There’s a revolution in the world of neuroscience and brain-based learning, but most of us haven’t heard the news. Yet, the implications for our children, for our entire educational system, are enormous.

     And guess what? It’s not just for kids. The rise of adult ADD and difficulties in concentrating and learning continue throughout life. And some of the same principles are relevant to most every one of us. So read on, and tune in to the new wave of “sound education.”

A Call for Educational Change

     I have just returned from an extraordinary conference that brought together leaders in the fields of research, teacher-trainers, and music. Masterfully orchestrated by master teacher-trainer Kim Bevill, this two-day conference brought together the latest scientific breakthroughs and the most effective instructional strategies. The intention was to help teachers ignite learning in their own classrooms.

     Many of us have read about the problems with education in the US. From everything I had read before this conference, the much-hyped No Child Left Behind appears to be a wash-out.

     But I was not prepared to hear some of the shocking statistics that apply to this field. Perhaps, if you are a parent, you are already struggling with these issues. But parent or not a parent, as a society, we all will, sooner or later.

     For instance, did you know that the average drop out rate is over thirty percent? And that the drop out rate in inner cities is fifty percent? I had no idea it was that high.

     Back when I was a teacher in the Palo Alto public school system in the mid-l970s, things were apparently mild compared to nowadays. According to presenters, not only is there more violence in the classroom and on campus, but more behavior problems of all kinds.

     Kids are coming to school now much more stressed from their home environment than ever before. So is it any wonder that they are having a harder time learning, or even wanting to learn? Stress is antithetical to learning, as I have suggested since my research demonstrated this in l973. It’s good to see the rest of the field catching up with reality.

Taking a Look at the Record

     But there are many other factors contributing to the heightened stress factors. Unfortunately, there is very little, if any, truly relevant research into many of these factors. Read on, and you’ll understand why.

     Movement: Remember when you were in school? Remember the hard chairs that made it well-nigh impossible to get comfortable? Well, there is research that now proves what we already knew intuitively: Bad seats, bad posture, and lack of movement actually decreases the brain’s ability to receive information.

     One of the key factors to enhancing learning is to incorporate movement and stretching often throughout the day, at least every l0 or 20 minutes. How many of us remember to get up and stretch or move while we’re at work? In fact, at some offices, you might risk sarcasm or censure if you did that. Yet research shows you’d be a more effective worker if you did.

     Lighting: In the quest to save money on energy, many schools have changed over to fluorescent lighting. But not all of these fixtures are created equal. Some make a much louder buzzing noise than others.

     For many of us, such noises are a stressor, and a continuous irritant to the nervous system. Net result: it’s hard to pay attention.

     When it comes to energy efficiency, it’s short sighted to look only at the electric bill. Look at the cost to students’ well-being and ability to learn.

     Nutrition: Junk food starves the brain of the nutrients it needs to function properly. Some schools are making some progress, but there is so much yet to do, far more than we can cover here. But suffice it to say, feeding our brains properly is essential to creating an optimal educational environment ... and for the everyday life of adults as well. See keynote presenter and best-selling author Dr. John J. Ratey’s books, Driven to Distraction and A User’s Guide to the Brain.

     Sound: I mentioned one environmental factor, that of buzzing light fixtures. Many other distracting sounds, noisy forced air systems, screeching chalk on chalkboard, etc., abound. And who can forget the most Pavlovian aspect of them all—the bell marking the end of each class period. Happily, some schools are experimenting with more sonorous alternatives, with good results.

     But it was in the area of music that the biggest breakthroughs were heralded. Unbeknownst to me at the time, Kim Bevill was in my workshop in 2000 at the Jensen Learning Conference, organized by best-selling author Erik Jensen, co-founder of SuperCamp, founder of Jensen Learning Corporation and The Brain Store. Kim had invited me because she was turned on by what I had presented. More to the point, she has been using my music with extraordinary results in her own classrooms and teacher training programs.

     But nothing could have prepared me for the incredible stories she shared with all in attendance during her opening remarks. I was sitting in my seat in the rear of the ballroom at 8:00 a.m., when she addressed her remarks to her use of my recordings and how they had transformed “problem” students, of all kinds, including those with ADD and even autism.

     Also unknown to me, in the audience were hundreds of teachers, from Colorado and Wyoming in particular, who themselves had had extraordinary success with my music. The main CDs were Music for Accelerated Learning, Ocean Suite and Chakra Suite.

     The next surprise: when my name was mentioned, I received a standing ovation. This was unquestionably the earliest I’ve ever received a standing ovation, and it felt great.

The Problem with Research and the (Non)-scientific Paradigm

     “It works in practice, but will it work in theory?”

     In so many fields related to alternative health and education, as well as nutrition and you name it, one of the reasons we’re told that new developments are not included into the mainstream is the “lack of research.”

     Well, new research continues to prove that the attitude of the researcher him or herself can indeed influence the outcome. So if they are negatively disposed to the variable being tested, there is a statistically higher chance that the outcome will be negative.

     I consider this in line with the woeful omission of studies done on the so-called placebo effect. Andrew Weil was probably the first to popularize the view that, rather than being dismissed, the success of the placebo in itself should be studied. But there is no money in that, so it’s not really surprising, is it, that so little research has been funded. After all, if you’re a big pharmaceutical company, and the effect of your new pill is only a little more than the placebo, i.e., nothing, why would you want to publicize that?

     It’s similar with the now-discredited Mozart Effect. The big record companies, who have huge back inventories of Mozart’s music in their archives, have little incentive to let you know that recent studies attempting to replicate the fabled “Mozart makes you smarter” headlines of a decade ago have essentially proven that there is no such effect. If you’ve been reading my newsletters, you’ll know that it makes a big difference which specific composition you listen to, and which artist’s version as well.

     With my music, there is only one option. Other than some obvious copies that I have heard, there is only one version of Ocean Suite or Chakra Suite available for use. The fact that hundreds of teachers, and thousands of students, from all socio-economic backgrounds, are using this music with great success is something that most likely can never be duplicated in a lab.

     And teachers are too busy to write up formal research. Which means that anecdotal research is the best we’ll have for the foreseeable future. Teachers, however, report astonishing stories, such as Robbie, who had never read a complete paragraph before being able to do so while listening to Ocean Suite. He’s an ADD student, who usually gets up and runs around the classroom after reading just one sentence.

     Perhaps if we had a video camera in every room, real world research would have audio-video proof that might satisfy the more anal-compulsive researchers. At the very least, we’d have more ammunition to show to Dr. Phil or Oprah, and hopefully get the word out to a much wider audience.

     I know that many teachers have to pay for their own boombox, because the school budget doesn’t include these devices. Perhaps, as the benefits of using the proper music are made known, budgets will be revised to include the arts. Indeed, as so many districts have focused narrowly on what they consider to be the basics, they have overlooked the now documented essential role of music, movement and nutrition in getting students ready to learn anything, especially reading, writing and math.

     If it’s a strain to fund a boombox, imagine how challenging it might be to fund a video camera. But then again, imagine if Bill Gates directed only one percent of his foundation to this need, right here in our country.

     It’s not an impossible dream. Perhaps one family can lend a camera to a classroom for a week. There are ways. Please contact me if you have other ideas on how to document the benefits of brain compatible music.

     Kim Bevill refers to my recordings as “non-predictive music.” This is a nice refinement of how I have always described my music, of how the unique compositional aspects make it impossible to anticipate, analyze or predict what is going to come next. This is in direct opposition to traditional tension/resolution structures in most music. In fact, we’ve been culturally conditioned to respond to predictive patterns of melody, chord progressions and rhythm. We do so at an unconscious level. I demonstrate this in every one of my lectures and workshops. I’ll have an updated example on my website in the near future.

     For more information on the conference, visit www.brainbasicsconvention.com to learn about the work of all these leading presenters.

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© 2006 by Steven Halpern. Steven Halpern is an award-winning composer and recording artist who launched a “quiet revolution” in modern music that has profoundly impacted the fields of alternative medicine, sound healing and education. His recent release, Lake Suite, is the third in his Music and Nature series. Ideal for classroom use (as well as most anywhere else as well), it features the luminous tones of grand piano, complemented with the subtle ripples of a serene lake. Visit www.innerpeacemusic.com/ses for the Sound Education special offer.

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