A.M. (2001). Infants’ preferences for familiar and unfamiliar music: A socio-cultural study. Paper read at Society for Music perception and Cognition, August 9, 2001, at Kingston, Ont.

Levitin, D. J. (2006). This is your brain on music: The science of a human obsession. NY: Plume.

Levitin, D. J., & Tirovolas, A. K. (2009). Current advances in the cognitive neuroscience of music. Cognitive Neuroscience of Music, 211-231.

Moreno, S., Marques, C., Santos, A., Santos, M., Castro, S., & Besson, M. (2009). Musical training influences linguistic abilities in 8-year-old children: More evidence for brain plasticity. Cerebral Cortex, 19(3), 712-723.

Moritz, C., Yampolsky, S., Papadelis, G., Thomson, J., & Wolf, M. (2013). Links between early rhythm skills, musical training, and phonological awareness. Reading and Writing: An Interdisciplinary Journal, 26(5), 739-769.

Overy, K. (2000). Dyslexia, temporal processing and music: The potential of music as an early learning aid for dyslexic children. Psychology of Music, 28, 218-229.

Patel, A. D. (2011). Why would musical training benefit the neural encoding of speech? The OPERA hypothesis. Frontiers in Psychology, 2(142), 1-13.

Patston, L. L. M., & Tippett, L. J. (2011). The effect of background music on cognitive performance in musicians and nonmusicians. Music Perception: An Interdisciplinary Journal, 29(2), 173-183.

Petruzzellis, L., Chebat, J.-C., & Palumbo, A. (2014). Hey dee-jay let’s play that song and keep me shopping all day long: The effect of famous background music on consumer shopping behavior. Journal of Marketing Development and Competitiveness, 8(2), 38-49.

Ratey, J. (2002). A user’s guide to the brain: Perception, attention and the four theaters of the brain. NY: Vintage Books.

Rauscher, F. H., Shaw, G. L., & Ky, K. N. (1993). Music and spatial task performance. Nature, 365, 611.

Schlaug, G., Jӓncke, L., Huang, Y., Staiger, J. D., & Steinmetz, H. (1995). Increased corpus callosum size in musicians. Neuropsychologia, 33(8), 1047-1055.

Shellenberg, E. G. (2003). Music lessons and IQ. Paper presented at the biennial meeting of the Society for Research in Child Development, Tampa. FL.

Shellenberg, E. G. (2003). Does exposure to music have beneficial side effects? In I. Peretz & R. Zatorre (Eds.), The cognitive neuroscience of music, (pp. 430-448). New York: Oxford University Press.

Strait, D. L. & Kraus, N. (2011). Can you hear me now? Musical training shapes functional brain networks for selective auditory attention and hearing speech in noise. Frontiers in Psychology, 2(113), 1-10.

Wong, P. C. M., Skoe, E., Russo, N. M., Dees, T., & Kraus, N. (2007). Musical experience shapes human brainstem encoding of linguistic pitch patterns. Nature Neuroscience 10(4), 420-422.

Yun, Y. B., & Kim, J. E. (2013). The effects of the Orff approach on self-expression, self-efficacy, and social skills of children in low-income families in South Korea. Child Welfare, 92(4), 123-158.

Questions and Comments

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