Mindfully Musical

MINDFULLY MUSICAL: HOW MUSIC LESSONS CAN HELP CURE OUR MODERN-DAY ANXIETIES, DISTRACTIONS, AND OTHER FIRST-WORLD MALADIES.

In today’s age of social media and cell phone addiction, when community is shaped by your Facebook feed, and a time when kids and adults alike are experiencing an inability to be alone brought about by technology, how could you expect someone to tolerate sitting down at an instrument every day? To tolerate spending time alone every day? To feel proud having devoted an entire hour to a passage of music when there are texts to answer, instagrams to post, and your teachers and bosses expect to be able to reach you at all times?

So many chronic mental health issues in today’s society can be addressed in music lessons. We all know that music study improves self-esteem, teaches overcoming obstacles and setting goals, and brings respect and a loosening of ego into daily life. Here is how you can focus that power to make a more lasting impact.

To have your students participate in the research, please have them fill out the following survey. Survey: The Perks of Studying Music.

To participate in an online and ongoing happiness survey yourself, go to https://www.trackyourhappiness.org/

SUGGESTED READING

Barron, Carrie & Alton. The Creativity Cure. Scribner:NY, 2012.
Burkeman, Oliver. The Antidote. Faber & Faber: NY, 2012.
Cognitive Neuroscience of Music, The. Peretz, I & Zatorre, R (ed), Oxford U Press, Y, 2003.
Coyle, Daniel. The Talent Code. Bantam Books: New York, 2009.
Csikszentmihalyi, Mihaly. Flow. HarperCollins: New York, 1990.
Davis, et al. An Introduction to Music Therapy. McGraw Hill, 1999.
Davis, Tchiki. Outsmart Your Smartphone. New Harbinger Publications, 2019.
Duke, Robert. Intelligent Music Teaching. Learning and Behavior Resources: TX, 2005.
Dweck, Carol S, PhD. Mindset: The New Psychology of Success. Ballantine Books: NY 2006.
Goleman, Daniel. Focus. Harper Collins, NY, 2013.
Gunatillake, Rohan. Modern Mindfulness. St. Martin's Griffin: New York, 2017.
How to Memorize Music. James Francis Cooke. Theodore Presser Co.: Philadelphia, 1948.
Levitin, Daniel. The Organized Mind. Dutton: NY, 2014.
Levitin, Daniel. This is your brain on music. Dutton: NY, 2006.
Miles, Elizabeth. Tune Your Brain: Using Music to Manage Your Mind, Body and Mind. Berkley Books: NY, 1997.
Oxford Handbook of Music Psychology, The. Hallam, Cross & Thaut, eds. Oxford U. Press: Oxford, 2009.
Suzuki, S. Ability Development from Age Zero. Alfred Publishing, New York: 1981.
Suzuki, S. Nurtured By Love. Alfred Pub., USA, 1983.
The Child as Musician; A Handbook of Musical Development. Gary McPherson. Oxford U. Press, NY, 2003.


ARTICLES, WEBSITES, AND LINKS:


Benefits of Music Education https://www.slps.org/site/default.aspx?DomainID=2046
Benefits of Playing the Piano: https://ogdenpianogallery.com/the-benefits-of-learning-to-play-the-piano/
Could Playing Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker improve kids’ brains? https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/12/141223132546.htm
Creativity, happiness, and your own two hands https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-creativity-cure/201205/creativity-happiness-and-your-own-two-hands
Decline of Play and the Rise of Children’s Mental Disorders https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/freedom-learn/201001/the-decline-play-and-rise-in-childrens-mental-disorders
"Develop Grit" Esther Fellows. American Music Teacher. Feb/Mar 2019.
Handiwork: How busy hands can alter our brain chemistry https://www.cbsnews.com/news/handiwork-how-busy-hands-can-alter-our-brain-chemistry/
https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2019/03/14/703170892/a-rise-in-depression-among-teens-and-young-adults-could-be-linked-to-social-medi?utm_source=facebook.com&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=npr&utm_term=nprnews&utm_content=20190314
Happiness Games: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/click-here-happiness/201711/ten-plus-happiness-games-and-activities
Happiness Skills Workbook: https://www.berkeleywellbeing.com/store/p13/Happiness-Skills-eWorkbook.html
How Music Could Improve Language Skills https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/12/141223132546.htm
How negative is your mental chatter? https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/sapient-nature/201310/how-negative-is-your-mental-chatter
Music Lessons Improve Children’s Cognitive Skills and Academic Performance https://neurosciencenews.com/music-cognition-academics-8689/
Smartphones causing kids to experience altered childhood https://www.healthline.com/health-news/smart-phones-causing-kids-to-experience-altered-childhoods#2
Teaching Lessons for Children with Special Needs: https://nafme.org/teaching-lessons-children-special-needs/
Working with your hands—the secret to happiness? https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2010/may/08/working-hands-happiness-burkeman