Scientific Research about The Many Benefits of Music
This page has information about a talk being proposed by me – Craig Rusbult, PhD – for the 2024 Annual Meeting of the American Scientific Affiliation. Currently it's written mainly for reviewers of the Abstract Submission. Later I'll revise it so – if the talk is accepted – the page will be useful for attendees.
I also will be revising the Original Abstract to make a Revised Abstract. Why? Because I'm a writer who is diligent and persevering. When re-reading a page I've written, usually I'll find things that should be changed, to make it better. In fact, I already (February 1) have changed the title by adding "Scientific Research about" to the original submitted title, "The Many Benefits of Music." And I'm willing to consider-and-use your suggestions about revision.
My page for Bibliographical References describes (and links to) some of the many web-pages and published articles about the effects of music. It also links to a page I'll be writing about scientific research, an area where personal humility is justified because my description of research findings is primitive, due to my relative ignorance (I'm still in the early stages of learning) and the fact that I'm just beginning to write about the research. { also: I've written a comprehensive page about Improvising Music. }
This is the current (March 20) revised version of the abstract.
Scientific Research about The Many Benefits of Music
Music is fascinating & fun, can be mellow & dramatic, familiar & mysterious, relaxing & exciting. It's one of the best things in life. We enjoy music, and get benefits (mental, emotional, physical) when we hear music and make music. Musical experiences can be especially beneficial in helping the young develop more of their full potential for what they could become, and helping the old maintain more of what they have become, and even add to it. Increasing these benefits is one way to “love our neighbors,” as commanded by Jesus.
Scientists who study musical activities are learning from a wide variety of observations, including... brain scans that show stimulations of neural activity in the audio, visual, and motor cortexes; evidence that music promotes neuroplasticity at all ages, but especially for the young; research showing correlations, and probable causations, between playing music and mastering language; finding that actively making music, as in creative improvising, produces greater effects than passive listening; and more. When the research is carefully evaluated, it supports many claims – although not all that have been made – for the beneficial effects of music. Therefore my goal is to accurately describe the research and its interpretations, regarding different levels of support for different claims.
a personal perspective: I'm an enthusiastic educator who wants to help people enjoy making music and gain benefits. How? By using a keyboard that's colorized with red-blue-green, to help learners improvise harmonious melodies and understand music theory. {more info: EducationForProblemSolving.net/asa [it's this page] }
[[ also: A web-page about Improvising Music explains the benefits of using my colorized keyboard. { it's huge – is a website within a webpage – so begin by reading only its Introduction, ending at my bio. }
Here is my original abstract, submitted January 31,
The Many Benefits of Music
Music is fascinating & fun, can be mellow & dramatic, familiar & mysterious, relaxing & exciting. It's one of the best things in life. We enjoy music, and get benefits (mental, emotional, physical) when we hear music and make music. Musical experiences can be especially beneficial in helping the young develop more of their full potential for what they could become, and helping the old maintain more of what they have become, and even add to it.
Scientists who study musical activities are learning from a wide variety of observations, including... brain scans that show stimulations of neural activity in the audio, visual, and motor cortexes; evidence that music promotes neuroplasticity at all ages, not just for the young; research showing correlations, and probable causations, between playing music and mastering language; finding that actively making music, as in creative improvising, produces different effects than passive listening; and more. When the research is carefully evaluated, it supports many claims – although not all that have been made – for the beneficial effects of music.
a personal perspective: I'm an enthusiastic educator who wants to help people enjoy their process of making music, along with the benefits. One way to do this is by using a keyboard system I've invented, with colored labels (red, blue, green) that show the notes of major chords (C,F,G) and minor chords (Am,Dm,Em) so learners can use the chord-notes to improvise harmonious melodies and understand music theory. {more info: EducationForProblemSolving.net/asa [it's this page] }