Music News

Music Notes from the Library

Drumming Up a Better Brain with Mary Knysh

Every so often the opportunity for some amazing Professional Learning comes up, and last Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday was such a time.

The course integrated drumming, improvisation, movement, story, rhythmic games, chants and songs from world cultures whilst incorporating brain based activities designed to develop important mind-body connections.

 Mary Knysh hails from the USA and is the founder of Rhythmic Connections, (www.rhythmicconnections.com) an innovative company advancing education, health, and creative development through drum circles and music improvisation. She is a professional musician; recording artist and international author and Orff Schulwerk clinician and teaching artist.  She is endorsed by Rhythm Band Instruments and Remo corporations. Mary travels throughout the United States, Europe and Asia offering teacher and facilitator trainings, workshops and performances.

Mary said things like “You are full of music”, “Dare to try – there are no wrong notes”, and “Make mistakes well” and led us in activities that stretched us and demonstrated the truth of what she said.  We worked on the school’s values as we went, exercising Resilience (having a go whether we thought we could or not; bouncing back when we needed to), Respect (listening carefully to others; following the leader; working together), Compassion (encouraging one another) and Integrity (making sure we were doing the right thing to the best of our ability).

I learned a lot!  Not least about some of the research that has been done in how the brain works and optimal learning conditions.  According to Harvard neuroscientists in Boston, MA, there are four ways to actually build a better brain throughout your life through “neuroplasticity” – the growth of the connectors between left and right hemispheres of the brain. 

The four elements that were found to have the most important effect on the brain’s  neuroplasticity are:

• Making music
• Movement (Miss Schie would totally agree, and most Music lessons include movement.)
• Creative play (returning to the childlike attitude of play, imagination, fantasy)
• Numinous Experience (experiences where many people create something together as one, such as the many members of an orchestra playing together to create one piece of music.)

I learned two new words.  Numinous was one; the other was educe meaning to draw out.  Educing music from the students at Bimbadeen is such a rewarding experience, especially since they are all full of music even if they haven’t realised that yet.

The drumming journey has just begun.  It will lead into singing and playing other instruments, require co-operation and encouragement and be supported by all our school values.  Soon every class will have its own “Home” rhythm, developed numinously.

The photo below is the “silly photo” (there was also a sensible one!) taken at the end of the course.  Primary, secondary, tertiary and pre-school teachers attended from Canberra, Shepparton, Hamilton, Ballarat, Geelong, and many areas of Melbourne.

Lynne Burt.