Creativity Part One
Perhaps one of the single most influential document to date in possibly correcting the "music is a frill" attitude, is, "Challenge of Change". The research for this document was funded by a well-known, reputable company and backed by the President of the United States. This document could help turn the tide for a new respect for the arts.
The Mozart Effect, is research that addresses the effects of listening to music by Mozart while studying, or taking a test. This research showed that there was improvement in performing complex tasks of spatial reasoning after listening to Mozart. Frances Rauscher, Gordon Shaw and Katherine Ky, (1993), gave college students standard tests of spatial reasoning. They used three environmental conditions for their experiment. After the students had experienced 10 minutes of listening to Mozart, a relaxation tape, and experiencing silence, they found that performance on the test was significantly better after listening to Mozart than for the other two conditions. The authors of this study chose Mozart's music because of its musical structure. In their opinion, the structure of Mozart's complex music facilitates cognitive processing in the brain. Furthermore, Rauscher states, " . . . music that lacks sufficient complexity or is too repetitive would interfere with abstract reasoning."
References
Joyce, B., Weil, M. (1972). Models of Teaching, Prentice-Hall, pp. 233-253.
Personal Models of Teaching (1978). Prentice-Hall, pp. 25-103.
Webster, P., (1998). Arts Education Policy Review, 100 no. 2 - 6 N/D
Papert, S. (1993). The Children's Machine, New York, New York, Basic Books.
Synectics: An Approach to Teaching Midrash, Rabbi Alvan Kaunfer Melton, Research Journal/Fall 1990 No. 11
MacPherson, S. (1922). The Music Education of the Child, London: Williams, p. 13
Webster, P.R. (1990). Creativity as creative thinking. Music Educators Journal, 6:22-28.
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