1 . Music is arguably the most life-enriching academic subject.     1    . It can bring lots of important benefits to your child’s education, many of which you may not have considered before.

Increase language capabilities

Music and language have a far-reaching relationship. Musical training stimulates the same part of the brain that deals with understanding language. Children who have some exposure to music al education will, therefore, have a greater understanding of tones and how different phrases are arranged.     2    .

Improve hand-eye coordination (协调)

    3    . It takes considerable hand-eye coordination to learn almost any instrument. Those who master their craft are blessed with a unique skill; it’s something that can be applied to other areas of general life. It can also help elsewhere in education, as writing skills and art require the hands and eyes to work together.

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Music is a great way for your child to meet new people and create lasting friendships. If they decide to take up music as an extracurricular (课外的) activity, they’ll be bonding with like-minded children who share their passion. In a time when children are increasingly interested in communicating online and focusing on digital skills, music is a refreshing return to face-to-face contact.

Bring about a sense of achievement

When your child does achieve a musical goal, they get the incredible satisfaction that comes from working hard to obtain something.     5    . Self-trust is one of the most valuable skills a child can have and music is one of the best ways to allow it to develop in your child.

3 . Many people love to listen to music while driving. Thanks to the world’s musical roads, drivers now don’t need to turn the radio on.     1    

A musical road can create music when a car tires go over grooves (凹槽) on the road. To produce beautiful music, drivers must pass over the grooves at a certain speed. Signs often tell drivers the right speed.

    2    . Since the mid-1990, musical rads have appeared in many different countries.     3    . To warn drivers to the incoming music, all the roads are marked by colored musical notes that are painted on these roads. Drivers can decide whether to go over the grooves or not because they are set on the side of the road.

In Hungary, there is a musical road in honor of one of the country’s most popular musical performers — Laszlo Bodi. Bodi was the lead singer for the band Republic.     4    . Sadly, Bodi passed away in 2013. But people still remember him as there’s a road where drivers can hear 30 seconds of the Republic song “Road 67”.

    5    . In Indonesia, a road plays the first six notes of “Happy Birthday”. The fifth note is a little out of tune, though. This “mistake” keeps drivers awake and aware, and it has reduced the number of traffic accidents. Such is the power of music and musical roads.

4 . Helena Blumen, a cognitive (认知的) scientist, says the complicated mental multi-tasking that dancing requires engages various parts of the brain at the same time, leading to the strengthening of neural (神经系统的) connections across different regions.     1    . “It’s socially, cognitively and physically demanding,” she says.

Anyone who’s ever felt the irresistible urge to dance to a favorite song knows that combining music and movement can lift your mood and melt away stress. But there’s a lot more happening in your brain when you’re trying to follow even the easiest choreography (编舞).     2    . Tasks like getting around the kitchen or walking to the bus stop can become more attainable if regarded as choreography.

To learn how the mechanisms of dancing work in the brain, researchers conducted MRI scans on older adults who engaged in either dance or a traditional exercise program over six months.     3    , the dancers grew more white and gray matter in the parts of the brain responsible for cognitive processes.

The researchers assume that these brain changes contribute to more neuroplasticity, the brain’s ability to form new connections and pathways.     4    . Brain plasticity is similar to the city’s ability to build new roads, repair old ones or even change the direction of traffic based on how often the routes are used and what the city needs.

    5    . A Finnish study of people with severe brain injuries showed that dance-based recovery might improve mobility, cognition and overall well-being. Additionally, research shows that dancing can reduce the risk of brain-related diseases such as dementia (痴呆).

5 . Pullman is a superb writer and Seagull is a brilliant communicator. They had a debate after Seagull posted a question on his social media platform: “When you were trying to create an environment for learning, what were your best pieces of classical music to listen to?” He received hundreds of suggestions — and one negative reply, from Pullman: “That’s not what classical music is for. Treat it with respect.”

That did it! Everyone — professional musicians, students, teachers — weighed into the argument, and the majority supported Seagull and were criticizing Pullman.

It’s easy to see why people are annoyed. We all want classical music to be as accessible as possible, especially to the young. If some of them are using Bach or Schubert as a tool to help them study, what’s the problem? They may also develop an attachment to classical music.

So is Pullman ridiculous and supercilious by objecting to classical music being used as background music? At first sight, his idea seems stuffy and extreme. By suggesting that classical music should be “treated with respect” and not used as background music, Pullman seems to be closing classical music of to millions of people.

It’s worth pointing out, however, that he isn’t the first to express concerns about classical music being devalued by becoming too commonplace in today’s technologically shaped world. In Benjamin Britten’s 1964 speech, the composer expressed exactly the same worries as Pullman. Britten suggested, “The true musical experience demands some preparation, some effort, a journey to a special place, saving up for a ticket, some homework perhaps”. In short, it demands as much effort from listeners as from composers and performers.

I don’t agree with such an extreme viewpoint, but I do think it touches on a reality. You will never fully grasp the beauty of classical music if you half-hear it only in the background. That doesn’t necessarily matter. Music can be enjoyed on many levels. What Pullman and Britten are really saying is that, in a drive for “accessibility”, we shouldn’t deny the emotional and intellectual complexity underpinning (构成) much classical music.

9 . Nick Rose-Stamey is a lot like Jack Black’s character in School of Rock- a guitarist who discovers a passion for making music accessible to children. Working in the nonprofit arts education sector over the last 10 years raised his awareness of the lack of music programs in public schools, and later inspired his nonprofit, Band in a Bus. “The original idea was to take an old school bus and turn it into the best band class on wheels,” he says.

In fact, activities of Band in a Bus don’t actually happen on a bus. It provides instruments, courses, and staffing to students. Kids 18 and under can also participate in enriching summer programs through Band in a Bus, such as Bucket Brigade, five weekly classes where grades K-4 learn rhythm (节奏) and STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts, mathematics) principles through contemporary music. There are also teen bands for grades 7-12 where kids learn to play pop music and develop social and team work skills.

When schools went virtual during the COVID-19 period, Rose-Stamey thought it was a shame that instruments were left sitting on shelves instead of in the hands of kids. So he created and distributed more than 1,000 “Band in a Box” DIY kits. Each kit contains small noise makers like kazoos, drumsticks, and shakers, with the intention of introducing a modernized music class experience that meets kids where they are.

“It is reported that if a kid has 30 minutes of a performing arts or creative elective every singleday, then that’ll help them develop their social, emotional and leadership skills, because there’s a lot of team work when it comes to making music. You have to learn how to work well with others,” Rose-Stamey says.

In the last year, Band in a Bus has worked directly with more than 500 students. “Music is a win-win for everybody,” Rose-Stamey says. “I just hope that someday we can stop making it the first kid out in the dodge ball (躲避球) game.”

10 . There is a lot of interest in finding ways to help people get smarter and more effective at what they do in life. That is one reason why brain training apps continue to be popular despite evidence that suggests they do not increase general intelligence.

But that doesn’t mean that there aren’t any activities that can influence overall cognitive (认 知) ability. Indeed, a new study suggests that learning to play a musical instrument may help, at least in the long-term.

These researchers analyzed data from a study that followed a group of individuals who grew up in Scotland and were born in 1936. They were given several different kinds of tests and surveys over the course of their lives. Of particular interest, these participants did a test of cognitive ability at the age of 11 and again at the age of 70. At the age of 82, surviving members of this group were also asked about their experience learning to play a musical instrument over the course of their lives.

The study didn’t include people who still played their instrument regularly at the age of 82 to avoid affecting the result. To do this analysis properly, the authors also used other data that had been collected in this study to address other factors that might lead to changes in intelligence such as diseases like heart disease, high blood pressure, occupation, sex, and education level. The aim was to filter out the influence of as many other factors as possible.

In addition, the authors treated experience with a musical instrument on a continuum rather than just a Yes/No. The questionnaire (调查问卷) about musical experience asked about the number of instruments played, years of experience, years of practice, and hours per week of practice. This way, the researchers could look at whether more experience with an instrument had a bigger impact on cognitive ability than less experience.

The analysis suggests that there is a small but reliable influence of playing a musical instrument on increases in cognitive ability during the life. But these findings do not explain why playing an instrument might have this effect on ability.