Music to Learn By
Music affects our bodies and our minds. Certain types have been shown to temporarily raise/lower the IQ and decrease/increase the heartbeat! I even have one CD designed to help lower blood pressure through decreasing the heart rate! From increasing endorphin levels to boosting immune function, music’s effects on the body seem almost magical.

Not only can music affect humans, according to author Don Campbell, it can change animal and plant behavior, too. If you are interested in further study of the music phenomenon, including its effects on children with autism, read his book, The Mozart Effect For Children .

Mozart’s compositions, in particular, have been shown to benefit the learner’s brain. Students have been found to score higher on spatial reasoning tests after listening to Mozart.
How fascinating to think that something so enjoyable and easily accessible can increase and facilitate learning!

Learning to Play an Instrument
Some researchers assert that those children who learn to play an instrument at a young age develop mathematical and spatial areas of their brains. These children are said to out perform other children with no musical background.
Other writers insist that merely listening to classical music during childhood increases mathematical and spatial abilities. If you are interested in further study of the music/brain phenomenon, visit www.menc.org. (National Association for Music Education)

How can you use the recent brain/music research to help home school your child?
Have a little drum, xylophone-type toy, recorder, bells, tambourine, etc. in your child’s play area. Allow her to play instruments while singing. The playful exploration will develop a delight in music, and perhaps a determination to take music lessons! Something like this seems so simple, it’s hard to believe it can have such long-lasting effects on a child’s learning.

If classical music is so helpful, should we have it playing in the background day and night? Actually, that much saturation tends to turn off the effect. The brain gets used to the sound and “tunes” it out. Ten to twenty minutes of Mozart will help with spatial reasoning. So if you are working on a puzzle or trying to figure how much carpet you’ll need for the living room, play some Mozart beforehand.

Reportedly, a person’s ability to concentrate and memorize is enhanced by classical music, especially baroque. Georgi Lozanov’s work with learners showed that baroque music could put one into an alert, relaxed state in which learning is greatly facilitated. Supposedly one can grasp weeks worth of learning in just a few hours time thanks to listening to this slower music.

What to Do
• Have baroque music playing in the background while your child is working on memorizing facts.

• Use cross lateral exercises with the music of Mozart when learning something new and complex.

• Rhythm and movement combined can accelerate memorization. Have your child come up with a new verse to a familiar song or an original tune with facts and dates for a unit.

My particular favorite pieces are Palchelbel’s Canon in D to ocean sounds and Albinoni’s Adagios. These relaxing compositions will have you in an optimized learning state.

Pachelbel With Nature's Ocean Sounds

Albinoni's Adagios
 

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