by Kevin Burton
My father wanted me to study computer programming in college. He had that charming way of pushing his desires for himself onto other people.
I wanted to be a journalist – an unblinking champion of the truth and a painter with words. I had that charming way of evaluating ideas by how they stacked up against mine.
Maybe both of were on the wrong track.
The latest neuroscience shows that learning a musical instrument increases brain power, according to researchers.
To produce smarter students, coding is the wrong way to go, writes Geoffrey James on inc.com.
“If there has been a theme to the technology industry’s plans to reform education, it’s that every child should learn to code. This is supposed to allow children to better adapt to a world where computers are omnipresent.”
“However, there’s not much, if any, connection between coding and today’s point-and-click environment. Almost nobody in business, for example, requires much programming skill beyond, say, creating a spreadsheet,” James wrote.
“Furthermore, the basic coding skills taught in K-12 bear no resemblance to how professional programmers produce code. The “teach kids to code” movement therefore justifies such instruction because it supposedly improves math and language skills.”
“However, that appears not to be the case, according to a December 2020 study conducted at MIT, which found that: “Understanding computer code seems to be its own thing. It’s not the same as language, and it’s not the same as math and logic.”
“By contrast, what actually does increase other skills and brain power is teaching kids to play a musical instrument, according to a January 2021 study conducted at the University of Zürich and published in The Journal of Neuroscience.”
“A summary of the research (which involved scanning the brains of both musicians and non-musicians) published in Inverse, explains that musicians’ brains were vastly more structurally and functionally connected than non-musicians, especially in areas of the brain responsible for speech and sound (especially the auditory cortices of both hemispheres). … The musical group also showed stronger connections from the auditory cortices to other brain areas in the frontal, parietal, and temporal cortex known to be involved in the control of higher cognitive functions like memory, working memory, and executive functions.”
“Music possesses a remarkable capacity to induce transformative changes in the brain, fostering neuroplasticity and reshaping neural networks,” agrees an article on www.sciencedirect.com. “ Music’s influence extends throughout the lifespan, from prenatal development to the challenges of aging, impacting cognitive, emotional, physical, and social well-being.
Takeaways from the Science Direct article:
- • Enhancing Cognitive Function: Music’s positive effects on cognition encompass memory, attention, and learning, highlighting its potential as a cognitive enhancer.
- • Emotional Resonance: Music profoundly impacts emotional states, offering therapeutic benefits in alleviating stress, anxiety, and depression.
- • Physical Well-Being: Music’s role in promoting physical health is evident in pain management and its potential for improving physical rehabilitation outcomes. Music’s unique ability to foster social bonding and communication underscores its significance in promoting social well-being.
- • Emergence of Music Therapy: The recognition of music’s therapeutic potential has given rise to music therapy as a non-pharmacological intervention for a wide range of diseases.
“This increase in brain power and functionality remains even if the child does not continue to play the instrument,” James writes.
“The earlier the musicians had started with musical practice, the stronger these connectivities,” said professor Simon Leipold, a co-author of the study.
“In short, if you want your kids to be smarter, you’re better off having them learn a musical instrument or take music education in school, rather than teaching them to code,” James writes.
For better or (almost certainly) worse, a kind of coding seems to be emerging into music as more and more songs are produced by computers, without any real musicians in the room.
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