“Piano instruction is thought to enhance the brain’s ‘hard-wiring’ for spatial-temporal reasoning, or the ability to visualize ratios, fractions, proportions and thinking in space and time,” said Shaw. Shaw’s findings are significant because a grasp of proportional math and fractions is a prerequisite to math at higher levels, and children who do not master these areas of math cannot understand more advanced math critical to those high-tech fields.

Dr. Shaw’s latest research reinforces an important point about brain functionality and the differences between listening to music and making music. It also underscores the fact that the long-term benefits provided by music making activities are much greater for brain development than passive music activities. In mid-September, Academic Press published a new book by Shaw called Keeping Mozart In Mind, especially written for non-scientists to help everyone understand the practical implications of his work.

Putting the Research Into Practice
How can you or your children benefit from the wealth of research on making music and increased brain activity? It’s pretty simple, if you’re willing to discard a few outdated notions. If you’re like many, your experience with piano lessons brings back unpleasant memories of playing boring, plodding piano exercises in a stuffy room for what seemed like hours. If you didn’t hate it, you at least didn’t like it, much less look forward to practicing or learning. Today, we know music can help make our children smarter. So how do we get them actively involved?



Enter the new era of music education—learning inspired by new technology and teaching methodology that makes learning music fun and exciting. This environment puts the research done on the benefits of music making and intelligence into practice.

Today’s classrooms and teaching methods are not the same as they were when baby boomers were growing up. Today’s music learning environment embraces new technologies and computers, tools and techniques that the new generation of music makers is comfortable and familiar with.

New Kids On the Digital Block
Dubbed the “Net Generation” by author Don Tapscott in his new book, Growing Up Digital - the Rise of the Net Generation, these children, between the ages of two and 22, are hungry to learn new technologies. And they love music and interactivity. Recognizing the proven connection between brain development and music making within this demographic group, musical instrument companies like Roland are bringing new technologies into the music education field to help foster interactive keyboard learning environments which are on the cutting edge. These “N-Gener” kids are discovering that the combination of digital keyboards and computers is making the process of learning music fun and challenging. Should we really tell them that it’s making them smarter, too?

In a chapter of his book about N-Geners and computers, Tapscott says, “N-Geners are using digital media for learning. The computers which populate 60 percent of American households with children are used for learning how dolphins give birth and for composing essays on ‘my summer vacation.’” And, we should add, for music education, too.

One music teacher who understands this is Amy Perdew. She entered the world of music education technology because demand for her services was greater than her existing teaching facility could bear. She quickly learned about the benefits of digital pianos over traditional pianos in the learning environment, ignoring any preconceptions that the digital piano would be too difficult for a child to function on, much less herself. After spending a few hours experiencing the feel and sound of a Roland digital piano at a local music store, she bought one.

Like many baby boomers, Amy’s hesitation about digital pianos stemmed from her lack of a technological background. She could barely function on a computer. And since she teaches many beginners, she was concerned that a digital piano would be an extra hurdle for them. Not only did she see how easy it was to play and integrate a digital piano into her classroom, she was surprised at how, almost intuitively, her students learned to play and operate the digital keyboard, validating Tapscott’s research.

Conclusion
Hopefully by now, you’ve got a clearer picture of the connection between making music and increased intelligence in children. With the help of digital keyboard technology and interactive music learning products by companies like Roland, your N-Gener might just become tomorrow’s Albert Einstein. Seems simple, doesn’t it?