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Kevin Lewis
Research Paper (Senior Project)
10/20/13

Music and its Effects on Social, Behavioral, and Communicative Development

Everyone has their favorite past times, weather it is playing games, watching
movies or, watching or playing a sport. No matter what the past time, each one has a
different effect on mood, actions, and/or development. Music is one of the most
common past times and has shown considerable promise in maximizing benefits
that can be received from exposure. To help to explain how music affects us, the
factors of human development can be broken down into three spheres. Music has
proven to help support these main spheres of human development, namely, social,
behavioral, and communicative development. Another area of development that will
be briefly explained will be learning development.
To understand how music helps to develop the brain, first, the parts of the
brain that are used to interpret and decode different notes, pitches, and frequencies.
Specifically, the right-brain auditory cortex specializes in determining hierarchies
of harmonic relations and rich overtones whereas the left auditory hemisphere
deciphers relationships between successions of sounds. (Sancar). This explains that
the entire brain is used to interpret music and its different parts. This makes sense
when we are looking at human development. If we are using our entire brain to
decode music and it is making us listen and decode things, even if it is subconscious,
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then we will show a notable correlation to our own development. Playing an
instrument can lead to a sense of achievement; an increase in self esteem; increased
confidence; persistence in overcoming frustrations when learning is difficult; self-
discipline; and provide a means of self-expression (Hallam 2). All of these aspects
are important when looking at overall development. The cerebral cortex self-
organises as we engage with different musical activities, skills in these areas may
even transfer to other activities if the processes involved are similar. Some skills
transfer automatically without our conscious awareness, others require reflection
on how they might be utilized in a new situation. (Hallam 1).
Music is not only good for entertainment but musical studies can bleed over
into other activities. For example, running is similar to singing in the sense that you
have to have steady and rhythmic breathing to maintain control of the result that
you want. You can use your knowledge of tone and pitch to become a more
proficient public speaker by using inflections that can be found not only in singing,
but in instrumental music as well, specifically strings. Over time and with extended
exposure to music, some of these skills will transfer to other activities
subconsciously. Other skills may require the individual to reflect and think about
what activities each particular skill could be used in. This is how the brain develops
through music. It takes things that are learned in music and reapplies that skill to
other aspects of life that can directly benefit from that knowledge. This is essentially
human development. In regards to social development, musical involvement can
have a profound impact on even the most ambivalent of students. They will see a
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noticeable change in their confidence level as well as self-esteem. In regards to the
behavioral sphere of development, self-discipline is a major benefit. Students who
have more self-discipline tend to work harder in school and other extracurricular
activities and exhibit more successful results in the activities they are involved in.
Finally, within the communicative sphere of development, language skills are closely
linked to musical immersion. In fact, through MRI scans, it has been recognized that
one of the areas of the brain used to decipher language may also 'contain' the ability
to conceive absolute pitch. (Sancar) This study has shown us that music study and
exposure can be linked directly with language development as well. Language is the
vessel for communication and therefore if we use music as a catalyst to improve
language then the logical result would be the improvement of our communication
skills.
Music can be linked to all of these three spheres of development with a
beneficial result to each sphere. Though the knowledge of the brain is still limited as
the brain is extremely complex and despite years of study, we can still make logical
determinations about musics effects on the people who are exposed to a specialized
or variety of musical backgrounds. The effects can be deduced from the difference in
learning curves, intelligence, as well as personal development. Learning to play an
instrument enhances the ability to remember words through enlargement of the left
cranial temporal regions. Musically trained participants remembered 17% more
verbal information than those without musical training. (Hallam 1). Playing an
instrument can greatly contribute to the amount of information a student can retain.
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Verbal information specifically is mentioned by Hallam and can be examined by
looking at what parts of the brain control what areas of development. Each sphere
of development is important, but the effects of one sphere of human development
are very obvious and that is social development.
Musical studies and inclusion have shown to have a positive impact on social
development. there appears to be several positive side effects. Those include an
increased initiation of social contact, lowered rates of absenteeism, and an emerging
propensity for self-directed and group-directed learning, rather than teacher-
directed learning. (Teachout21). From this information, it can be deduced that the
social effects would be beneficial to those who are musically oriented and exposed
to music and musical studies. The increased initiation of social contact can be seen
in young musicians. Students are more likely to talk to other students who are, like
them, musically engaged and this leads to an increase in social interaction. An
increase in social interaction also leads to the increase of learning as well as an
increased in the ideas exchanged, which is crucial to developing intelligence. The
reduction in absenteeism rates stems from the fact that if students are musically
involved, they have something that engages them mentally and socially. The student
is with like-minded individuals, which prevents them from wanting to distance
themselves from others. In fact it does the exact opposite. Musical engagement
expands the students drive to increase their social interaction with others. Music
also encourages a students inclination or propensity to participate in self-directed
or group-directed learning rather than a teacher lecturing or teaching them what
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they need to know (Teachout21). Self and group-directed learning is beneficial
because the student would be more inclined to participate in group-oriented
activities further building that students social foundation. While working in the
group the student can ask questions without feeling alienated or ambivalent
because the student is with like-minded individuals who are in the same social
range as them. While social development can be apparent within individuals that
are exposed to music, there are other ways that music can benefit students who are
developing. Another sphere of development that can be expanded through music is
behavioral development.
Music can play an integral part of whether a student drops out of school or
stays in school as a full time student until graduation. In a study published by
Center for Music Research (1990), at-risk students were found to remain in school
solely because of their commitment to music programs (Teachout23). This study
showed that even though at-risk students are at risk, hence the name, we should not
overlook them or discourage them from joining music programs. After all the music
program is the only thing keeping some of these students in school. To extend the
behavioral sphere of development further, musics effects on students who are not
at risk. Knowledge of how music influences mood may help induce a positive
environment or avoid situations fostering negativity. (Ganser, Huda 4). Therefore if
music were played that was enjoyable to the students, then a positive environment
could be fostered. This in turn would promote positive behavior because the
environment would be a catalyst for the behavior.
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There are many forms of communication whether it be body language, tone
of voice, inflections in the words you are saying, and so on. But perhaps the most
common form of communication is the use of language. To understand how music
affects language, we must understand the different facets of language itself. In
language, a collection of sounds forms together to make larger sounds into words.
These words have different parts stressed for different meanings. These different
stresses of sounds causes us to perceive messages differently, just as if an
arrangement of music were written different it would sound distinctive. In language
we speak not only to be heard, but also to be understood. So we learn the different
sounds and how to stress these sounds in our own language. We learn music in
much the same way. In fact Dr. Hallam states that there is strong evidence to
support that the same part of the brain is used to learn and decode languages as the
part that is used to learn and interpret music.
Given this evidence it would be logical to assume that there would be a high
correlation between music studies and the ability to learn new languages or expand
an already developed vocabulary. (Brandt, Gebrian, Slevc) Depending on how one
listens, the same stimuli can be perceived as language or music. When one
repeatedly listens to the same looped recording of a speech, it can begin to sound
like singing. This means that language follows a set of beats and rhythms that are
just like music in the sense that a melody can be discerned from the sounds made.
(Brandt, Gebrian, Slevc) As adults, we process canonical speech and music
differently: for example, speech and music show opposite patterns of hemispheric
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dominance, with speech processing relying more on the left hemisphere and music
relying more on the right. Nevertheless, the neural regions underlying speech and
music perception show significant overlap even in adults, with both types of stimuli
recruiting a bilateral frontal-temporal network. This simply states that though it
seems that we process music and speech in opposite parts of the brain, we still have
overlap where both sides are necessary to combine both into a form of
communication. Music and language are both very important in communicating they
both have specific features that allow them to be more effective at some tasks than
others. Music is very effective when looking at conveying emotion effectively. Music
activates stimuli in the brain that allow us to make reaching a state of euphoria
more attainable. The ability of music to invoke emotions in the listener is based on
the type of music being played. It also depends on the ability of the music to reach
that individual listener on a personal level. Now that we see how music has effected
communication with others, we can now look at how music affects learning within
ourselves.
Music is crucial to learning and has a profound effect on a student when
learning many of the skills necessary in life. Music teaches discipline and how to
keep an open mind. These skills are especially useful tools when it comes to success
in a students career, social life, and professional interaction. The use of music while
learning music affects learning by improving the retention rate of the material
learned. In fact, according to the Center for New Discoveries in Learning, the
potential for learning can be increased by at least five times the usual rate. They also
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learned that the Greeks sang their dramas because they understood how music
could help them remember their lines more easily. This proves that music can play
an instrumental role in trying to retain information as well as learn new information
over a period of time. It helps to support the theory that our brains take in more
information when we are exposed to music during the retention period. The
retention of information through music can also be seen by a method of learning a
foreign language. A Bulgarian psychologist, Dr. Lozanov, constructed a method to
teach foreign languages in less time than it would take to learn it through normal
methods. Dr. Lozanovs method included utilizing specific music pieces from the
baroque period. This is because those pieces have a 60 beat per minute pattern. His
students had a information retention rate of almost 100 percent even after four
years without instruction. (ODonnel). Overall the utilization of music to help the
retention of information has been shown to be beneficial in the learning process.
Even though there are many types of music out there, there is a great deal of
evidence to support the statement that music should be implemented into the
classroom learning regiment.
Though there is considerable evidence to eliminate any ambivalence to want
to learn or implement music as part of ones life, there are still those who say that
music could potentially produce negative effects in the listener. It may sound
stereotypical to say that heavy metal and rock music is what makes people go crazy
and promotes bad behavior. This claim is however highly generalized and
unqualified. Many say that there is evidence to support the fact that music is
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becoming increasingly influential and many say that it is not in a good way.
According to the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), forty-two percent of the
songs on CDs contained very explicit sexual content. The content could range
anywhere from sexual content to violence, substance abuse, suicide, homicide, and
homophobia. Many argue that music is only used as entertainment and that
adolescents do not pay much attention to the lyrics. The AAP conducted another
study that found that about seventeen percent of male listeners and about twenty-
five percent of female listeners stated that they liked their favorite music and songs
because the lyrics expressed their emotions in ways they felt that they couldnt.
Though low numbers, this study still shows that music can have a negative impact
on the listener. Another study showed that heavy metal music could be linked to
more problems with school authorities and increased depression and delinquency
(Noland). Though this statement may be true for some heavy metal listeners, it
would be to general and to all encompassing to propose that it is true for all
listeners of that genre. The same goes for people that listen to classical and
symphonic music. This genre could be associated with high intelligence,
sophistication, and mild mannerisms. However the same principles apply to
classical music as apply to heavy metal. Someone who listens to classical music
could be the exact opposite of its stereotypical mannerisms. They could be very
angry people that may not have a high intelligence. Music does not define someone
as having the personality traits of stereotypical listener of that genre. This being
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said there may be negative effects on the listeners but overwhelming evidence
suggests that it does have more positive effects on the listener in most cases.
It has been clearly shown that music is not just a favorite pastime, but also a
beneficial one. It develops parts of the brain that help different parts and stages of
development. Communication is positively affected by music by improving the
ability of someone to communicate effectively. Behavioral development is also
influenced by music in a positive way. Those who listen to music find connections
within the music that help them to better relate to their world. Music finally
influences social development positively by giving people a means of connecting
their similar thoughts, ideas, and feelings through music. Music is a part of the world
that will never go away and this is the reason we need to better understand how
music affects people.










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Works Cited
"Music and the Brain: Processing and Responding (A General ...". N.p., n.d.
Web. 5 Dec. 2013
<http://serendip.brynmawr.edu/bb/neuro/neuro99/web1/Sancar.html>.

"The power of music: its impact on the intellectual, social ..." N.p., n.d. Web. 5
Dec. 2013
<http://www.laphil.com/sites/default/files/media/pdfs/shared/education/yola/s
usan-hallam-music-development_research.pdf>.

"Professor Susan Hallam, Dean of the Faculty of Policy N.p., n.d. Web. 5 Dec.
2013 <http://www.kamalasound.com/pdf/the-power-of-music.pdf>.

"Impact of Music, Music Lyrics, and Music Videos on Children and
Youth."Impact of Music, Music Lyrics, and Music Videos on Children and Youth. Council
on Communications and Media, 2009. Web. 07 Feb. 2014.