Can Listening to Classical Music Make Babies Smarter? (Weekly Blog #3)

Letting a baby listen to classical music can relax and turn him or her into a classical music fan later in life, but it won't make the baby smarter. Researchers at Appalachian State University believe that they have found the Mozart effect (a temporary increase in intelligence experienced after listening to a piano sonata written by the famed composer).

The Mozart effect was first reported in 1993 by scientists at the University of California at Irvine, and replicated by the same group in 1995. The study found that college students who listened to a Mozart sonata for a few minutes before taking a test that measured spatial relationship skills did better than students who took the test after listening to another musician or no music at all.

The effect in the students was temporary, only lasting about 15 minutes and has always been controversial. But the media and politicians jumped on the Mozart effect, claiming that listening to the music offered numerous benefits and could ease physical and mental health problems.

The idea that babies would be smarter if they listened to classical music came from this ordeal. One year, the governor of Georgia authorized that a classic music CD, which contained the sonata and other pieces, be given to all new babies when they left the hospital.

In spite of this hype, there was not enough evidence that listening to classical music made people smarter. The lead researcher in the original U.C. Irvine study himself said in a Forbes article that the idea that classical music could heal health problems and make babies smarter did not have enough evidence, though he believes that listening to a Mozart sonata can prime the brain to tackle mathematical tasks.

When the researchers at Appalachian State University tried to duplicate the original "Mozart effect", they found out that the presence of classical music did not affect student’s performance on exams.

Source: http://www.babycenter.com/0_the-mozart-effect-classical-music-and-your-babys-brain_9308.bc

Music Score Explanation

I made unique symbols for all the sounds that I heard in the listening exercise, and I incorporated the symbols into a music score. I made a line graph music score; the horizontal line indicated the minute that I heard the sound in and the vertical line indicated how loud the sound was. If the sound continued for a long period of time, I drew both the symbol and smaller versions of the symbol near it.

I randomly selected symbols for some of the sounds that I heard. Some of the shapes just popped into my head. I made some of the symbols by building upon symbols that I already made for similar sounds. For example, for cars on the street I picked the letter F with 3 lines as a symbol, but for the trucks I heard on the street I picked an F with four lines; and for the club car I chose an F with 2 lines (Normal F). For whistling, I picked 3 o's for the symbol, but one o was above the other two. I also picked 3 o's for "key's jingling" but with one o below because the same guy that was whistling was also jingling the keys. For spitting, I picked an arrow pointing down for the symbol because the person spit on the ground. I picked two conjoined o's for Security Guard's foot steps and two separated o's for Security Guards conversing. I also made the shape of a butt to indicate the farting noise that I heard.

“Where Is The Love” Evaluation and how it relates to Social Justice (Weekly Blog #2)

The theme of the song Where is the Love? by The Black Eyed Peas is Peace on Earth. This song tells the listener that it is pointless to fight others because we are all children of God. This song relates to Social Justice because the song list social justice related issues such as war, racism, poverty, and the government lying to its citizens. The song states “If love and peace is so strong Why are there pieces of love that don't belong, Nations droppin' bombs, Chemical gasses fillin' lungs of little ones, With ongoin' sufferin' as the youth die young, So ask yourself is the lovin' really gone”. These lines express the theme of the song because it really questions the unpeacefullness of the world we are living in today. These lines address the problem that innocent children are dying from war. The Black Eyed Peas then go on to say “Wrong information always shown by the media Negative images is the main criteria Infecting the young minds faster than bacteria Kids wanna act like what they see in the cinema Yo', whatever happened to the values of humanity Whatever happened to the fairness in equality”. These lines talk about the media poisoning children’s mind with the negative material shown on the T.V. and the internet. These lines also state that the media is influencing children to do bad things, and this will ultimately have a negative effect on the future because children are the future. For example, if a child is watching a Lil Wayne music video and in the video Lil Wayne is smoking, the child will be influenced to smoke because he or she yearns to be just like Lil Wayne. I found it interesting that the Black Eyed Peas addressed these topics because there songs are usually about partying and sex. I’m glad that they switched the subject to a more important manner. I think it’s great that they’re trying to make the world a more peaceful place.

Music Symbols For Listening Exercise

Listening Exercise

Noises Heard
Cars on the street, L, Adjectives: Loud, Aggressive, Mechanical

P.E. Teacher, L, Adjectives: Mad, Dissatisfied, Pushy

Birds, L, Adjectives: Loud, Crazy, Playful

Someone walking down the steps, L, Adjectives: Steady, Balanced

Whistling, L, Adjectives: Joyful, Relieving                                  

Club Car, L, Adjectives: Fast, Careful, Loud

Door, L, Adjectives: Swishing, Forceful

Security Guard Footstep, L, Adjectives: Careful, Light

Security Guard Talking, L, Adjectives: Happy, Funny

Janitor Conversing, L, Adjectives: Friendly, Happy

Pen Tapping, L, Adjectives: Nervousness, Jittery

Lady Talking, L, Adjectives: Talkative, Happy

Spitting, D, Adjectives: Nasty, Disturbing, Moist

Cart Being Moved, L, Adjectives: Loud, Noisy

Large Truck, D, Adjectives: Pollution, Huge, Loud

Baby Humming Bird, D, Adjectives: Worried, Odd, Loud

Fart, L, Adjectives: Nasty, Natural, Funny

Keys Jingling, L, Adjectives: Noisy, Ringing

Figurative Language in Rap Music (Weekly Blog #1)

Drake

Hip-hop music is full of figurative language. Rap artist nowadays are using similes, metaphors, personification, hyperboles, metonymy, and even alliteration in their songs. The rapper Drake is a specific rap artist that uses figurative devices. In the song Successful, Drake says “Alot of ya'll are still sounding like last year The game needs change and I'm the cashier, Nickels for my thoughts, dimes in my bed”. In this line, Drake is calling himself the cashier because he’s bringing change to the “Rap Game” just as a cashier would give change (as in coins) to a customer. He is comparing the “Rap Game” needing change, to a customer needing change from a cashier. He then expands on the idiomatic expression “A penny for your thoughts if you put your two cents in”. Instead of getting a Penny for his thoughts, Drake claims to be getting nickels. Plus, Drake is literally getting paid for his thoughts because he’s a rapper and they’re paid to express their thoughts in songs. He then goes on to compare a dime to an attractive female, relating back to the original concept of him being a cashier. In Drake’s song, Miss Me, he employs a paradox, a metaphor, and a simile in one line. He says “I will have a model wife; your girl is as hot as ice”. This line leaves one questioning: How can someone be as hot as ice? Well the answer becomes clear upon further inspection. Drake uses the word ‘hot’ as a measurement of beauty, and if someone is as hot as ice (which is cold), that signifies that the person is not attractive. Drake also uses metonymy when he says “Green” to signify money and “Bling” to signify jewelry. Seeing as though rap music is usually ill-mannered and filled with nonsense, it intrigued me to find figurative devices in Drake’s rap songs.

The Difference Between Hearing & Listening

The difference between hearing and listening is that hearing is the ability of the ear to sense sounds, as opposed to listening that is a more conscious effort to interpret the sounds, requiring concentration of the mind. This ties in to Evelyn Glennie and Beethoven in the sense that they are/were great musicians that lacked the ability to hear. They are/were able to be great musicians because of their great listening skills. They are/were able to interpret the sounds through vibrations and other methods, and that is why they are/were great musicians.

Musicians And Deafness

On sciencedaily.com, I read that Deaf people sense vibration in the part of the brain that other people use for hearing. And this helps explain how deaf musicians can sense music, and how deaf people can enjoy concerts and other musical events. This information suggest that the experience deaf people have when feeling music is similar to the experience other people have when hearing music. I also read that the brain is adaptable. When someone is deaf, the brain processes vibrations in the part of the brain that would otherwise be used to process sound. A study was held at the National Technical Institute of the Deaf at the Rochester Institute of Technology. They used functional magnetic resonance imaging to compare brain activity between 10 volunteers from the college (that are deaf) and 11 volunteers with normal hearing. The research showed that both groups showed brain activity in the part of the brain that normally processed vibrations. But in addition, the deaf students showed brain activity in a golf ball-sized area, the auditory cortex, which usually is only active during audio stimulation. The people with normal hearing did not show this brain activity. This research shows me that deaf people can enjoy music just as much as those who can hear do. When I first heard that Beethoven, arguably the world’s best musical composer, was deaf I thought it was impossible. I thought to myself “How can people who cannot hear, enjoy and conduct music without being able to actually hear it”. But now I know that their brains adapt so that they can enjoy music. I conducted a test. I covered my ears and blasted a song really loud on my speakers. By feeling the vibrations and bass, I was able to identify the song. I was able to get a little taste of how deaf people enjoyed music.