It’s never too late to pick up the guitar, oboe, bongo drums, harmonica, glockenspiel or what have you and learn how to play it! Don’t worry, you don’t have to be a prodigy to reap the benefits of playing an instrument. You also don’t have to pay to be classically trained because there are tons of books on the subject plus the internet and YouTube are full of tutorials to help you learn on your own. Did you know that playing an instrument can actually change the architecture of your brain? That might sound like some made-up futuristic Matrix mumbo jumbo but it’s been scientifically proven and that’s not even the tip of the “benefits of playing musical instruments” iceberg.

1. Improves Performance On Cognitive Tasks
People with music training often outperform non-musical people on cognitive tasks. You can teach an old dog new tricks: in people over the age of 65, after 4 or 5 months of playing a musical instrument for an hour a week there were strong changes in the brain—the parts that control hearing, memory and the part that controls the hands, among others all become more active. The effects are long-lasting too: for adults aged 65-80, the more years a person had spent playing an instrument, the better they performed on tests of word recall, nonverbal memory, and cognitive flexibility. Other results show that playing an instrument can help your IQ increase by seven points.

2. Increases the Capacity of Your Memory
Adults and children can both benefit from learning to play an instrument because it helps the mind to be alert and remain active eventually helping to sharpen the memory. This makes learning a foreign language easier and makes you more perceptive to interpreting the emotions of others. This is due to the fact that learning an instrument requires you to learn about tones and scores which increases your ability to store audio information. Therefore it becomes easier to pick up other languages and have a better verbal memory in your own language.

3. Refines your Time Management and Organizational Skills
In order to learn an instrument successfully you have to learn how to be organized and manage your time wisely. To progress quicker, a musician will learn how to use their time efficiently and plan different challenges to work on. When you see yourself continuously improving, you will be motivated and ready to take on those new challenges.

4. Enhances Your Coordination
If you learn how to play an instrument, the parts of your brain that control motor skills actually grow and become more active. By reading musical notes on a page, your brain must convert that note into specific motor patterns while also controlling breathing and rhythm as well. Also for most instruments, you have to be able to have your fingers and/or limbs each performing different tasks simultaneously. Therefore playing music requires a lot of hand-eye coordination and if you’re anything like me (always picked last to play dodge ball but I’m not bitter or anything) then any improvement would be greatly appreciated!

5. Betters Your Mathematical Ability
In order to read music you have to count notes and rhythms, which has the effect of improving your math skills. Learning music theory includes many mathematical aspects so it’s not surprising that it can help you understand things like fractions more effectively. So if you’re still in school, does that mean you don’t need to pick up a guitar instead of a calculator? Hm…

6. Fosters Your Self-Expression
The more advanced you become on an instrument, you’ll begin to be able to play what you want and however you want. Since music is an art form, you can easily play a piece and use it as an outlet for your emotions. Playing an instrument of your own will not only help you relax, but can help build confidence and give you a sense of achievement. How cool is it to discover a talent you thought you never had? Music can also provide a sense of independence and individuality, which in turn contributes to one’s own self-discovery and sense of identity.

7. Provides Health Benefits
Playing music acts as a form of therapy, having calming effects on the mind and body. In particular, music has been found to reduce blood-pressure levels while other studies suggest that music therapy helps children and teens with Attention Deficit Disorder, insomnia, and depression. Oh and it can also be exercise occasionally: 90 minutes of drumming burns as many as 500 calories. That sounds so much better than jogging!

8.Teaches You Discipline, Responsibility And Perseverance
Learning to play an instrument takes time and effort, which results in your learning patience and perseverance. To get a musical phrase or entire song down with as few mistakes as possible takes great focus and repetition since most people will not be able to play a piece of music perfectly the first time. In fact, the majority of musicians have to work difficult sections of music multiple times in a row before they can play it correctly. Since it is such a challenge, this teaches you self-discipline and the importance of maintaining a steady practice schedule.

9. Relieves Stress
Music naturally can soothe not only others but the musician as well. The sound combined with the release of creativity and emotion, as well as the simple vibration of an instrument against a player’s body can significantly lower a musician’s stress level. Playing any instrument can actually help release the endorphins in your body, which will also result in reduced levels of stress.

10. It’s Just Fun
Even after learning the simplest three chords, you have the ability to write your own song. Bob Dylan has written several well-known songs using only a few chords and there is nothing like playing a song you just learned or wrote for a friend or playing it with friends. You don’t have to be Beethoven or Mozart here, you just have to have a desire to learn!

By: Brandon Griggs
Camden, Maine (CNN) –

The young man tucks his violin under his chin and begins to play. A hush falls over the few spectators in the largely empty opera house, who turn toward the bare stage. As his lilting notes float through the room, other people trickle in from the lobby to listen.

The young man sometimes closes his eyes as he plays, as if lost in the music. If his audience closed their eyes, too, they would never know the violinist standing before them has no right hand, only a stunted appendage with tiny stubs instead of fingers.

Which is fitting, because Adrian Anantawan prefers to be judged for what people hear, not what they see.

At 28, Anantawan is one of the world’s most accomplished young violinists. He has performed at the White House, at the Vancouver Winter Olympics, for Pope John Paul II, for Christopher Reeve and most recently for the Dalai Lama during a private recital at MIT. Anantawan played a piece by Bach, and when he finished, the Tibetan Buddhist leader approached him.

“He put my hands together, and put his hands around mine, and our foreheads touched for six or seven seconds,” Anantawan said. “And I’m just thinking to myself, ‘My goodness, where has this instrument and music taken me?’ I feel tremendously blessed to have had experiences like that.”

Anantawan’s disability has been with him since birth. Doctors think the umbilical cord wrapped around his hand in the womb, cutting off the blood supply and keeping it from growing properly. To compensate, he uses a simple prosthesis called a spatula, which grips the violin bow.
Anantawan on the stage of the Camden Opera House in Camden, Maine, where he spoke at the PopTech conference.
Anantawan on the stage of the Camden Opera House in Camden, Maine, where he spoke at the PopTech conference.

In recent years, Anantawan has devoted his career to using adaptive technology — from prosthetic devices like his own to sophisticated computer software — to aid aspiring young musicians in overcoming a wide range of disabilities. By helping them make music, he believes this technology can help “reveal the inner humanity” of disabled children who struggle to express themselves through other means.

“Accessibility is not an act of charity,” Adrian told an audience last summer during a TEDx talk in suburban Boston, where he is now an orchestra conductor at a charter school. “It’s one of lifting the ceiling of potential development so that all children can explore this world, but also possibly create new ones.”

Born of Thai-Chinese ethnicity, Anantawan grew up in Toronto. With only one hand, many childhood milestones — learning to tie shoes, sharpen a pencil in class, ride a bike — were difficult for him. Classmates made him feel different.

“Growing up without an arm — it seems trivial now, but when you’re in grade one or two, kids can exclude you on many different levels,” he said during an interview last fall at the annual PopTech conference in this picturesque Maine seaside town.

By the time he was 9, his parents decided he should learn a musical instrument. The recorder was out, because it’s difficult to adapt for two hands. The trumpet was too loud, and so were the drums. Little Adrian didn’t have much of a singing voice. So his mother decided on the violin.

His parents took the instrument to a rehabilitation center, where they adapt prosthetics to meet the needs of disabled children. A few months later, engineers there produced a customized device out of plaster, aluminum and Velcro straps. Eighteen years later, he’s still wearing the same one.

“Little did my parents know that they had invited a dying cat into their home for the first six months in the form of ‘Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star,’ ” said Anantawan in the TEDx talk, squeaking out the melody on his violin.

For a boy with one hand, music became a great equalizer. Suddenly, he could do something the same way as his classmates.

“I had this adaptation. It did look different. But what came out, in terms of the sound from the instrument, was exactly the same as theirs. And we were all trying to make music together,” Anantawan said. “Music was my way of sharing my personality with the world. I was very shy. I didn’t talk very much. And the instrument, and playing music, helped me come out of my shell.”

Adrian learned quickly. In some ways, he was easy to teach, because instructors didn’t have to worry about his right-hand technique — just his left hand and fingers, which press down on the strings of the violin to produce different notes, pitch, tone and so on.
I’ve had to really think, because there’s no manual to (learn to) play with one hand.
Adrian Anantawan

Anantawan’s educational pedigree is impressive. He graduated from Philadelphia’s prestigious Curtis Institute of Music and earned a master’s degree from Yale. During two summers he studied under his boyhood idol, renowned violinist Itzhak Perlman, at his residency program in Shelter Island, New York.

For Anantawan, the key to playing music is merging technique with personal expression to produce something genuine and unique.

“You’re thinking, ‘What do I want to express?’ and then your body finds a way to do it. That happens with everyone,” he said. “But for me, it’s more explicit. I’ve had to really think, because there’s no manual to (learn to) play with one hand.”

As a student and a professional, Adrian has performed as a soloist with orchestras throughout his native Canada, at New York’s Carnegie Hall and with violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter on a European tour.

He, and others, believe his disability produces a unique sound. Because Adrian’s right arm is shorter than that of most people, he draws the bow of his violin across the strings at unusual angles — not consistently perpendicular to the strings, as most violinists do.

“With the violin, the way that you’re built physically influences to a very high degree how you sound. I’m not able to use my entire bow, for instance,” Anantawan said. “So therefore I put more pressure on my bow to put more weight onto the string and produce more sound. “It gives me a bit of a sonic fingerprint.”

But Anantawan’s lack of a right hand hasn’t limited his ability to play at a world-class level.

“There’s no music he can’t play, as far as I can tell,” said Professor Lee Bartel, associate dean at the University of Toronto, who is himself a violinist. “There are no limitations with this disability. He has fully adapted it.”

Bartel has heard Anantawan play a variety of repertoire in different contexts and scoffs at any notion that he’s gained recognition as a musician because people feel sorry for him or see him as a novelty.

“There’s no doubt he is exceptionally talented,” he said. “He is a star performer.”

New prosthetic limbs ‘celebrate’ bodies, personalities instead of hiding lost limbs

Giving back
Anantawan says he\’s happiest playing music or working with children, who seem to relate to his boyish demeanor.
Anantawan says he’s happiest playing music or working with children, who seem to relate to his boyish demeanor.

With his place in the classical music world secure, Anantawan now wants to focus on helping others like him.

He was inspired in part by a visit years ago to Toronto’s Holland Bloorview Kids Rehabilitation Hospital, which built his prosthetic. There Anantawan was introduced to a device, called a Virtual Music Instrument, that translates movement into sound.

Like a motion-controlled video gaming system, the Virtual Music Instrument employs a camera that is mounted on a computer screen and aimed at someone, capturing their gestures. The Virtual Music Instrument software is designed to play prerecorded musical samples when the person waves a hand or tilts their head, activating symbols on the screen.

Intrigued, Anantawan applied for a grant from Yale and gathered a team of doctors, musicians, music therapists and educators to explore the device’s potential. He began working with a young musician, Eric Wan, who was forced to give up the violin after a neurological disorder paralyzed him from the neck down. The project concluded with Wan using the Virtual Music Instrument, guided by movements of his head, to play Pachelbel’s “Canon in D” during a 2011 concert with the Montreal Chamber Orchestra.

“I had been playing the violin for about eight years before I got paralyzed,” said Wan in a YouTube video about the performance. “I really didn’t think I was able to play an instrument again. It’s an incredible feeling.”

Anantawan has been back to Holland Bloorview several times to give concerts and talk to the young patients. As an icebreaker, he always passes his prosthesis around the room so the kids can handle it up close.

“There’s a silence that falls upon the room as the kids watch him play,” said Tom Chau, vice president for research at Holland Bloorview, and who developed the Virtual Music Instrument. “He’s a great role model for our clientele. They can see, down the road, the possibilities (that exist for them).”

It’s not just children who have been inspired by Anantawan. He was once approached by an Iraq war veteran who had lost an arm. After seeing Anantawan play in a video online, the man made a crude prosthetic device out of cardboard and took up the violin.

“In most of these stories, it’s never about the technique or technology that is important, but the desire to live life authentically and creatively. We often forget even ‘traditional’ musical instruments are technological adaptations in their own right — they are tools to manipulate sound in a way that we couldn’t do with our bodies alone,” said Anantawan, who earned a second master’s degree last year, this time from Harvard’s Graduate School of Education.

“To say that your example has changed some life along the way for the better — I’m extremely humbled to be a part of that.”

Today, Anantawan combines classroom teaching with the drier but no less important task of developing arts curricula for kids with special needs — not just physical disabilities, but cerebral palsy, Down syndrome and other conditions. He hopes someday to implement educational practices, working with devices such as the Virtual Music Instrument, that can be adopted by other schools around the globe.

“It’s a lot easier to start from the bottom up than the top down,” he said. “You have to understand where these kids are coming from, and the nature of their disability. I was extremely lucky to find the right instrument and adaptation and the right medium. But in public education, you don’t want luck to be a factor.”

Anantawan said he’s happiest playing music or working with children, who seem to relate to his boyish look and soft-spoken demeanor. It gives him profound satisfaction to help open doors for kids, to help them hear their own voice.

“The reward (for me) comes on many levels, but perhaps the most rewarding comes in the form of those few seconds that a child is creating something musically unique, a voice that demands our attention,” he said.

“In terms of stories, I’m sure that at some point the children I’ve worked with will have their own. But I’ve always found that they have touched my life in a far deeper way than anything that I’ve given them.”

The EU Parliament is discussing a revision in the rights passengers have when taking musical instruments on to planes.

The proposals come as part of a wider assessment of air passenger rights and suggests:

“Musicians often do not know in advance under which conditions fragile and often very expensive instruments will be taken on board. Under the proposal, the air carriers must accept smaller instruments into the passenger cabin and must clearly indicate the terms and conditions for the transport of larger instruments in the cargo hold.”

The proposal comes after lobbying from the Musicians’ Union and the International Federation of Musicians, which saw more than 40,000 people sign a petition to persuade the EU to bring in legislation to clarify rules on the carrying of instruments.

“I am delighted that the European Parliament looks set to adopt this proposal, which will make such a difference to working musicians,” said MU general secretary and FIM president John Smith.

“The MU has been lobbying on this issue for years and actually reached an agreement with the Department for Transport in 2006, but we have long been saying that it is only by working at a European and international level that we can successfully tackle this issue, as the problem is much broader than just UK airlines.

“The problem has always been that existing law allows each airline to set their own policy regarding musical instruments, and this proposal would bring much needed uniformity and fairness to the whole sector,” he added.

By Eileen Ogintz, Tribune Media Services
2:30 p.m. CST, February 14, 2013

Wow!

It’s not easy to find a place that equally inspires kids and grown-ups, whatever their ages.

Welcome to one of the most wonderful museums I’ve visited lately — The Musical Instrument Museum (http://www.themim.org) in Phoenix, Ariz. — a 200,000-square-foot building housing nearly 15,000 instruments and artifacts from around the world with nearly 5,000 on display at one time.

See the piano where John Lennon composed the song “Imagine,” one of Paul Simon’s guitars, Elvis’ costumes and the first Steinway piano, which was built in a German kitchen in 1836.

Then take the kids to the huge experience room where they can create their own music on guitars and ukuleles, play xylophones and harps or bang on giant Chinese gongs and drums. The instruments may come from all around the globe but the music they make certainly brings us all together.

We were in Scottsdale (http://www.scottsdalecvb.org) staying at the historic JW Marriott Camelback Inn (http://www.camelbackinn.com) for a weekend combining hiking, biking and museum visits. (We also stopped in at the famous Heard Museum (http://www.heard.org), which for more than 80 years has given visitors the opportunity to learn about the arts and culture of the native peoples of North America.

Wherever you are this winter or wherever you’re planning to go for spring break, take time to visit a museum exhibit that would especially interest your family. For example, if you are visiting New Orleans, stop in at the National World War II Museum where a special exhibit, “Gridiron Glory,” (http://www.ddaymuseum.org/) shows kids how much the sport of football has changed from its beginnings in the late 19th century to the Super Bowl today. And everyone will love the UA Freedom Pavilion: The Boeing Center with WWII planes hanging from the ceiling.

If you are in New York, don’t miss the new exhibit “Our Global Kitchen” at the American Museum of Natural History that shows us how food gets from farm to table and the role it plays in different cultures. You can even get a virtual cooking lesson and play FoodShips, the interactive game that demonstrates how difficult it is to transport various foods.

The Denver Museum of Nature and Science (http://www.dmns.org) is opening “Mammoths and Mastodons: Titans of the Ice Age” this month, complete with fossil tusks and skulls, interactive videos and more, as you relive the story of the Snowmastadon Project, the huge Ice Age fossil site unearthed near Snowmass Village in 2010. See fossils from the site on display for the first time and watch museum volunteers prepare fossils found at various digs. (Maybe you have a future paleontologist in your gang?) If you are skiing at Snowmass, take time to visit the Ice Age Discovery Center (http://www.snowmassiceage.com) right in the village. (Here’s what I said about our visit there.)

At large museums, seek out special family workshops and interactive areas designed for kids. The Musical Instrument Museum recently started a new Mini Music Makers weekly music program for children five and under that has proved so popular, a second day has been added each week into April.

Take time for smaller museums too. When I was visiting Washington, D.C., with a group of teenagers who attend our high school, someone suggested we make time for the National Museum of Crime and Punishment (http://www.crimemuseum.org) whose mission is to give visitors insight into crime and crime fighting. It’s easy to see why this museum is a winner for teenage boys with its exhibit on high-speed police chases, Bonnie and Clyde’s bullet-riddled car, the chance to try to hack into a computer or crack a safe and its crime lab. (The kids also gave thumbs up to the International Spy Museum, http://www.spymuseum.org, with its new 007 exhibit.)

In San Francisco, we loved the small Boudin Museum and Bakery Tour (just $3) where you see the huge sourdough bread bakery in action but also learn about San Francisco history in the process. (Did you know that the same sourdough starter has been used at Boudin since 1849? Or that Louis Boudin rescued the starter from the burning bakery following the 1906 earthquake?)

Wherever you are, let the kids help choose which museum — and which exhibits — to visit. Take a virtual tour before you go. The American Museum of Natural History (http://www.amnh.org/explore/ology) has a special kids’ website with interactive games to encourage kids’ interest. So does the Smithsonian. http://www.smithsonianeducation.org/students/.

In many cases, like at the new Natural History Museum of Utah (http://nhmu.utah.edu/) — spectacularly located adjacent to the Red Butte Garden where locals and visitors come to hike — you can download The Trailhead to Utah app (http://nhmu.utah.edu/trailhead) that lets your smartphone help guide your family through the exhibits to learn more about Utah’s ecosystems, fossils and native cultures.

Today’s technology makes museum going so much easier — and more fun for everyone. At the Musical Instrument Museum, guidePORT technology enables you to watch a video and hear the music as soon as you walk up to the exhibit, headphones in your ears, without any buttons to push or text to read. (Hidden identifiers at the exhibits cue the guides when a visitor is standing in front of the video monitor.)

Musical instruments have been acquired from more than 200 countries and date back to between 4000 and 5000 BC, though today’s music and musicians, including Taylor Swift, are also celebrated.

Maybe you’ve visited Costa Rica or Switzerland or maybe your kids have a friend from Mexico. Here’s a chance to explore a little of that culture through the universal language of music — watching musicians and hearing their music while standing in front of these instruments.

Where to start? Like in any museum you start with what interests you most. I’ll be the grown-up waiting in line with the kids to play the xylophone.

(Check out Eileen’s new books, “The Kid’s Guide to Orlando” and “The Kid’s Guide to NYC.” Her latest book, “The Kid’s Guide to Washington, D.C., will be published in April.

Please Visit:  www.greatmusicalinstruments.net for beginner/student musical instruments in a variety of colors and sizes.

By: VM Sathish Published Friday, February 01, 2013

An Indian youth living in Sharjah is getting ready to try to enter the Guinness Book of World Records and several other world record books by continuously playing more than 20 different musical instruments within one hour during a concert organized for the purpose.

Ebin Rec George, a 20-year-old bio-technology graduate of Manipal University Dubai, will try to set a new world record on February 3 at the Sharjah Worship Centre auditorium in the Yarmook area of the emirate.

“’Nothing is Impossible’ is the title of my musical fusion programme,” he said. More than 1,200 people are expected to attend the programme.

Ebin will play works of musicians like Yani Youson and others, music of cartoon characters, movie tracks and his own creations using Indian, African, Irish instruments. His performance will be used to try to get into the Guinness Book of World Records. If he is successful, he will enter a new category of several musical instruments played by the same person.

posted by:  www.greatmusicalinstruments.net

He is reluctant to list all the 20 instruments that he will be playing during “Nothing is Impossible” musical fusion programme, though he claims he can play drums, piano, bass guitar, Arabic drums, recorder, soprano saxophone, mouth organ etc.

Ebin was asked to produce a video of his performance since most of the world record books did not have such category suitable for him.

His ‘Nothing is Imposssible’ performance will be certified by a panel of judges comprising a Sharjah ruling family member, Dubai International Academy City and Knowledge City Director Ayub Khasim, Consul for Education and Economy at Indian Consulate in Dubai Dr Tiju Thomas and others.

“Raw footage of the programme, media coverage and newspaper clippings of the ‘Nothing is Impossible’ programme will be sent to the world record companies who have agreed to include this category in their world records,” he said.

Ebin has also sought permission from more than 10 record books and organizations from across the globe, including the Limca Book of Records, Asia Book of Records, Worlds Records of China, Record Setter UK and World Records Academy, USA. The concept has been approved by the Australian Book of Records and the Singapore Book of Records and they have invited him to perform.

Talking about musical instruments, he is vocal about various instruments from different cultures and countries. “I don’t spend too much time on musical instruments. Of late, I have started learning new instruments. Even though I don’t own all the 20 instruments, I am comfortable handling them,” Ebin told Emirates 24|7.

“I did not go to any formal music schools for training,” he said, adding that he could complete up to Grade 3 in keyboard from the Trinity College of Music.

“I have been trying to learn many new musical instruments during the past three years because I wanted to set a new world record,” Ebin, who hails from Pallam near Kottayam in the southern Indian state of Kerala.

Ebin started practicing the drum at the age of 3, when he was living with his father George and mother Suja in Bahrain.

“When he was three years old, Ebin surprised the audience with his performance. He has been performing regularly in different schools, community programmes etc,” said his father George C K, a businessman in the UAE.

Even when he was a student of Sharjah Emirates National School, he was good at handling lead guitar, drums and keyboard. While studying for graduation at Manipal University Dubai, he continued to perform with music bands in town.

“He can sing any song on a mouth organ and he learned everything on his own. He did not undergo any formal training,” says a coordinator of the ‘Nothing is Impossible’ programme.

Journal reference: Journal of Neuroscience, DOI: 10.1523/jneurosci.3578-12.2013

Good news for pushy parents. If you want your child to excel musically, you now have better justification for starting their lessons early. New evidence comes from brain scans of 36 highly skilled musicians, split equally between those who started lessons before and after the age of 7, but who had done a similar amount of training and practice.

MRI scans revealed that the white matter in the corpus callosum – the brain region that links the two hemispheres – had more extensive wiring and connectivity in the early starters. The wiring of the late starters was not much different from that of non-musician control participants. This makes sense as the corpus callosum aids speed and synchronisation in tasks involving both hands, such as playing musical instruments.

“I think we’ve provided real evidence for something that musicians and teachers have suspected for a long time, that early training can produce long-lasting effects on performance and the brain,” says Christopher Steele of the Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences in Leipzig, Germany, a member of the team, which is led by Virginia Penhune of Concordia University in Montreal, Canada.
Sweet spot

Steele says that younger-trained musicians may have an advantage because their training coincides with a key period of brain development . At age 7 or 8, the corpus callosum is more receptive than ever to the alterations in connectivity necessary to meet the demands of learning an instrument.

However, he stresses that these connectivity adaptations are no guarantee of musical genius. “What we’re showing is that early starters have some specific skills and accompanying differences in the brain, but these things don’t necessarily make them better musicians,” he says. “Musical performance is about skill, but it is also about communication, enthusiasm, style and many other things we don’t measure. So while starting early may help you express your genius, it won’t make you a genius,” he says.

Nor should older aspiring musicians despair. “They should absolutely not give up. It is never too late to learn a skill,” says Steele.

Visit: WWW.GreatMusicalInstruments.net for musical instruments in a variety of sizes and colors!

By: John von Radowitz

Songbirds possess a musical instrument more complex than anything found in an orchestra, a study has confirmed.

Known as the syrinx, it is the bird’s version of the voice box or larynx in humans.

Scientists used 3D imaging to examine the structure, located where the windpipe forks into the lungs, in unparalleled detail.

They showed how muscles, cartilage and bone work together to allow birds to sing highly intricate songs even in flight.

The syrinx has two pairs of vocal cords, allowing songbirds to produce two different notes at the same time.

Songbirds routinely perform a feat equivalent to an orchestra musician playing two instruments at once while dancing.

Lead scientist Dr Coen Elemans, from the University of Southern Denmark, said: “We show how the syrinx is adapted for superfast trills and how it can be stabilized while the bird moves. Also we emphasize how several muscles may work together to control for example the pitch or volume of the sound produced.”

There are striking similarities between the way young birds learn to sing and the way babies learn to speak, which intrigue experts.

“We know quite a bit about how the songbird brain codes and decodes songs and how young songbirds learn to imitate the songs of their adult fathers,” said Dr Elemans.

“But we know very little about the instrument itself, the vocal organ called syrinx.”

The research is published in the online journal BMC Biology.

Posted by:  Connie at www.greatmusicalinstruments.net

Before you settle for the purchase, make sure you have a good understanding of the instrument, and your child’s interest levels

By Tala Alat, Special to Gulf News
Published: 07:00 December 23, 2012
Gulf News

Dubai: In recent years, music teachers in the UAE have been noticing a significant increase in children who wish to study music. The number of applications from parents has doubled, and some schools can hardly accommodate everyone.

Modern culture, as depicted on television, can entice many into the world of music as it showcases artists who have shot to fame, apart from revealing their glitzy lives. Which, in a way, is not a bad thing for children to observe because beyond the glamor, many of these artists have wonderful talent and are contributing to the legacy of music in unique ways.

For parents whose children have decided to invite music into their lives, one of the most difficult decisions is to how much to invest in a musical instrument. It is not an easy decision, understandably, because parents have to deal with the opinion of children who often tend to change their mind. I know two ways to solve this problem.

1) Find out which musical instruments are being taught in the school. This will help you zone in on any one instrument.

2) Find out if there are any restrictions to age or other factors when it comes to playing and practicing an instrument. For example, guitar lessons preferably, start from 10 years. For accordion or saxophone, a child must be developed physically, because these are very heavy instruments to handle. To learn the violin, a child should have a naturally well-developed ear for tone and melody.

3) Research on the internet about the qualities and background of various musical intruments. Learn about their history. Share with your child the information you have acquired in a way that is easy and interesting for him to listen to. Show your child beautiful pictures of the instruments so that visually, he begins to appreciate and fall in love with them.

4) Listen to the sound of musical instruments and see how musicians play them. Visit stores that deal in musical instruments and spend time touching, playing and learning about them. Attend musical concerts with your children. Participate in musical moments at shopping malls and stores where the instruments are being played, so yours and your children’s exposure to them can connect with each other. The internet has abundant information on virtually all musical instruments. Watch YouTube clips on musical instruments of various kinds and artists playing them. You will get to learn a lot this way. However, be aware that a video clip will make less of an impression on your child as compared to attending a live concert and watching an artist play.

A cheap or inexpensive instrument does not mean low quality. Experts recommend that for children who are just starting their music sessions, it is advisable to buy an inexpensive instrument first. Almost all leading manufacturers of musical instruments offer a range prices, and for beginners, there is ample choice. When buying an instrument for your child, you, as a parent, need to be serious about what you are doing.

The most popular instruments:

VIOLIN

It is a classical instrument, which has been a popular choice for parents down the centuries. In the US, for instance, almost any school can teach violin for free. Today, violins are sold in various sizes and for children of different ages so there is no stress about what to buy. A violin is also a fairly compact instrument, lightweight and doesn’t require special care. It is, therefore, the perfect musical instrument for children.

DRUMS

These are, of course, a bit louder than the other instruments, but nevertheless playing drums is fun. It can get your child to completely immerse himself in the experience as compared to mindless computer games. In addition, drummers are a core asset to music groups. You can also play solo on drums.

PIANO

This is a great musical instrument that provides unlimited opportunities to develop the musical potential of children. After only a few lessons, your child will be able to play simple, well-known songs on the piano. Sure, the size and the cost of a piano can be formidable but you don’t have to buy an expensive, huge masterpiece for beginners. An electronic keyboard, which sounds like a classical piano, will do fine with its price and compact size. Of course it is not good enough for a serious study of a piano, but to get your child interested in the initial stages, it is perfect. When your child displays true talent and a passion for the piano, it is worthwhile investing in the real deal. Electronic ones have two distinct benefits. First, they are compact and light enough to transport. Second, the possibility of adjusting the sound volume will make lessons comfortable for you and the others, and a selection of tones offers welcome choice.

GUITAR

This is the most common and affordable musical instrument for children. It has a beautiful sound, comes in compact sizes and is affordable. It offers amazing opportunities to create music and its sheer popularity will not allow your child to get bored with it. Classical, acoustic, bass, electric – there are so many options to choose from. There is a guitar for every child’s aptitude and ability. Even a beginner can play songs on a guitar with ease – the instrument is so friendly. Your child can be the star of any party.

FLUTE

This is an amazingly elegant musical instrument. It is small, lightweight and doesn’t require time-consuming maintenance. It is less loud than others, and that should please parents and neighbours. However, training on the flute can be difficult in the beginning, as it requires breath control, among other strengths.

TRUMPET

A common instrument taught in US schools. In this region, it is not as popular, but still, this instrument is an integral part of many musical styles and genres such as jazz, to give one example.

ONE LAST TIP:

When choosing a musical instrument, don’t get swayed by the glamor of the brand. Trust your instincts and take an informed decision. Take your child along with you to the music store before deciding to buy one. It is important to feel that you have found “the one” instrument that will become your child’s lifetime companion.

The author is a musician and piano teacher at a music school

in Dubai.

We invite you to visit:  www.GreatMusicalInstruments.net for affordable quality musical instruments.

From: http://www.psmag.com/blogs/news-blog/the-benefits-of-bonding-with-a-musical-instrument-50265/

By: Tom Jacobs

Scandinavian researchers report musicians who feel united with their instrument feel less performance anxiety.
B.B. King’s relationship with his beloved guitar, “Lucille,” may be his longest.
Forging a deep, intense relationship, in which two meld into one, can be a difficult, emotionally draining process. But the end result is so worth it.

Especially when that bond is between musician and instrument.

That’s the conclusion of new research from Finland, which found musicians who consider their instrument an extension of themselves are more confident, and feel less performance anxiety.

“Feeling united with the instrument indeed seems to be an advantageous relationship,” writes a research team led by Veerle Simoens of the University of Finland’s Cognitive Brain Research Unit. Its study is published in the journal Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity and the Arts.

Simoens and co-author Mari Tervaniemi distributed a series of questionnaires to a large group of musicians in Finland, a small nation renowned for producing important classical composers and performers.

They received responses from 116 students and 204 professionals. Eighty-three percent were classical musicians; the remainder were divided among such genres as pop-rock, folk-ethnic, and jazz.

The players were asked a wide range of questions designed to measure their level of self-confidence, the pressure and/or support they feel from teachers and peers, and the extent to which they suffer from performance anxiety.

Finally, their identification with their instrument was measured by their answer to this question:

When I perform, I feel

(1) that it’s really me as a person in front of the audience, rather than my instrument;

(2) protected, or hiding behind, my instrument or voice;

(3) that my instrument or voice is an obstacle to overcome between me and the audience; or

(4) so united with my instrument/voice that there is no difference between us.

Just over 51 percent of the musicians chose the final answer, declaring they feel at one with their instrument. Nearly 28 percent picked the first answer, which implies that they view their instrument as simply a vehicle for their own expression. Eleven percent said they were hiding behind the instrument, while 2 percent said they thought of the instrument as something to overcome.

“Musicians who felt one with their instruments had lower scores of social phobia, debilitating music performance anxiety, and general music performance anxiety” than those in the other groups, the researchers report.

They also “showed more confidence in their own performance than most other musicians,” and were more likely to think of themselves as performing for the audience, as opposed to for themselves or their peers.

Simoens and Tervaniemi link these results with the well-known “flow state,” in which someone performing a challenging but satisfying task enters a state of “intense and focused concentration,” which often causes them to lose track of time.

This “state of effortless attention,” experienced on numerous occasions, could “eventually lead to the long-term subjective experience of being merged with the instrument,” they write.

Given this positive loop, the researchers suggest the musician-instrument relationship should “not be ignored in music education, or the treatment of afflictions related to music performance.”

“If the development of the united relationship is truly a manifestation of frequent flow experiences, this type of relationship might directly promote enjoyment, engagement and motivation in the performance,” they write.

So the next time you see a musician pampering their instrument, understand that the act involves something more than simple maintenance. If your goal is to become one with the music, it helps to first become one with the instrument.

About Tom Jacobs:

Staff writer Tom Jacobs is a veteran journalist with more than 20 years experience at daily newspapers. He has served as a staff writer for The Los Angeles Daily News and the Santa Barbara News-Press. His work has also appeared in The Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune and Ventura County Star.
Search Pacific Standard Online

We invite you to visit: www.greatmusicalinstruments.net – find affordable quality musical instruments

Early is good in learning musical instruments

Q:What is an appropriate age for a child to begin learning a musical instrument ? I’ve looked into lessons in my area, and teachers accept children as young as 2 or 3 for violin and piano lessons.

We invite you to visit: www.greatmusicalinstruments.net – find affordable quality violins to fit the smallest hands.