The Magic of Mastering Music

The Magic Of Mastering Music

I’ve been practicing for what feels like days. Practicing just this one short phrase of music so simple and so small; and yet so difficult. I can feel my body about to give up. My breathing is poor and shallow, my muscles are tired, and I feel like if I sit down I will fall asleep immediately. Questions begin to pester my mind, Is it really worth it? Does it mean anything? Does it really mean anything at all, this exhausting work that I am doing here? What does studying this music do for me? I realize that someday I will be teaching students who will go through these same things, and have these same questions. Questions like; why Study music? Or; is working on this little phrase worth so much work? How am I going to answer these questions? Of course the question that they are really asking is; is music worth studying? How will I answer this question for them? How do I answer this question for myself?

“Music is the movement of sound to reach the soul for the education of its virtue,” these words were spoken by Plato in ancient Greece.  This is one small piece of evidence of how music has been a part of education for millennia. Plato, the author of this quote, was a philosopher and the father of the philosophy of idealism. The question of whether or not something has value, and therefore is worth studying is a question that has been asked by philosophers like Plato for millennia. In fact the specific question of whether or not music is worth studying is one that Plato himself asked.

In his book “The Republic,” Plato has a discussion about how music can produce certain emotions, and how these emotions in certain cases would be desirable and in other cases would not. He also says about education of music, “musical training is a more potent instrument than any other, because rhythm and harmony find their way into the inward places of the soul.” Here his opinion about the value of music is clear. It is a “more potent instrument” for teaching “than any other.” Clearly from Plato’s standpoint as an idealist philosopher music is valuable because it is one of the few ways he found, and it is a “more potent” way, to train the soul other than studying music. Music “finds its way into the inward places of the soul,” that is what makes it valuable and therefore worth studying. The type of teaching that can change a student forever must find its way into the deepest part of the student.

In a personal interview, that I conducted with Doctor David Peck, a professor of history and music at Brigham Young University-Idaho, he mentioned something similar to what was said by Plato. He said “Studying music is a way to study human emotion. I for one have had many superlative musical experiences that have changed my life. After such experiences you can never go back to who you were before.” This is exactly what Plato was saying when he talked about the “inward places of the soul.”

When Doctor Peck said this it open up a lot of new questions in my mind.  Have I ever had any “superlative musical experiences?” How much can these superlative musical experiences change us? How often do we consider, or study our emotions? And how can training in music help control our emotions and therefore help us make better decisions?

I remembered an experience that I had as a boy when I was learning music. I was studying Faure’s famous Élegié on the cello; it is a passionate piece that conveys a message pain and loss. When I was 16, I remember playing this piece at a recital and feeling that pain come over me, I asked myself, is this what the composer Faure was feeling when he wrote this piece? The overwhelming feeling of loss that I came over me was incredible. I believe that experience was one such superlative musical experience. I knew then what it meant to be a performer, to convey the emotion behind the music, and I could never go back. It was the beginning of my journey to becoming a professional musician.

Through the study of music we can learn to discipline our emotions and we can change ourselves from the deepest places of our souls. Music in this regard is unique, “the movement of sound” as Plato declared it truly is one of a kind, other subjects cannot duplicate the lessons one learns through studying music.

 Learning to control our emotions is something valuable in itself. Millions of dollars are spent every year aiding people in the control of their emotions. There are numerous types of doctors that you could argue specialize in this. How much could studying music in schools, learning to train our emotions, lower the cost of this type of therapy?

Aristotle, another famous philosopher and a student of Plato, was the father of a different ideological philosophy known as Realism. There are some key differences between Idealism and Realism. The basis of Idealism suggests that ideas are the only real things, what exists in one’s mind is real. Realism says that what is real is there, whether the mind is aware of it or not. Objects, things, are what are defined as real, not ideas. Because of these different viewpoints, Aristotle had a different opinion about what had value and what is worth studying.

In his book “Politics” Aristotle addresses the question; is music an important curriculum for youth? He says “it is evident what an influence music has over the disposition of the mind, and how variously it can fascinate it: and if it can do this, most certainly it is what youth ought to be instructed in.” Even with a different view point in philosophy Aristotle thinks that music is worth studying. Interestingly he thinks that music is worth studying for a different reason. The reason is not because of the influence music has over emotions but because “how it can fascinate the mind.” Engaging the mind is what Aristotle values, and because music has the ability to engage or “fascinate” the mind of the listener it has value and therefore is worth studying.

Later in his book “Politics,” Aristotle says something that seems to have an opposing view towards the common education of music. He says “it is… clear that the learning of it [music] should never prevent the business of riper years; nor render the body effeminate, and unfit for the business of war or the state.” At first glance it seems that he is saying that music is not as important as other business, or for our case, other subjects of study, but reading closer we see that is not his meaning at all.

Here he clearly states that music should “never prevent,” other business or other studies. This means that we should not be so extreme in our study of music that we neglect other subjects such as language, science, math, est. This is true. Studying too much of a single subject can greatly detract from our overall education and as Aristotle puts it “prevent” the study of other subjects. Especially for young people this can be harmful. We must be careful that the study of music does not become the only topic that we study. This is also true for other subjects, like math, science, reading, and writing, they should not become the only subjects that we study. It is very clear here that music, according to Aristotle is to be studied alongside the other subjects of study and not left out. Aristotle is saying that we must balance our studies between all of the important subjects, including music, never allowing one to prevent the others study. Neglecting the study of music would be as irresponsible, according to this quote, as neglecting the other subjects of study.

In an interview that I was privileged to conduct with Dr. Chris Wilson, doctor of international education research and a professor of education at Brigham Young University Idaho, he responded to the question “what makes something worth studying,” in a different way than those discussed. He said something is worth studying if “it changes the individual or those around them for the better.” This adds another new insight. He suggests that something is worth studying not only to benefit the student that is doing the studying but if it can benefit those around them. We talked a lot about how music has an effect on the emotions not only to the performer but also to the listener. This is a perfect example of something that can “benefit” and change those around the student.

Another insight that Dr. Wilson shared was that music is the study of “sound as well as silence. Musicians learn to listen; they know that silence can be just as important as sound.” It is true that in a musical phrase a rest or silence, is just as significant, and in some cases more significant than a note. The skills learn that come from mastering music are useful in all disciplines of study. We can see from this idea as well as others discussed we can see that music is a valuable part of education, for its emotional aspect, for its intellectual aspect, skills training aspect, and many others. For this reason it should be studied alongside the other core subjects.

These philosophical viewpoints we have looked at open up new questions. How does music “fascinate,” or engage the mind? What effect does music have on the mind? Aristotle suggested that truth could be found through science, he even invented the scientific method as a way to search for truth. These questions, about the mind can be answered through science. Searching for answers to these questions I came across several interesting studies.

One such study was done at The New York Academy of Sciences, by Doctor Robert Zatorre, a Doctor of neuroscience. In his study entitled Music and the Brain, he specifically studied how music can affect the part of the brain associated with emotion, his findings were incredible. He took subjects and first played them music that was extremely dissonant and considered to sound bad (had wrong notes). When this music was played “activity the left amygdala and ventromedial prefrontal cortex increased.” Sounds like gibberish but these areas of the brain are the parts associated with negative emotion. Furthermore he took music that gave people “chills” and tested the activity in the brain that happened as people were having chills. He reports “activity in the nucleus accumbens, dorsal midbrain, and insula has been reported to increase.” Again doctor language, translated that is the parts of the brain associated with positive emotion. This means that he tested and demonstrated that music has the ability to effect negative and positive emotions. This plays into both Plato’s and Aristotle’s ideology. Music has a measureable effect on the brain, which is what Aristotle valued, and also can effect for positive and negative the emotions of people, which is what Plato valued.

Another study was done by Joseph Ludoux, also a neuroscientist. He is considered to be one of the world’s experts on emotion neuroscience. He has recently been working with what he calls emotional memory. He suggests that there is a distinction between cognitive memory, and emotional memory. Cognitive memory is what is typically used in schools; it deals with memory by patterns, or association. In his study Ludoux has rats listen to a sound and immediately after they are shocked. He reports, “Tracing the circuits forward from the auditory system to the response control systems, we implicated specific regions of the amygdala in the learning and storage of these memories.” These memories are associated with fear. When the sound was played the rats began to react even without being shocked. Music is an emotional experience; it is connected to the emotional part of the brain rather than the hippocampus which stores cognitive memories. Have you ever experienced emotional memory? Have you ever remembered certain things when a song was played? That is because of the music has helped in the emotional memory, when the song is played memories and emotions are restored.

In a ted talk entitled “Music and Emotion Through Time,” given by Michael Tilson Thomas, the music director of the San Francisco Symphony, He gives an example of music’s ability to create emotional memory. He talks about an experience he had with a man in a nursing home whose memory is lacking. This man gets out of his bed and painstakingly walks, on his walker, to the piano on the other side of the room. He starts to plunk out some seemingly random notes, and mutters something about Beethoven, and how he was a boy, and the symphony. Michael Thomas being a professional musician recognized what this man was trying to play and as he began to play, the man’s memory was unlocked and he told of an experience that he had as a boy when he went to the symphony. The man was even able to remember the name of the performer, and where the performance was. The emotions that this man felt at this performance made the memory very powerful and made it stick very deeply. Even when this mans cognitive memory was failing, music unlocked his emotional memory.

Memory is one thing that is very important in education. If music is a way to help improve memory then it is valuable and worth learning. Can you imagine students learning things through cognitive memory and emotional memory in schools?

At another point of his talk Michael Tilson Thomas talks about general emotion in music. He plays a major triad and says that it is “generally perceived as happy,” and then he plays a minor triad which is “generally perceived as sad.” He then explains the difference between them. He says that the only difference is the note in the middle, “which is either an E natural at 659 vibrations per second or and E flat at 622 vibrations per second. The difference between human happiness and human sadness,” He says jokingly, “37 freaking vibrations.”

We see countless examples of how music effects emotion. We see it from a philosophical standpoint, from a scientific standpoint, even as a way to improve memory. Music’s ability to effect emotion is unique. It is something that in today’s world is downplayed significantly. It is rare that people understand the emotional journey that they are going through when they are listening to music. These “37 freaking vibrations,” are rarely understood. 

            One issue with music education is Religion in schools. Music and religion have historically been closely associated. In fact religion has traditionally been one of the greatest sponsors to music, and to the educating of musicians. Edd. Doerr Wrote an article in called in 2002 called “Public Schools Should Not Include More Religion in the Curriculum.” In this article he addresses the use of religious music in schools.  He says “There should be no objection to the inclusion of religious music in the academic study of music and in vocal and instrumental performances, as long as the pieces are selected primarily for their musical or historical value, as long as the program is not predominantly religious, and as long as the principal purpose and effect of the inclusion is secular.” This presents an issue, what he says is true, there should be regulation in religious curriculum in schools, but also is a difficult issue for music teachers.

If one of music’s strongpoint’s is to teach about some of the strongest human emotions, as we have been discussing; including, Joy, anger, sorrow, pain, love, hatred, faith, est. wouldn’t religious be one of the best ways to teach these emotions? Religious music, aside from being religious is especially emotional, but in order to be emotional one must have a certain understanding of the religion, and the reason that the emotion is being portrayed. If we sing religious music purely for its “historical and musical value,” it loses its emotion, and therefore loses part of the value of it being taught. Is it possible to teach religion in a classroom without imposing any bias as a teacher? Doing so would allow students to understand the religion without necessarily teaching them to accept it, and therefore perform with emotion.

 This is what Doerr means when he says “the principle purpose and effect of the inclusion is secular.” Teaching students to understand ideas without necessarily accepting them is extremely valuable.  In fact our friend Aristotle said “it is the mark of an educated mind to entertain an idea without accepting it.” Teaching students to understand religion and perform the emotions of the music, without automatically accepting the ideas, is as Aristotle puts it, educating them. In this regard including religious music is valuable. The principle purpose of the music would be secular and help in the study of emotion.

Is Music Worth Studying? There are many things that are unique to music that can teach significant lessons. First is the study of emotion,”the inward places of the soul.” The effect that music has on the brain is unique and allows us to study how emotion affects us. Another point is the opportunity for superlative musical experiences. These are life changing experiences that come through experiencing music. Music has the ability to “fascinate the mind.” Music is as important as other core subjects and should be studied alongside them.

It is true not everybody will grow up to be musicians and not everybody is gifted and talented musically. But studying music will benefit each student in for the better, and benefit those around them. Our ability in music is not necessarily the most important aspect about being educated in music. Dumbledore, the famous wizard, says “It is our choices...that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities.” As we make the choice to study music and develop the skills associated with musicianship we become better students. Mastering music truly is magical in the many ways it develops students. Dumbledore also said “Ah, music! A magic beyond all we do here.” The time I spend in the practice room is worth every second, no matter how tired my body is.