THE AX CALLED THE SAX

Among brass and woodwind instruments, the saxophone is a relatively new instrument, only being invented in 1841 by Adolphe Sax. It was not accepted among orchestras for quite a while, and of course now, is widely accepted in almost all genres of music. Saxophones are also called reed instruments because they use something in the mouthpiece called a reed, which is made of wood. See below...

When first invented, saxes filled a gap between woodwind and brass instruments, because it became the most powerful woodwind instrument, yet more adaptive than a lot of brass instruments. The most well-known use of the sax is in jazz. Most saxes, past and present, are made from brass, even though they are categorized as woodwind instruments. That was the genius of the invention at the time: the sax has the projection of a brass instrument, but the sound qualities of a woodwind. Check out this funky variation on sax material - this sax from the 1950s is made of plastic! Not sure how great that would sound?

To me, the saxophone is an instrument that can convey such a wide range of human emotions. It can whisper you to sleep, be very sexy, or blast your ears off. I think that's pretty awesome.

If you are interested in saxophone lessons, take some at Earthtone School of Music: http://www.earthtonemusic.org/

Check us out on Facebook at: http://www.facebook.com/EarthoneMusic

MUSIC, THE NATURAL DRUG

Most of us know that listening to music gives our bodies and brains a certain amount of pleasure. Recent scientific research is telling us specifically what is happening. A big reason for this buzz in our bodies and brains, is the release of a chemical in our bodies called dopamine. Dopamine is also related to and released when people think about money, eat food, or ingest psychoactive drugs. So, this research is a great reason to listen to music instead of taking drugs!

Here's a visual example of where dopamine travels in our brains...

Researchers who published a study in the journal Nature Neuroscience, showed that dopamine gets released on a graduating scale depending on how we feel about the music. When participants in the study listened to neutral music, not too much dopamine was released. When the participants listened to highly desired music, more dopamine was released. Even the anticipation of listening to favorable music released dopamine in the brain.

This research shows why music has played such a huge emotional role in most societies for centuries.

To get your natural buzz, sign up for some music lessons at Earthtone School of Music: http://www.earthtonemusic.org/

And follow us on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/EarthoneMusic

MAKE MUSIC AND THEN LEARN A LANGUAGE

There has been much research within the past 10 years that proves that learning to play music can increase one's ability to learn a language. The most recent research has involved brain imaging, and shows that when people play music, an area in the brain gets activated, and this area overlaps with the language area.

This is a big reason young children are taught language by singing to them. A researcher named Daniel Schon invented a number of gibberish words, and repeated them back to study participants. When these participants heard the words repeated one after another, it was very difficult to tell where one word started or ended. They had the participants in the study try to re-speak the words after 20 minutes of listening. The participants did no better than chance in recalling the words.

Then the researchers taught the gibberish words to the participants in a melodic way. After 7 minutes of listening, they had almost always a better then 50% recall rate. Below is the chart to show the progress of this study.

The dotted line in each graph represents the average score for all listeners, and each square is the average score for an individual listener. As you can see, the results of the melodic learning greatly improved language recall.

Again, we have more proof of the importance of music in every day life. To get more music in your every day life, take some lessons at Earthtone School of Music: http://www.earthtonemusic.org/

And follow us on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/EarthoneMusic

HOW TO KEEP MUSIC IN SCHOOLS...WITHOUT FUNDING

Well, my title might be a little misleading, because I'm referring to teachers playing music (even recorded music) in the classroom in order to stimulate learning in all academic areas. Following are some ideas that come from Chris Brewer, who is an authority on integrating music into all areas of school curriculum. These ideas are probably best suited for teachers.

1. Do you ever play music because it makes you happy and more eager to do what you have to do?

• Play music to set a positive mood at the beginning of the day or at the start of class. Also play music throughout the day and at breaks to maintain a positive attitude from students.

2. Does music sometimes help you focus on the task at hand?

• Use music to sustain student attention and concentration.

3. Does music stimulate your creativity?

• Use during writing, art projects and creative activities.

4. Does certain music bring back memories and the emotional experience of an event?

• During learning activities, play music that will create an appropriate emotional connection to the information and provide a trigger for recall.

5. Does music help you connect to and cooperate with others?

• Play music to encourage interaction and build classroom community.

Here's another way to connect through music - take some music lessons at Earthtone School of Music. www.earthtonemusic.org/

Or check us out on Facebook: www.facebook.com/EarthoneMusic