Study: Childhood music lessons benefit adulthood cognition

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Music relaxes the body, uplifts the spirit, and motivates the inner will.

It should not be surprising to know that music provides these significant benefits. But, more than the ability to soothe, uplift, and motivate, music may actually boost the brain. And when children take up music lessons early on, it may boost brain response well into adult life, reveals a study in the Journal of Neuroscience.

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The scientists evaluated 45 healthy adults with ages ranging from 18 to 31. The results suggest that those who received formal music training as children have stronger brainstem responses to sound than those who never experienced music instruction. There is also an effect on how early musical training stopped. All in all, the results imply that cognitive developments boosted by musical training in childhood are significantly preserved through adulthood.

Furthermore, a short period of music lessons in childhood, say at the age of three years, alters the nervous system that persists in adulthood even after training. However, regular and continuous lessons early in life correlate to a better cognitive function in adulthood.

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Parents have to realize that beyond the ability to emotionally console or make children happy, playing musical instruments nourishes the mind. Injecting music into children’s lives can go a long way. As the great philosopher Plato put it: “I would teach children music, physics, and philosophy; but most importantly music, for the patterns in music and all the arts are the keys to learning.”

Mark Begelman and Markee Music open their doors to children to bring music into their lives. Know more of the studio’s facilities and services by visiting this Facebook page.

Songwriting essentials: Putting the groove on your music

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Professional musician songwriters have different ideas on how to write creative music for existing lyrics or the other way around. Some composers write the lyrics first and then compose the music after. Others find it easier to scribble the lyrics only when the notes have been ironed out. No matter how they do it, for experienced composers, creating music is relatively easy.

However, if you are a budding songwriter, writing words for the music or fitting music to those words can be a challenging take … at first. You may have to painstakingly extract those creative juices to make music that will sell, sooner or later. So as a rookie composer, do what many professionals do nowadays: look for inspiration from a variety of sources. It doesn’t matter if it’s in the form of a horrendous experience, a personal nightmare, a happy memory, a website, another song, or a dead dog.

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Steve Hillier, of Dubstar, has written numerous songwriting guides. You will find more helpful ideas from him in this BBC article.

There is no exact formula for a guaranteed hit song, but one thing’s certain—every song has its own life and origin to tell. Each arose from a unique process from scratch. As how the singer-songwriter, film score composer, and record producer Mark Knopfler puts it:

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“Each song has its own secret that's different from another song, and each has its own life. Sometimes it has to be teased out, whereas other times it might come fast. There are no laws about songwriting or producing. It depends on what you're doing, not just who you're doing.”


Mark Begelman is co-founder of Markee Music, which offers facilities and services for your songwriting needs. For more advice about songwriting and making music, visit this website.

Markee: The Mark Begelman-Keith Ridenour partnership

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Music has always captured the hearts of these two entrepreneurs—Mark Begelman and Keith Ridenour—both of whom have the goal of providing a state-of-the-art space complete with rehearsal and recording facilities and gears to musicians and bands. Together, they established Markee, a music studio located in Deerfield Beach, Florida.

Both of them have a strong grasp of what the business of music is all about and how musicians struggle to get their music out there. The two are musicians themselves.

Mark Begelman has been playing music for 40 years in his band ‘Monkey at a Typewriter’. He is also the founder of Mars Music.

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Keith Ridenour, on the other hand, is an accomplished song writer who founded and managed Ridenour Studios until its sale in 2003.

Markee is a one-stop music venue providing the following services and facilities, among others: six rehearsal studios, recording studio, music lessons rooms, equipment rentals, and song writing workshops … All for the convenience of both newbie and professional musicians.

“This is as good as it gets. Mark and Keith are always on top of it. This is truly the place to rehearse. Clean state of the art rooms and top of the line equipment. They are never hesitant to help with whatever you need,” Nash C., a satisfied client, shares his experience at Markee.

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Musicians can visit this website for more information on the different services that Markee offers.