Many times in our Village classes (for infants 0 - 18 months), during our exercise time, I will often tell the parents that by providing the cross-lateral movements between opposing hand and foot, they are stimulating the corpus callosum which contains the nerve pathways between the two hemispheres in the brain. This area is also linked to future academic success, such as learning to read, being able to write, and eye-hand coordination. Recently published findings now indicate that the consistent, faithful practice of a musical instrument also provides further lifelong benefits.

boy playing piano

In ScienceNOW Daily News, an article entitled “Music Builds Bridges in the Brain“ by Greg Miller was published this past Wednesday, and gives even more weight to those parental reminders “Have you practiced your music today?” It documents the release of a study by neuroscientists at Harvard Medical College and Boston College who studied 31 children from the age of 6 to 9 who had all been involved in musical instruction at some time during the course of the study or were continuing in their ongoing musical studies.

Detailed magnetic resonance images (MRI’s) were taken of the children at ages 6 and 9. Of the original thirty-one, six children were faithful to practice each week, averaging at least 2.5 hours weekly in the time between scans. (Side note here: this is the same amount of time I require of all of my beginners - one half hour for five days each week.)

In these children, “a region of the corpus callosum that connects movement-planning regions on the two sides of the brain grew about 25% relative to the overall size of the brain.” Those children who practiced less than this or dropped their instrument entirely showed no growth. Consistent, faithful practice doesn’t just improve your playing; it also strengthens and builds your brain!

All of these children involved in the study did study an instrument which involved the use of two hands, such as the piano or violin.


60 Minutes: El Sistema - Music makes a difference in Venezuelan slums - Wednesday, April 16, 2008



Wow... This video is amazing. It's about 13 minutes long, and tells the story of a revolutionary program to teach classical music to poor children beginning at a very young age in Venezuela, and the social revolution it has created over the past 30 years. Here's a link to a news story on the BBC about the Youth Orchestra and its' fame and the far-reaching effects of this kind of program.


All-State Information Update - Monday, April 14, 2008

This notice was also posted to our Announcements Email List. Please subscribe, if you'd like to get these updates in your inbox.

All-State Festival update:
Congratulations to all the students who qualified for the All-State Festival competition this year! The State chairman will be posting assigned performing times on May 8th. We will contact the students who registered for the State festival with their times as soon as they are posted for us. The festival is on Saturday, May 17th, 2008, and will be held at the Texas State University Music Building, in San Marcos, Texas. You can find driving directions to the university at Google Maps using this link: Driving Directions to Texas State University. There are many hotels nearby for those wishing to spend the night. Here are a few: Hotels near TSU San Marcos boasts many attractions, including the Prime Outlet Mall on Hwy 35, the Aquarena, river tubing, and many other exciting things to do. You can visit the City of San Marcos visitor's website for more information about things to do in San Marcos: http://www.ci.san-marcos.tx.us/tourism/

We hope you have a great trip, and wish all the students the best of luck at
the festival.

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Subscribe to our email announcement list! - Tuesday, April 8, 2008

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Oopsy Daisy! -

Last week, several students were missing from our usually rambunctious Wednesday morning Kindermusik Imagine That! Class, and the 3 girls who were in class that day had a blast doing all the circle dances they knew... Ring around the rosy, Looby-Loo and of course, Oopsy Daisy!



For information about our Kindermusik classes, please call 713-306-4023.