Conclusion

Based on reasearch, it is not certain whether music does or does not help child's development. The topic of music's effect on children's development is a very big and controversial topic. There is a general consensus that classical music is helpful for children's development. Some believe that rock music has a negative effect. However, there are many things which require further scientific study for a clear picture, especially, the conditions for positive and negative effects. Since the topic is still controversial, it is difficult to design a music program using scientific knowledge.

Music examples

Heavy Metal


Live and Learn by Crush 40


Dude (Looks Like a Lady) by Aerosmith

Rock


Shut Up by Simple Plan


American Idiot by Green Day

Dirty Little Secret by The All American Rejects

Classical

Mozart's K.448 (song that supposedly contains the Mozart Effect (the mp3 shown is not the full version, which is over 8 min. long))

Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy by Tchaikovsky (does not contain the Mozart's Effect)

Works Cited

Tanya Lee
M15
Ms. Doogan

Works Cited

Anonymous, “Classical Music: Improving Children’s Development”
www.teachervision.fen.com/music-appreciation/listening/4756.html?page=1&detoured=1 no date

Anonymous, “Mozart Effect” www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mozart_effect no date

Christianson, Judy Sue “The Effects of Music on Energy & Health”
www.internationalparentingassociation.org/Music/studies.html 2007

Picture, “Brain Rhythm” www.dericbownds.net/uploaded_images/BrainRhythm no date

Salting, Donald, Personal Interview. May 9, 2008

Survey: “Does music affect a child’s development, if so how?” Old Buddies Forum May 2, 2008

Interview

Tanya Lee
M15
Ms. Doogan


Interview

1. Describe the Mozart's Effect on kids. Do you think other genres of music have the same effect? If so, why and how?
>> I really don't know about this one - I was not exposed to listening to the masters when I was young. I don't know if it enhances intelligence, but it certainly can't hurt.

2. Do you believe music has an impact on a child's behavior and development? Do you have any evidence?
>> It has to. Music opens realms of perception - emotion, beauty, expression - that are powerful and, because it exists on a much more abstract domain than, say, film, the experiences are ultimately individualized. And music is like love - we don't always get to choose what/whom we love or why we love something/someone. Sometimes we just do and that's that. I think the mere fact that music requires someone to listen in order to get the full benefit has to have an impact on how one navigates life.

3. Do different genres of music have different effects? If so, why?
>> This speaks to question 10 as well. I think any genre that limits itself to a narrow perspective / attitude / voice is not worth much time. A lot of metal music is limited to expression of adolescent impotent rage. This is an important dimension of the human experience, but it is only one. For me, any genre must be able to hold the totally of human experience - fun, compassion, sorrow, rage, excitement, vigor, tenderness, a sense of cultural identity, etc.

4. What types of music have negative effects? If so, why?
>> I like a singer who can howl and roar, but if that's the only thing they do, it quickly loses its power. It's like parents who constantly yell at their children - if all one does is yell, it quickly loses any significance other than irritation. So to me, the negative effect is not caused by the screaming, per se, but by artists who can do little else.

5. How can you use this knowledge to deliberately involve music into our education system for positive development of kids?
>> I would hope that children can be exposed to as many different kinds of music as possible. And if a child is interested in a type of music or artist, that should be respected and honored as well.

6. Do you think the Beethoven effect is real?
>> I don't know what this is.

7. What are the effects of heavy metal on child's development?
>>The positive is that it may give a voice to something a child feels but can't articulate. It can also provide a sense of belonging / identity. The down side is when the listener goes to that well for all their water. To me, Beethoven had a little of the metal-head to him - it shows up in the way his music sometimes shouts.

8. Do different instruments in classical music give you better progress? If so, which ones?
>> I'm not sure I understand this question. The advantage to the piano is that it is the most visually straightforward - one can see what one is producing. It is a good foundation for learning any other instrument.

9. Does music affect both mental and physical development? If so, why and how?
>> I am confident that studying music when I was a child contributed significantly to my overall intelligence and ability to comprehend complex and abstract concepts.

10. Why does heavy metal have good/bad effects?
>> See above - if one is afraid to howl, life will have no real color, if one can only howl, life will have no warmth.

Key >>= Dr. Salting’s reply

Survey

Survey

Does music affect a child’s development, if so how? (out of 12 people)

• Yes: 7 people (58%)
• No: 1 person (8%)
• Maybe: 4 people (3%)
  

Subquestions (to be answered for “if so, how”)

1) Does music affect a child's development?
2) If yes, can you name specific genres of music (classical, rock,
etc.) that have positive or negative effects?
3) Which stage of child development do you think is most subject to
the music effect? Preborn, early childhood, elementary schoolers or
teenagers?
4) Have you or your spouse tried to use music as one way of pre-born
education of your child? Do you believe it takes effect? Have you
observed any effects?
5) Do you know Mozart effect? If yes, do you believe it is scientific?

Some Answers

Mantou: Music has to be learned from childhood, say 4-10. This is a
Precious window for music education. After that, untrained people will
lose the ability to distinguish many subtle sounds. From this
perspective, music can affect child's development
the para-effects (or side effects) of music education during the
childhood. A good music education during childhood will undoubtedly
affect many other development such as the sense of numbers, rules, and
caring for details. These are all important and will shape the child's
ways of thinking.

For different music, there are different effects on child's
development. Although we are uncertain exactly how and what effects,
we are certain that violent or loud rock roll music can affect child's
emotion and behavior. It is not a secret that those kids who listen to
violent music are more likely associated with violent behavior. But
bear in mind, it is not clear whether violent music causes violent
behavior, or vice versa. There are research studies on this issue.

As I said before, childhood is the critical stage for music
training. However, the benefit of preborn music education is not
proved. The Mozart effect is a folklore.
For teenage, we don't know. The only thing we know is that violent
music is related to violent behavior.

For me, I personally believe in the music effects. However, I don't
do preborn music training. Music may be just one type of noise for
fetus. Fetus needs a quite environment.

As many people have said, this is a large topic but a good topic. I
suggest you focus on childhood music education. You can cite your own
experience.

Uncle Wu:

1) Does music affect a child's development?
Definitely. Music is another dimension of the world, in addition to
science, literature, arts, etc. Children exposed to music learn to
interact with inner feelings in another way. Music training also
teaches children the importance of discipline and structured
creativity.

2) If yes, can you name specific genres of music (classical, rock,
etc.) that have positive or negative effects?
All music genres have positive effects. For example, classical music
embeds its beauty in its structure, harmony and melody. It teaches
relatively sophisticated appreciation. Rock music interacts with the
listeners in multiple ways and can be more expressive. It is good to
be exposed to all kinds of genres and develop one's own taste in the
process. On the other hand, there are pieces in each genres that may
cause negative effects. For example, some songs promote violence or
cynical attitudes. Children should make good use of help from their
parents and teachers in choosing music works that are suitable for
them.

3) Which stage of child development do you think is most subject to
the music effect? Preborn, early childhood, elementary schoolers or
teenagers?
Children at different ages respond differently to music. Newborns can
enjoy music with clear rhythm and pleasant melody, while a teenager is
more equipped to appreciate the sophisticated structure of Bach. To
understand the feelings expressed by Chopin, one would need more life
experience of sorrow, frustration, etc. The important point is to
select age-appropriate music for each child.

4) Have you or your spouse tried to use music as one way of pre-born
education of your child? Do you believe it takes effect? Have you
observed any effects?
I believe pleasant music helps the mother to relax and be happy. This
in turn is good for the fetus. However, I don't think there is
evidence that music can interact with the fetus directly (except for
some genres that is essentially very loud noise).

5) Do you know Mozart effect? If yes, do you believe it is scientific?
I heard about it, but have not study enough to know whether it is
scientific. On the other hand, I believe music education and training
is a valuable part of a child's education. In my experience, most
people who perform well academically also receive regular music
trainings.

Key
Underlined Name: person replying (username only)

Does music affect a child’s development, if so how? (out of 12 people)

Yes	No	Maybe
7 people 58 percent	1 person 8 percent	4 people 33 percent

Main Findings

Tanya Lee
Ms. Doogan

Main Findings

Have any of you realized how much music affects a child’s development? Do you know that some music can actually increase your child’s IQ? Did you know that some music may cause major health problems? If not, you should find out! Just remember, you can be responsible for what kids these days listen to. The main question of this essay is “Does music affect a child’s development, if so how?” The first paragraph tells about the classical music. The second paragraph presents the rock music. The third paragraph is on the controversy.

Classical music is an important genre of musical development. According to research such as wikipedia, classical music is one of the most familiar genres that have positive effects. Classical music can increase memory, mood, health, physical development, and mental development. It can also reduce stress, depression, and anxiety. A fairly popular belief is the Mozart Effect. The Mozart Effect is the theory that Mozart’ music (or music with similar structure) can enhance a person’s intellect. Since there has been much controversy around this topic, many experiments have been done to try and prove its existence. For example, Mozart’s Piano Sonata in D Major (K.448) has been tested and proven to reduce the number of seizures that people with epilepsy have (citation two). The University of Illinois Medical Center tested on 29 patients with epilepsy. After 300 seconds of listening to that piece, 23out of 29 of those patients had a pronounced decrease in epileptic activity. That is just one of the examples. Another test involved giving the participants three tests of spatial reasoning (citation two). For the first test, they listened to a sonata by Mozart while taking the test. For the second test, they listened to repetitive relaxation music. For the last test, there was silence. The mean score for the first test were 8-9 points higher than the other two conditions. These experiments at least demonstrate that some classical music indeed has some positive effect on some people’s intellect development. What is yet to find is the conditions when it takes effect so we can apply this more effectively in the music education program for children. Some people believe that classical music isn’t the only type of music with a positive effect. According to Dr. Donald Salting, a computational lexicographer with a PhD in linguistics and a minor in psychology, “If one is afraid to howl, life will have no real color, if one can only howl, life will have no warmth.” This means that listening to only classical music will not give you the best results. Dr. Salting believes that children should be able to explore all different types of music, and when they become interested in one type they should still be respected and encouraged of that (look on interview page for full interview).

Rock music is another important genre in musical development. Rock music is the type of music believed to have the most negative effects particularly heavy metal (citation three). Rock music can cause loss of concentration. Loss of concentration is caused by epinephrine being released. The chemicals that are released are similar to the way drugs relax you. Also, by targeting two distinct ways, directly on the cells and body parts, and on the emotions, it can cause numerous physical problems. For example, rock music can coagulate proteins, interfere with digestion, cause more driving accidents, change metabolism, affect muscle energy, raise blood pressure, cause musicogenic epilepsy (seizures that are directly caused by the rock beat), and hearing problems (caused by the loudness of the music). These observations have all been reported in citation three. To prove that rock music hurts digestion, several eggs were brought with teenagers to a rock concert, when the concert was over the eggs became hardboiled, which proves that rock music can coagulate proteins. Unlike classical music, rock music does not follow the heartbeat and causes stress to the heart. Some believe that extended periods of rock music can even cause violence of all types. Heavy metal is a subgenre of rock. Heavy metal is believed to be the main cause of the increased use of drugs, suicide, and violence. But this point is very controversial. There seems to some evidence but no scientific conclusions are reached on the music’s effect on violence. One can argue that it is not the improper music that increases violence, it is the violent people who more likely choose the noisy music for themselves.

The main controversies are on the Mozart Effect and rock music’s influence on children. Some researchers believe that the Mozart Effect is just an arousal of mood. While others think that it will actually make you smarter. For example, for one of the subquestions that were to be answered in the survey (“if so, how” part of the survey), was “Do you know the Mozart Effect, if so do you believe it is scientific?”, one person answered maybe, four entered yes, six entered no, and one answered don’t know. The people who answered no, argued that there was not enough scientific evidence to support the claim. Even if experiments were done, there was no hard evidence. While the people who said yes, said claims like, “Yes. I believe it is scientific because it is based on an experiment published in the privileged scientific journal Nature, claiming that those who listen to Mozart could boost their IQ by about eight points.” The yes people often talk about the experiments that have been done. So technically, research shows that it could be possible that the Mozart Effect exists, but with a lot of controversy. The other controversy is whether rock music actually hurts people. Most people believe that rock music harms the body, causes stress, violence, etc. (see paragraph two), but some people believe that rock music is neutral. According to Salting, “I think any genre that limits itself to a narrow perspective / attitude / voice is not worth much time. A lot of metal music is limited to expression of adolescent impotent rage. This is an important dimension of the human experience, but it is only one. For me, any genre must be able to hold the totally of human experience - fun, compassion, sorrow, rage, excitement, vigor, tenderness, a sense of cultural identity, etc.” Meaning that Salting believes that rock music is still important because it is important to experience all elements of life, fun, compassion, sorrow, rage, etc. Also, Wanglaowu from the Old Buddies Forum said, “Almost all kinds of music have positive effects.” On the contrary, Judy Sue Christianson wrote most of her article (citation 3 ) on the bad effects of rock music. “Rock has been found to interfere with digestion, increase driving accidents, change metabolism, affect muscular energy, raise blood pressure etc.” This means Christianson believes that rock music have many bad effects. There are also neutral claims to this statement. 阿福 from the Old Buddies said, “Again, don't know. But if I guess, classical positive, soft rock neutral, hard rock negative” So, in general, controversy for this topic still exists, and it has no definite answer.

The topic of music’s effect on children’s development is a very big and controversial topic. There is a general consensus that classical music is helpful for the child's development. Some believe that rock music has a negative effect. However, there are many things which require further scientific study for a clear picture, especially, the conditions for positive and negative effects. Since the topic is still controversial, it is difficult to design a music program using scientific knowledge.

Pictures









Figure 1. What a brain wave looks like when responding to music.

Source Bullets

Tanya Lee
M15
5/08/08

Source Bullets

Interview of Dr. Salting
· Name: Dr. Donald Salting
· Profession: Computational Lexicographer
· Employer: Netbase Inc.
· Dr. Salting originally toured the whole country in a band (which allows him to have a first person view on how people feel about his music). He has a phD in linguistics with a minor in psychology.
· I met him two years ago at the Netbase Inc. Annual Picnic. My dad told me that the company was required to bring their whole family. I was introduced to the whole company.

Internet Site:

· “Mozart Effect” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mozart_effect\
· I heard about the Mozart Effect before, to get this site I used a Wikipedia search engine.
· This is a valid source because it was written by Wikipedia, whose information has been written by experts of all kinds.
· This site was useful because the Mozart Effect is one of the biggest impact that exists on mental developments.