Ebook: A Well-Tempered Mind: Using Music to Help Children Listen and Learn

Five musicians walk into a first-grade classroom, instruments in tow. Without a word, they begin playing, to the delight of the children who sit and watch.
The children respond with enthusiasm. During successive visits, they interact with the woodwind quintet. The musicians not only help them learn about music but also provide a bridge to help them learn about other subjects.
More than two years after that first visit, these same children do strikingly better on state tests than the third-grade class that preceded them. The improvement continues for future classes that have experienced the musical sessions. It is clear the quintet’s intervention has had a positive impact.

This charming story straight from the classroom gives us a taste of things to come in one of the newest areas of brain research: the effect of music on the brain. Described by Peter Perret, architect of the program and 26-year director of the Winston-Salem Symphony, the children’s experience gives life to a host of tantalizing questions:

* Does music physically change the brain?

* Is music a primary language of the brain?

* Does music affect some cognitive abilities needed for reading and math?

* Can music help youngsters with short attention spans, dyslexia, and other learning difficulties?

* How did the musicians in the classroom contribute to the children’s academic improvement?

Researchers will answer these questions in the years ahead. In the meantime, this book describes the program in detail and offers valuable advice to parents, educators, and teaching artists for creating music program approaches to suit their means and situations.

PETER PERRET, Music Director and Conductor of the Winston-Salem Symphony from 1978 until 2004, currently teaches a graduate-level neuroscience and music course at Wake Forest University. Mr. Perret is a frequent guest lecturer at scientific and education conferences dealing with music and the brain.

JANET Fox is a freelance arts and education writer based in Winston-Salem, N.C. She has twice won the North Carolina Association of Educators’ School Bell award for education reporting.