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Music and Education: Advantages of Music on Education

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Many people tend to believe that music and arts are not important to the students. They only perceive them as tools for extracurricular activities. Others believe that these programs are not beneficial at all and that they are just time-wasting activities. This is, however, not the case, as music education has enormous benefits to the student’s life, especially those who are still in their early stages of life.

  • Music plays a central role in ensuring that the learner can advance academically. It is also a useful component during the earlier learning years, especially in kids.
  • Music also gives the students a gateway or room for expression of one’s feelings in a manner that is motivating.
  • It also bolsters learners’ critical thinking abilities.

It is no doubt that music education, whether it is the instrumentals or the vocals, plays a vital role in ensuring the success of the learner.  This happens by enabling the student to improve on the concentration levels and inculcating critical thinking in the learner. This improves a student’s academic performance, especially in custom essay writing.

Also, music has a positive impact on the brain of the learner. This means that is a student is subjected to music daily, then there is a higher likelihood that the responses of the brain improve significantly. Thus, revealing the incredible impact of music education on learners.

Importance of Music Education

There are advantages that come with music education. These benefits are on the elementary skills of the learner. Besides, the advantages are also on the enhancement of student’s learning and skill development in diverse areas.

Language Development

The relationship between music education and students’ development lies in the impact that the vice has on language development. This makes young learners benefit from music education immensely, not forgetting the importance of language development in young ones.

According to research, music education plays a vital role in the physical development of the section of the left brain. The left part of the brain is the one responsible for language processing. Music rewires the circuits in a manner that’s second to no other.

Besides, there is a relationship that has been established amongst language, music, and socialization. The development of the language in the young learner works towards enhancing that parts of the brain that are responsible for the processing of music.

Music education enables the learner to have verbal confidence. This, in return, bolsters the learner’s social life, as he or she gains the skills to communicate and socialize effectively. Lastly, this makes the young ones competent with their diction.

Smartness

As per research conducted on children aged six years for nine months, the kids were trained on playing piano and vocals. After nine months, it was discovered that their intelligence quotient had improved. This is because of the juxtaposition that was made concerning another group that was given drama lessons and a third group that never underwent the lessons at all.

The group that was participating in the piano and voice lessons scored three points higher than their counterparts. The group that was participating in the drama lessons did not score highly in the IQ test. However, there were significant changes that were observed in terms of their behavior. These social behaviors were not observed in the piano and voice group.

Improvement of Spatial Skills

Research on music education reveals that there is a relationship between music and temporal intelligence in children. Music education enables children to have a clear vision of the elements that belong to each other for a specified period. A good example is playing computer games.

Final Thoughts

Conclusively, music education impacts the learners’ know-how, as those who take part in the practice tend to score high in tests. Research also reveals that learning institutions whose art and music tutors are of exceptional quality are likely to produce the best instructors.

When the surrounding environment comprises of creativity and innovation, smart people who are taking part in activities that bring joy, even the learners who are not into art and music would definitely start doing better. This means that the surrounding has a great impact on people. For instance, in the case of negative surroundings, people mainly become pessimistic and vice versa.

Finally, since music education improves the concentration of the learner, the act means that their memory retention ability also suffers a good deed. In many cases, persons who have reaped the benefits of music education tend to remember information faster as compared to the rest who have not experienced the same.

4 Tips for Students to Effectively Use Music to Spark Creativity in Writing

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Writer’s block is an enormous problem that every writer has to deal with. Even the most renowned authors will tell you that they’re not immune to this age-old problem. Despite their creativity and writing prowess, they also struggle with this problem at some point. Now imagine what it can do to a student.

Writer’s block can inhibit the flow of ideas and make student’s well run dry. Even after putting efforts to rack their mind for ideas, it just remains blank.

This is an extremely strong force that prevents most students from completing assignments. While postponing work is an option for students, there’s always a better way to handle writer’s block.

Students can use music to spark creativity and enhance the flow of ideas. Music helps to stimulate the brain naturally. It inspires you to write and floods you with ideas.

But what is the best way for students to effectively use music to spark creativity? This guide highlights how students can use music to overcome writer’s block.

Establish Your Writing Goals

To get the right inspiration for your writing, you must first identify your writing goals. By writing down what you hope to communicate with your audience, you will be able to select music that will spark the right emotions.

Some questions to ask that will determine what music to play include:

  • What is my theme? Am I writing about politics, is it a story about natural calamity, or am I discussing religion?
  • What emotions do I intend to evoke with my writing?
  • What tone do I intend to adopt? Is it friendly, serious, or abstract?

The answers to these questions should enable you to select the best music to incorporate in your writing process to trigger the flow of ideas.

Go for Music that Complements Your Writing Goals

Music creates the right mood for your writing. Stirring the right emotions should get students closer to achieving their writing goals. It’s, therefore, important to select a playlist that is related to the topic of choice.

So how do you choose the right music? Your writing goals should inform your selection of music. Make sure you choose music that complements your goals in order to evoke the right type of emotions.

If you’re working on custom writing about natural calamities, listen to music with lyrics that are ideal for emotional topics. Music from artists like Adele should inspire you to write on emotional topics.

On the other hand, if you decide to write on positive topics, consider listening to songs composed by Beyoncé, Ed Sheeran, among other similar artists. These artists are known for creating music that develops positive feelings in listeners.

While the suggestions above work for most students, not everyone has the same taste for music. Music is personal. So choose songs that will help you trigger the most creativity.

Listen Before You Start Writing

Once you’ve selected your songs, take enough time to listen to them. Listening to the lyrics and understanding them will put you in the songwriter’s mind. You’ll get insights into what the artist intended to pass across through their art.

Meanwhile, you can close your eyes and reflect on your content. In addition to getting more ideas for your content, listening to music will help to spark emotions and get you in the mood to write.

As you listen to music, have a place where you can jot down any ideas that come to mind. 10-15 minutes should be enough to absorb the music and get a few ideas that will help you write a better essay. You’ll be surprised your essay might take a different angle than you anticipated.

Start Writing

When you start writing, music can help you focus. This can happen in two ways. First, you may have too many ideas in your head, which can easily make you distracted. Listening to music can assist you to control the flow ideas and get rid of any distractions.

Second, when writing in a silent room, don’t you ever feel the silence being extremely loud? For most students, it does. The best way to deal with it is to have some smooth music in the background.

Better still, you could listen to some instrumentals to increase your concentration span. Make sure the volume is low to medium because blasting music can reduce concentration.

Indeed arts feed each other, especially in this case where music can inspire students’ writing. Most times, students listen to music while on a morning run or when taking a bus home only to discover a writing idea buried within the song’s lyrics.

And it’s not that alone. The mood the music sets can inspire students to write even when experiencing writer’s block. So make music part of your writing, and you will have a story to tell!

 

4 Reasons to Take Online Music Lessons During a Pandemic

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It’s not a secret that 2020 hasn’t gone the way anyone expected. Since it looks like things will remain the same for awhile, people are looking for ways to cope. One possibility is to consider using the time spent at home to learn how to play a musical instrument. From the best online guitar lessons for kids Toronto to piano lessons for an adult, there’s something for just about everyone.

Why online music lessons during a pandemic? Here are some reasons that might apply in your case.

Maintaining Healthy Habits

Many of the things you used to do in order to care for your physical and emotional well being are off the table right now. That means you need to find healthy substitutes that will keep you going for the foreseeable future. Along with creating a home gym and rediscovering the delights of taking walks in the evenings or early mornings, consider the idea of taking music lessons online.

The lessons give you something to look forward to during the day, much like you used to look forward to a meal out with friends or a trip to the gym. There’s also the virtual interaction with the instructor so you actually get to talk to another human being. Even the time you spend rehearsing in between lessons provides one more way to occupy your time and enjoy the day a little more.

Finally Doing Something You’ve Wanted to Do For a Long Time

In your heart of hearts, there was always a desire to learn how to play a musical instrument. Given the fact that you have the time now, why not use it to fulfill that desire? There is no longer time taken up with a commute to and from work since you’re working from home. You also aren’t going to the movies or meeting friends for drinks, so having no time is no longer an excuse. Give in and take those lessons.

Participating in Making Music Online

if you look around on different video sites, creative people are doing some wonderful things. From combining vocals to create beautiful renditions of everything from pop songs to hymns to offering virtual concerts, it’s happening right now. Wouldn’t you like to be part of that?

While you may not be hoping for worldwide fame, think of what online lessons from Neighbour Note music school could do in terms of allowing you to create music to share with loved ones. Who knows? Some of them may also want to join in and help you create something that all your friends and family can enjoy.

Honing a Talent That You Can Share Once the Pandemic is Over

The pandemic will eventually be brought under control. When that happens, you don’t have to close the piano or put the guitar in the back of the closet. You possess a talent that can also be used once in-person gatherings become common again. Think of how nice it would be to play for a friend’s wedding or provide a little entertainment around a campfire. What you learn now will stay with you for the rest of your life.

Are you ready to start online music lessons? Good! Contact a school and set up the first one now. Once you get started, you’ll begin to see what these lessons will mean for you and for others in times to come.

100-year-olds offer you wisdom and advice

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“The longer I stay, the more noisy I shall get.”

Dolly Parton Saves 2020, Releasing Holiday Album ‘A Holly Dolly Christmas’

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Grammy-winning, entertainment icon, Dolly Parton, is helping to make 2020 a little bit brighter globally with the announcement of her brand new Christmas album, A Holly Dolly Christmas coming out on October 2, 2020.  The upcoming holiday album, releasing on Butterfly Records in partnership with 12Tone Music, is Dolly’s first holiday album in 30 years. This festive collection of music includes some of the timeless Christmas songs we all know and love, as well as a few original tracks from Dolly. Dolly solely wrote 5 songs on the album and 1 additional co-write with Kent Wells.  The album also features incredible duets with some of Dolly’s dearest friends including Michael Bublé, Billy Ray Cyrus, Miley Cyrus, Jimmy Fallon and Willie Nelson, plus a special song with her brother, Randy Parton.

A Holly Dolly Christmas is available now worldwide for digital pre-add/pre-save/pre-order, exclusive pre-order bundles, and physical pre-order.

For exclusive pre-order bundles, please visit http://shop.dollyparton.com.

Pre-Order the album on iTunes or Amazon at https://smarturl.it/AHollyDollyChristmas.

Pre-Save the album on Spotify, Deezer or Apple Music at https://bit.ly/AHDCPreSave.

The first single coming off A Holly Dolly Christmas, will be her beautiful duet with vocal powerhouse, Michael Bublé, “Cuddle Up, Cozy Down Christmas.”

“I am so excited to announce my new Christmas album ‘A Holly Dolly Christmas.’ I have recorded several Christmas classics like “Holly Jolly Christmas”, as well as some new material that I hope might become Christmas classics.  I’ve recorded 5 duets with 5 very special artists as you can see,” states Dolly.  “I figured since everybody probably wouldn’t get to celebrate Christmas as usual this year, I wanted to be creative instead of sitting around at the house this summer.  So I put on my mask, gloves and practiced social distancing, as well as all of the wonderful musicians and singers, and we proceeded to put together what I think is some of the best work that I’ve ever done.  Kent Wells produced the album.  As you know, Kent has been my friend, band leader and producer for many years.  He’s outdone himself on this one.  I’m just hoping that you’re gonna love it as much as we loved putting it together.  So enjoy and MERRY CHRISTMAS!”, elaborates Dolly.

A Holly Dolly Christmas Track Listing:
1. Holly Jolly Christmas – Dolly Parton
2. Christmas Is (feat. Miley Cyrus) – Dolly Parton
3. Cuddle Up, Cozy Down Christmas – Dolly Parton, Michael Bublé
4. Christmas On The Square – Dolly Parton
5. Circle Of Love – Dolly Parton
6. All I Want For Christmas Is You – Dolly Parton, Jimmy Fallon
7. Comin’ Home For Christmas – Dolly Parton
8. Christmas Where We Are (feat. Billy Ray Cyrus) – Dolly Parton
9. Pretty Paper – Dolly Parton, Willie Nelson
10. Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus – Dolly Parton
11. You Are My Christmas (feat. Randy Parton) – Dolly Parton
12. Mary, Did You Know? – Dolly Parton

Recently, Dolly also announced her partnership with Chronicle Books to release Dolly Parton, Songteller: My Life in Lyrics. The visual memoir and annotated songbook will give an intimate look at Dolly’s enduring career as a songwriter, musician, and Country legend. Fans will have access to the stories behind the lyrics in Dolly’s own words with never-before-seen photographs and memorabilia, bringing them closer to her work than ever before. Also, Recorded Books audiobook form and CD of Dolly Parton, Songteller: My Life in Lyrics will be available on November 17, 2020 and is currently available for preorder on Amazon.

Dolly Parton, Songteller: My Life in Lyrics will be available November 17th, 2020. To pre-order, please visit: Dolly.ChronicleBooks.com.

The Prince Estate Releases Previously Unheard Track “Witness 4 The Prosecution (Version 2)”

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Today, The Prince Estate in partnership with Warner Records, releases “Witness 4 The Prosecution (Version 2),” a previously unheard recording from Prince’s legendary vault that will be featured on the expanded reissue of Prince’s iconic Sign O’ The Times out September 25.

“Witness 4 The Prosecution (Version 2)” was recorded at Sunset Sound, Studio 3 on October 6, 1986, by engineer Coke Johnson.

When Country music artist Deborah Allen asked Prince if he could write a song for her, he decided to rework “Witness 4 The Prosecution” instead. The original song contained contributions from the Revolution, but this re-recorded version is almost exclusively Prince (with the exception of Eric Leeds and Atlanta Bliss on sax and trumpet respectively), and it includes at least five different Fairlight keyboard tracks and seven layers of Prince’s own background vocals. Prince decided to keep the song, and would instead offer her “Telepathy,” which had been recorded and mixed on the same date.

The new Sign O’ The Times expanded reissue will be available this fall via all physical, digital and streaming partners, with the classic album remastered for the very first time. The Super Deluxe edition features 63 previously unreleased tracks, as well as a previously unreleased 2+ hour video concert performance from the vault.

The first unreleased tracks from Sign O’ The Times Super Deluxe edition reissue were shared through recent weeks. “Witness 4 The Prosecution (Version 1)”, “I Could Never Take The Place Of Your Man (1979 Version)”, and “Cosmic Day” are now available on all digital download and streaming platforms. Listen here and here and here respectively.

David Bowie Young Americans 45th Anniversary Gold Vinyl Album ‘Bricks & Mortar’ Exclusive Limited Edition Released September 18

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Originally released in March 1975, Young Americans was the David Bowie’s ninth studio album. To celebrate its 45th anniversary Parlophone is proud to announce a special limited edition ‘bricks & mortar’ outlet only gold vinyl version of the album.

Young Americans was a huge departure for Bowie, creating a sound during sessions in Philadelphia and New York that he described as ‘Plastic Soul’. The album’s two hit singles, the title track and the John Lennon co-write Fame, are viewed as amongst Bowie’s very best with the latter giving him his first US #1.

DAVID BOWIE YOUNG AMERICANS 45th ANNIVERSARY GOLD VINYL ALBUM TRACKLISTING

Side 1
Young Americans
Win
Fascination
Right
 
Side 2
Somebody Up There Likes Me
Across The Universe
Can You Hear Me
Fame

NEEDTOBREATHE Unveil Official Music Video For “Hang On”

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GRAMMY Award-nominated rock band NEEDTOBREATHE have released an official music video for “Hang On”, the lead single off their forthcoming album Out of Body.

“We worked with longtime collaborator and friend Jared Hogan on a five-part music video series for Out of Body,” the band shared. “We feel like we captured something that illustrates the story from the album—over two days in the middle of a pandemic—and we’re looking forward to unveiling the other videos in the next few weeks.”

Out of Body is due for release on August 28, 2020 via Elektra Records/Centricity Music, and is available for pre-order and pre-save now HERE. Limited edition merch bundles and experiences are available exclusively through NEEDTOBREATHE’s online store HERE.

Out of Body is due for release on August 28, 2020.

NEEDTOBREATHE will welcome the album with Celebrating Out of Body, a fully immersive concert experience directed by acclaimed filmmaker Elizabeth Olmstead (Brandi Carlile, The Highwomen) that will see the band perform their new songs live for the very first time. Streamed from the studio in Nashville, TN, this high definition audio and video experience will put fans right in the middle of a live performance to celebrate the album’s release. Celebrating Out of Body will take place on Friday, August 28th at 9:00pm ET. Tickets are available now HERE.

NEEDTOBREATHE introduced Out of Body in April with the release of anthemic lead single “Hang On” and ballad “Seasons”. American Songwriter claimed, “‘Hang On’ could easily be the next summertime sing-along,” and E! News praised the track as “The sort of anthem we all need right about now.” “Hang On” has already soundtracked a national campaign for the PGA Tour’s Impact Initiative and been featured in the season finale of American Idol.

On Out of Body, the platinum-certified trio—Bear Rinehart [vocals, guitar], Seth Bolt [bass, vocals], and Josh Lovelace [keys, vocals]—examine life, family, and friends through a youthful prism. The guys take stock of not only two decades as a band, but also first-time fatherhood and the future over a rich soundtrack of soulful rock with stadium-size scope and poetic intimacy. After spending a week at a beach house in Charleston to gather thoughts and ideas, the trio headed to Nashville, to record alongside producers Cason Cooley and Jeremy Lutito. As they cultivated a team atmosphere, the songs organically came to life.

Out of Body follows 2016’s H A R D L O V E, which debuted at #1 on the Billboard Top Current Album Sales Chart, and featured the gold-certified title track “Hard Love”.

Good News! Jim Cuddy To Release Brand New Song August 21

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Jim Cuddy has announced the release of a brand new song – “Good News (Acoustic)” – out August 21 at all digital streaming services and retailers.

Fans who pre-save/pre-add the song starting today can enter to win a “Good News” Zoom call and acoustic performance from Jim for themselves and 10 of their friends. Enter here.

“After all the isolation and barrage of news, I felt uplifted that so many people were working together to protect each other,” says Jim Cuddy. “We’ve all been locked down for months and spread away from each other and yet there has been a concerted effort to respect each other as well as the activism in the streets, so it’s been a very inspiring time in many ways. ‘Good News’ is sort of the contrast between how inspiring it’s been to watch everybody work together and how difficult it’s been to keep going without any good news.”

Jim Cuddy has received some of Canada’s highest honours, both as an esteemed solo artist and as a member of the legendary band Blue Rodeo. He is an Order of Canada recipient, multiple JUNO Award winner and a member of the Canadian Music Hall of Fame and Canada’s Walk of Fame. 2019 saw the release of his album Country Wide Soul, featuring reimaginations of previous solo and Blue Rodeo gems along with covers of classic and two brand new compositions. Jim has been a advocate for music education through his support of MusicCounts initiatives and events including being the driving force behind the creation of JUNO Cup annual charity hockey game.

How Artificial Intelligence Has Changed the Music Streaming Industry

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Music has always been about creative expression and about sharing a message or feeling. While that still holds true today, the music industry has changed in many ways since people first started buying vinyl records decades ago. Namely in the way that music is shared and distributed but also in the way music is viewed – at least by record labels. Now big data drives their decision-making processes to reach as big of an audience as possible.

Machine learning, fueled by a massive internal, user, and external data sets, have redirected the way people create and consume music forever. The streaming industry has only blossomed in the last decade – the blink of an eye in music terms – and AI runs it.

Dancing to the Tune of Artificial Intelligence

Streaming platforms like Spotify, Joox, and QQ Music apply AI and machine learning liberally to increase personalization. In fact, providing personalized experiences lies at the heart of the massive success that streaming companies like Spotify have enjoyed so far.

This is because music is a deeply personal experience, and people differ in their tastes, even within the same genre. Then there’s also the fact that a person’s mood can influence the music they decide to listen to.

Companies know that, which is why they’re using machine learning to transform the way they deliver music. The current AI application has already made great strides in search optimization and recommendation engines by analyzing listener habits, the media, and audio.

How Machine Learning Improves The User Experience

The term artificial intelligence can be confusing as it has several different applications. In terms of the music industry, this translates to algorithms used to detect patterns and make decisions based on them. Those patterns are supplied by two major sources:

User Data

Streaming platforms look at users’ behavioral trends to guide their algorithms. This includes how often they listened to a song, which genres they listen to most, and which songs they add to playlists. Each platform’s algorithms surely include many more behavioral markers than those listed here, but the public isn’t necessarily privy to them.

 

What is evident, however, is that these companies also gather other sets of personal data to link to their users for deeper insights. The type of data they gather likely varies, but it does include things like people’s location, age, keyword preferences, and the devices people use.

Audio Analysis

One of the most intensive applications of AI in music streaming is in audio analysis – also called audio models. The big streaming platforms, like Spotify and Apple Music, add thousands of new songs to their libraries every day. Every song is analyzed and tagged according to different vectors.

Some companies utilize advanced technology, like convolutional neural networks – the same tech used in facial recognition. This helps streaming services go beyond normal genre tags to analyze a song’s pitch, melody, vocal styles, lyrics, and more. With that, they can combine user preferences to recommend songs that those users will presumably want to listen to.

Security Flaws Inherent in Today’s Data Gathering Model

The prospect of personalization is promising – who doesn’t want new playlists tailored to their tastes and moods? But it comes at a cost because AI isn’t just used to provide a better user experience. Streaming services are also using machine learning for advertising purposes.

While that’s already frustratingly invasive to a degree, the bigger problem is that user data can be exposed during cybersecurity attacks. Data breaches are among the most common security threats in the world right now, and they expose a lot of sensitive personal information. This threat isn’t just limited to the streaming platforms people use either but includes the advertisers they share information with.

So what can users do? The first step is to be informed on how much of their data is being collected. The next is to use additional privacy tools like VPNs to avoid the risk of cyber threats.

A virtual private network encrypts users’ online traffic, and hides their location, preventing third parties (like advertisers) and hackers from getting their information. Don’t opt for the free services, though, as they’re usually slow and may gather data for advertisers too, defeating the purpose.

Paid VPN services offer protection from more than just data-gathering streaming platforms and provide a few other benefits too. For instance, they give users access to geo-restricted streaming content and can even help save a few dollars off of online shopping or travel expenses.

The Future of Personalized Music Streaming

Artificial intelligence has and continues to transform the music industry in incredible ways, however, this needs to be tempered with caution. Right now, AI is used to gather incredible amounts of data, which could fall into the wrong hands.

This threat may become even greater in the near future as people start moving towards wearable technology. Imagine a sensor or implant that monitors their moods and can adapt the music they’re listening to accordingly in real-time. It may not be a reality now – but neither was music streaming tw