【推荐2】From strumming a guitar next to a campfire to entertaining guests with a piano piece at a formal dinner, being able to play a musical instrument is unquestionably rewarding. Studies comparing the mental abilities of musicians and non-musicians often show that musical training is related to small, but significant, cognitive (认知的) benefits even when other factors, such as social and economic status, are accounted for. Indeed, there is evidence that just two years of such training enhances cognition.

However, it has remained unclear whether these enhanced cognitive skills are just temporary.

It is difficult to determine if cognitive changes associated with learning how to play an instrument remain throughout a person’s lifetime. On a single day in 1947, the Scottish movement tested the intelligence of almost every 11-year-old child who attended school in the country. Researchers at Edinburgh University’s Reid School of Music realized it was not too late to ask the original participants about their musical experiences.

The researchers developed a questionnaire that collected information about lifetime musical experience. This was completed by the surviving members who returned to the study for further testing in 2018. The participants were asked how many instruments they played and what their training was like. They were also asked to record how many years of regular practice they had and what performance level they had reached. A total of 366 members provided usable information and 117 revealed that they had some degree of experience with musical instruments.

Overall, the researchers found that a significant positive relationship existed between playing an instrument and change in cognitive ability over time. More specifically, the more years and more hours of practice with an instrument that a person had, the more likely they were to show a positive cognitive change over the course of their life. Precisely why learning to play a musical instrument has these effects remains unclear. The researchers theorize that driving people to regularly use a mix of focused attention, co-ordination, auditory-motor skills and memory results in advantageous cognitive changes.

【推荐3】Last year, there were 38 student members and a full-time teacher in the school band. But over the summer, the director took another job and the school board had no applicants for the vacant position.

“It was such a downer,” remembers Jadyn Lane. “But we were given a choice — we could sign up for other electives (选修课), or find a way to make the band work.” Most students signed up for other electives, but 10 students decided to stay.

“It wasn’t an option to quit,” says Hailey Fitzgerald. “I’ve been in the band for seven years. I love it! It’s too important for too many reasons.” The students elected Hailey as director, a position she accepted on the condition they would all work together and share responsibilities. They recruited Casey Griffith and Jennifer Nail-Cook to be their official faculty advisors. Casey did the paperwork, and Jennifer helped with the music.

They directed themselves. Front and center on the band room whiteboard are a set of rules which they created themselves. In addition, they made a calendar (日历) of their upcoming events, like football games. It included a daily countdown to each event so they’d be prepared.

Perhaps most importantly, they decided which instruments were necessary to make a band of this size work. Most of them were drummers. How could they play those instruments with the people they had? “Several members switched instruments and some even learnt brand new ones,” Hailey says.

The time came last month for their first public performance. It was a home football game against Richwood. They had no idea what to expect. Would it work? Would the crowd cheer them on? Would they cheer up the football team? To their surprise, a group of students made posters for the band and hung them at the entrance to the football field. “We thought some people didn’t even know we still had a band,” says Jadyn. But their classmates had been paying attention and wanted to make their first game special. And their school won.