WHY MUSIC IS AS IMPORTANT AS MATH FOR CHILDREN?

It is a very vital question of importance that needs to be thought about. We are today living in a fast-growing world where everything is dynamic. At this pace of development where everyone is occupied in something or the other, music is one thing that provides relaxation and heals the mind. It is an art that not many possess but can be learned with time.

According to researchers, playing music is the only activity that highly benefits the brain. In their study, the researchers gave a lot of people different tasks like reading, solving logical and math problems, etc. They were then hooked up to different machines and in some specific regions of their brain, the movement could easily be detected. These were the logical and analytical parts of the brain. However, when researchers got the participants to listen to the music, multiple areas of their brains were lightened up at once. Not only this, an entirely different result was observed when scientists turned up from listening to music to playing the music. While listening to music affects the multiple areas of the brain, playing music is like the mind’s full body workout. Also playing music engages the visual, auditory and motor cortices of the brain at once.

Some researches show that people who play music have better memory and execution skills. Playing music strengthens that part(corpus callosum), which connects the left hemisphere with the right hemisphere of the brain. They can use this strength in different situations and circumstances.

Nevertheless, apart from all these advantages, learning music is not given the same importance in comparison to other subjects like Math, Science, and Geography etc. We must examine as to why this happens. The most obvious reasons that come to mind; is the pressure from the parents and the teachers. Today’s parents want their children to be an engineer, doctor or a charted accountant but do not want them to be a guitarist, drummer, or a pianist. It is basically the thinking pattern of many of the parents that lead to this. However, after becoming aware of the various multifaceted benefits of music, some parents are now supporting their children in their passion as well.

In the recent times, many schools including CBSE and ICSE boards where providing music education was made compulsory, the execution was not done properly, as a result of this students could not develop the required interest in music. Schools still consider music as a non-scholastic, extracurricular activity and not o par with scholastic subjects. Students at current, find it difficult to handle music with academics.

However, we must remember that music is something that is not comparable. But still, we find some kind of similarity of music with other subjects like math. If we take the example of the famous music composer Beethoven, we get to know about the patterns that he formed in his mind and then composed music by following those patterns. According to many scientists, it can therefore rightfully be said that Music is very much related to Math. With such an enormous amount of knowledge and learning that music possesses, it must be taught as a separate academic subject in schools and colleges. Treating it as a vocational subject would demean its prestige.

In many schools, varied innovative initiatives are undertaken to develop the interest of students in music. For example, in many schools both Carnatic and Hindustani music is taught, as a result of which the north Indians can get a glimpse of Carnatic music and the south Indians can learn about the Hindustani music. Schools are now shifting to a more activity based music learning. Students are currently tutored, as to how the music functions and a manner through which they could appreciate music.

All in all, it is important that the schools and parents must invest in music education at an early stage so that the students can take their benefits throughout his life.