Performing Arts News
How Playing A Musical Instrument Benefits Your Brain
- taken from biggerbetterbrains.com
There is now an enormous amount of research that has explored, measured, quantified and illuminated the benefits of music education on cognitive, emotional, social and physical development. Such is the quantity and quality of the research that it is now understood that music education benefits the development of the whole person like no other human activity.
How does it do this? The answer is in the activities that are inherent in reaching the goal of performing a piece of music on an instrument. In order to reach a stage where children can perform a piece in front of an audience, no matter how large or small, they have to master the following skills.
1. Control of their motor cortex that directs their bodily movements – Getting the right note to come out of a musical instrument at the right time with the right sound is an incredible cognitive accomplishment. This is because the human brain needs to coordinate the motor, visual and auditory cortices to synchronise together to produce just one correct note. Imagine the coordination your child’s brain is achieving after playing an entire piece.
2. Control their emotional states and reactions – Rehearsals can be frustrating experiences, mainly because bringing a whole piece together is a slow and repetitive process. This is actually an act in learning how to learn slowly and sequentially while controlling our emotional responses when we might get bored or frustrated or want to be anywhere else. This control becomes immeasurably more complicated in a performance situation when you add adrenaline and excitement into the mix. Your child has a huge number of stimuli running around in their bodies while they are rehearsing or performing, and yet they have to keep their wits about them and keep their emotional responses contained in order to contribute their part to a successful performance.
It is now understood that music education benefits the development of the whole person like no other human activity.
3. Staying flexible and responding to unforeseen events – “Strange things happen in performance” is a common mantra of any musical conductor, as well as “you have to be ready for anything”. If the drum-kit player is struggling to restrain their excitement and starts getting faster and faster, the rest of the band needs to get faster with them and adjust on the spot to the new tempo. The ability to adjust our responses is incredibly difficult, because most of the time we just want to start the piece again. Remember, this also all happens without a verbal instruction being spoken.
These are only three of the cognitive activities that your child is managing right in front of your eyes when playing a musical instrument. Inside their heads, their brains are working really hard to bring you a polished and seemingly flawless performance.
AMEB Results
Congratulations to a number of our Woodwind students (and our Woodwind teacher Mr Mark Dipnall) on their achievements in the recent Australian Music Examinations Board (AMEB) practical exams. These practical examinations comprise of the following elements: technical work, studies and pieces, aural tests, sight reading and general knowledge. Preparing for these exams can be challenging and time-consuming and these great results are recognition of a year’s hard work and achievement.
Harry Chen 8B (Grade 5 Alto Sax – pass with Credit)
Terry Sun 8F (Grade 4 Clarinet – pass with Credit)
Elizabeth Waters 7B (Grade 1 Flute – pass with High Credit)
Nina Gibbs 7B (Grade 3 Clarinet – pass with Honours)
Crystal Cao 7F (Grade 3 Flute – pass with Honours)
Relay For Life
On 26th October the GEC Vocal and Strings students performed as part of the Murrumbeena Relay for Life at Duncan MacKinnon Reserve. Despite all of the rain and inclement weather, the students still made it to the stage in time for the performance! There were solo and ensemble performances from Acapella and the GEC String Ensemble who played the Incredibles Theme, then the hit song Victorious by Panic! at the Disco. The instrumental music students had many supporters in the crowd, including GEC students, families and staff. It was a fantastic warmup for our next performance on Thursday 14th November for the Strings, Voice and Piano Concert. Congratulations to the Vocal and String students on a fantastic performance!
Zamarah Morley & Tori Wood
Music Teachers
Bandfest
Glen Eira College hosted the Junior Bandfest on Wednesday 30th October. Many secondary colleges attended a day of rehearsing concert band items. The occasion was an initiative organised by DET SEVR Instrumental Music Regional Coordinators and the Glen Eira College Performing Arts Department. The Band Conductor for the day was Ms Sue Arney from the University of Melbourne’s Faculty of Education.
The day commenced with setting up the seating, music stands and percussion equipment for approximately 90 music students. The aim of the day was to give students the opportunity to explore new repertoire ranging from a majestic Triumphal Procession to Belah The Warrior Sun Woman including body percussion and the well known The Can Can. The participating students were those who had been studying their instruments for approximately one to two years.
The morning session was devoted to familiarisation with the complexities of the music, establishing rapport with fellow students and following the conductor’s directions. After a relaxing lunch, the items were performed and audio recorded. The results were highly commendable with the conductor remarking there was a wonderful spirit to the day. Our students from the woodwind, brass and percussion departments were very appreciative of their experience playing in a large concert band and look forward to recieving and sharing the recordings from the day.
Crystal CAO - FLUTE
Elizabeth WATERS - FLUTE
Hanako GUNTON - FLUTE
Soham SHINDE - FLUTE
Nina GIBBS - CLARINET
Natalie DUIEB - ALTO SAX
Akino GUDAN - PERCUSSION
Harvey EDWARDS - PERCUSSION
Upcoming Performances
Week 7: 18th November - Music Department Lunchtime concert (Brass / Woodwind / Guitar / Percussion students)
Week 11: 17th December - Presentation Evening
Laura Baker-Goldsmith
Head of Performing Arts