| Examples of how music can develop brain function |
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Example 1 Many children's right brain is already well-developed, which enables them to recognize Mum, Dad, dog, cat etc. as such. For this reason, we have to use their right brain first in order to teach them, so that they can learn with ease. And one of the most outstanding characteristics of the right brain is its ability to "take pictures" and to "record" any kind of data - if, and only if, their interest is being triggered, for example with funny and colourful stories full of fantasy and told in children's language - only then will the right brain be willing to "join in". For this reason, IBA teaches:
Those are the two simplest examples, subsequently we proceed to increasingly complex matters - but since the children really learn to use their left brain in an effective manner, they will not find this difficult. After all, it is not more difficult to learn the sequence of number 811, 812, 813 than to learn the sequence 1, 2, 3 or 11, 12, 13, for example. Since many children memorize "C D E" or "do re mi" using their right brain, they have to learn every single note separately - the problem lies in the fact that the piano keyboard consists of 88 keys! For this reason, many children find it very difficult to read blocks of notes, especially if the notation uses a lot of ledger lines, even though they may have been learning the piano for three or even five years! This proves that their left brain is not functioning yet. However, the biggest misfortune lies in the fact that their brain is not balanced, as I explained above - they actually become "stupid" by learning music! Example 2 There are many very young children, who are not able to distinguish the letters A and C from each other; also, at this age, children aren't able to draw a sun and then to colour that circle with yellow crayon without drawing beyond that circle. How often do we forget, how "stupid" and how clumsy we were ourselves at this age (I'm referring to the fact that our brain wasn't functioning yet). We were all facing these difficulties, but we're not conscious of this memory anymore. Distinguishing the letter A from the letter C is actually already the third step in the progress of learning! First, a child has to be able to distinguish a dot from a line, for example by knocking on a door and then cleaning it - while learning those two movements, it automatically learns how to draw dots and lines. The second step consists in distinguishing an angle from a half circle, for example by drawing mountains and the sun, or by learning the movements which are necessary to clean a pot. These are functions of the left brain, which learns "from the smaller to the greater", from simple things to increasingly complex things. But in the field of music, the usual approach of learning is the right brain, which works in the exact opposite way - "from the greater to the smaller" - and which will capture the whole picture first before bothering with details. The reason for this lies in the fact that the human brain develops from the back to the front, and from bottom to top. For this reason, we have to learn chords first; intervals afterwards and single notes or keys last of all! In this way, we follow the structure of our right brain. The same principle applies to ear training, reading and playing blocks of notes. Of course it is not easy and sometimes even dangerous to defy and contradict every single book that has ever been written on the subject of music education - but contradicting the structure of our brain functions is by far more difficult and problematic. Statistics show that 85% of all piano students give up their lessons because they simply fail in their attempt of learning to play the piano; only 15% attain the level of being able to play Bach's Preludium in C-Major or Beethoven's "For Elise". When we compare these statistics with those of ANTIM's students, we see that even the so-called "intellectually challenged kids" attain this level. |