Western cultural attitudes were laid down by the ancient greeks,who established the principle that all natural phenomena must conform to mathematically conceivable laws.The ancient greeks made a particular study of vibrating strings.They discovered that there is a fixed mathematical relationship between frequency and pitch,and also between the tension,length and thickness of vibrating bodies.
Mathematically modelling these natural laws enabled the greeks to develop a rational and coherent paragim of the cosmos,which formed the basis of more than two thousand years of human thought.This is the Platonic view that the behavoir of any phenomenon can be described by a mathematical algorithm,and that all mathematical truths must find expression in the phenomenal world.Even now such musical,structural and mathematical connections continue to surface with startling relevance.
Quite recently american researchers hit the headlines with the controversial claim that listening to mozart (1756-1791) can make you more intelligent.Dr Gordon Shaw ,at the university of Calofornia at Irvine,was seeking to find an elegant algorithm to define how neurones trigger connections in the brain.He programmed a computer to express the patterns of neurones firing as a visual print out.The multi-colored streams of light wavelengths ended up looking like infinitely extending 'friendship' wristbands.
Music psychologist Frances Rauscher was working in the same department,and suggested finding a way to express the patterns as sound.
When the pattern was converted into sound,they seemed startlingly like classical tonal music.So the hypothesis was launched that tonal classical music might actively predispose the neural columns to firing more rapidly.Further research appeared to bear this out.During tests,students' performances in abstract reasoning was compared after ten minutes of silence;ten minutes of self-hypnosis relaxation tapes,and ten minutes of Mozart.After the Mozart,students scored 8 to 9 IQ points higher.
A pilot study of three year olds also showed an impressive 46% increased ability in object assembly tasks (connecting puzzle pieces) by children who had received eight months of keyboard training,compared to a control group,who had no piano lessons.
So why might playing or listening to music affect intelligence?The auditory system is involved in inferring and discovering patterns.It quickly interprets patterns in time,perceiving as rhythm,relating to the body's own heart pulse.Linked pitch intervals across time,interpreting these as melody and prosody.
The ability to recognize patterns requires both memory and access to many subconscious neurological brain paths and biological systems.Our ability to recognize patterns and also imagine them,modified by action,is the essence of spatial imagination and a key to what it means to be human,a person in motion.
This research seems to support the thesis that immersing oneself in the study,or mere enjoyment of classical music (an acquired taste),actively affects the way we think and enhances,without LSD,abstract thought.Without doubt,the advice of Timothy Leary and Aldous Huxley to flee the prison of the body with drug enhanced hallucinational techniques is a sure fire way of missing the point.
The point?
Disciplined creative power to create meaningful empathy from within our inner expectations,that reaches out to include others within the context of music making.
This comes at a price,both financially (not cheap) and in terms of spiritual discipline (grit being more to the point than 'talent').