Music’s Tracks in the Brain

I read with interest “Music Leaves Its Mark on the Brain” (Dec. 13), regarding the latest research by scientists at Dartmouth College that measures some of the effects of listening to music. The article mentioned previously documented research that indicates that the serious study of music increases the size of the corpus callosum and the amount of gray matter in the auditory cortex. Listening to music gives a person pleasure and activates the brain in ways we are just beginning to understand.

In essence, the study -- as well as the practice and performance -- of music makes you smarter. Music educators have observed this phenomenon for decades, but those who fund music education for the vast majority of Americans have yet to see (or hear) the truth. We feel vindicated by the findings of the research, and it validates what musicians and dedicated educators have long known and tried faithfully to communicate to parents, administrators and school boards.

For those of us who work with young musicians every day, these recent findings come as no surprise. Our music majors are bright, articulate, excellent students and engaged learners. They did not come to music inherently brighter than their peers. They grew intellectually because of the advantage of an early classical music education. Art education begins at home, but it needs to be further nurtured in all classrooms, both public and private, as many schools are successfully demonstrating. In the interest of expanding creative thinking and imaginative minds, we recommend that all parents introduce their children to the study of music. If it is good for the most talented child, it is good for every child.

William Lowman

Headmaster

Idyllwild Arts Academy

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Dartmouth music psychologist Petr Janata’s assertion that “music is not necessary for human survival” puzzles me. It is significant that the ancient Greeks made Apollo the god of both healing and the arts. They also (like the Chinese) tied music closely to the fortunes and conduct of the state. The musical ideals of harmony, of doing complex things together, of achieving unity in diversity, of transcending the self, of becoming part of a greater, higher, more lasting order may well be vital to the well-being -- if not of individual humans -- of human societies. Shakespeare’s Caesar may infer this when he says of his soon-to-be assassin Cassius, “ ... he hears no music” (“Julius Caesar,” I, ii, 204).

Philip Walker

Santa Barbara