In most African cultures, music is for dancing and singing, not listening to quietly while seated in a chair.
Sociologists call this evidence of a participatory 颅culture, where individuals don鈥檛 just act as consumers but also as contributors or producers.
In many European cultures, as well, music is for playing and sharing. Walking down a street in France, I stop to admire a duet 鈥� a guitar player and an accordionist. 鈥淒o you play?鈥� I聽am asked in faltering English. 鈥淪ure,鈥� I reply, 鈥渂ut鈥︹�� and the guitar is handed over. 鈥淎lors rejoinez nous鈥� 鈥� please join us 鈥� and then I am playing three- or four-chord songs I have never heard before but that have 颅patterns that make sense to a musician鈥檚 ear, with new friends I have never met before.
Late at night, in a street in a small beachside village in Mexico, a group of men, 颅possibly assisted by a touch of 颅鈥渃ontrabando鈥� 鈥� the local illegal tequila 鈥� are singing ranchera songs in two or three harmony parts.
I watch the guitar player. He鈥檚 not doing anything complicated 鈥� he鈥檚 not Paco de Lucia or Segovia. He鈥檚 just making simple unadorned music 鈥� real music.
Again, 鈥淭i juegas?鈥� 鈥淯n poco,鈥� I shrug, and the guitar is handed over.
Again, I don鈥檛 know the songs, just that they have harmonic patterns that are, in western cultures at least, universal: one-four-five (C-F-G7) chord progressions as musicians call them, with maybe a relative minor chord thrown in.
Would this happen on a street in Victoria? Maybe, but 颅somehow we鈥檝e been conditioned to enjoy music as listeners, not as 颅participants.
There are exceptions, of course, such as the Bo卯tes 脿 Chansons of Montreal and Quebec City, small venues for Quebecois folk music. Music has always been an important part of Acadian culture.
In the western provinces, however, school music has become something of an 颅鈥渁ttachment鈥� to the core 颅curriculum, one that鈥檚 not for everybody.
But that may be changing. New research is shedding light on how the brain interacts with music.
鈥淢usic is very subjective,鈥� says Dr. Daniel Levitin, a 颅professor of neuroscience and music at McGill University in Montreal and author of the 颅bestselling book This is Your Brain on Music, adding that there are more researchers studying the neurological effects of music now than ever before.
A study published in 颅 Scientific Reports recently by researchers at University College London looked at how quickly the brain can recall a 鈥渇amiliar鈥� song 鈥� much like the 鈥渘ame that tune鈥� games radio hosts play on air.
When country star Glen Campbell was diagnosed with the onset of dementia, he 颅continued to perform stadium shows both musically and lyric perfect, even though he could not remember the names of his children in his band.
Sound complicated? Welcome to the world of studying music and the brain.
Which brings us to the 颅question of music and young developing minds.
Playing music, 颅researchers tell us, is one of the few 颅activities that involve using the whole brain. It鈥檚 like a full-body workout for the brain and has surprising benefits for learning language, improving memory and focusing attention, according to Dr. Anita Collins in her Ted Talk 鈥淗ow Playing an Instrument Benefits Your Brain.鈥�
Collins focused her work on language development and 颅executive function. The latter is a set of mental skills that help you get things done and is understood to be significant to early educational success.
Many other studies over the years have shown that 颅playing music engages the brain in a unique way that virtually no other activity does.
Apparently, playing music requires the use of nearly every area of the brain at the same time, and each of these areas is doing its part of the work 颅instantaneously.
In the past few decades, 颅neuroscientists have made advances in understanding how our brains work with 颅instruments such as MRIs and PET scanners.
Tasks such as reading or doing math problems 颅seemingly each have corresponding areas of the brain where activity can be observed. But when 颅researchers have participants listen to music, they see 鈥渇ireworks鈥� on the screen.
Playing music, any style of music 鈥� from Bach鈥檚 endless modulations to jazz innovator John Coltrane鈥檚 almost algebraic harmonic substitutions for standard tunes 鈥� move the聽musician鈥檚 brain into areas聽of thought nothing else can.
鈥淎s a little girl,鈥� Albert 颅Einstein鈥檚 second wife, Elsa, once remarked, 鈥淚 fell in love with Albert because he played Mozart so beautifully on the violin. He also plays the piano. Music helps him when he is thinking about his theories. He goes to his study, comes back, strikes a few chords on the piano, jots something down, returns to his study.鈥�
It may well be time for music education to move back into the curricular mainstream.
Geoff Johnson is a former superintendent of schools.
