When he's struggling to understand the immune system or a rare disease, music and poetry serve as an anchor.

"It helps calm me down and actively choose what to focus on," says Esson, a second-year student at the Medical College of Wisconsin.

Esson, who was born in Ghana, also thinks his brain is better at absorbing all that science because of the years he spent playing the trumpet and studying Afrobeat musicians like Fela Kuti.

"There has to be some kind of greater connectivity that [art] imparts on the brain," Esson says.

That idea — that art has a measurable effect on the brain and its structure — has support from a growing number of scientific studies.

"Creativity is making new connections, new synapses," says Ivy Ross, who is vice president of hardware design at Google and co-author of the New York Times bestseller Your Brain on Art: How the Arts Transform Us.

Ross co-wrote the book with Susan Magsamen, director of the International Arts and Mind Lab at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. Magsamen says art's effect on the brain is most dramatic in children.

"Children that are playing music, their brain structure actually changes and their cerebral cortex actually gets larger," Magsamen says.

In Your Brain on Art, Magsamen and Ross describe how a person's neural circuitry changes in response to activities like learning a new song, or a new dance step, or how to play a character onstage.

They also explain why a growing number of researchers believe these changes result in a brain that is better prepared to acquire a wide range of skills, including math and science.

A brain trained to flex

Music, dance, drawing, storytelling — all of these have been a part of human cultures for tens of thousands of years. As a result, "we're really wired for art," Magsamen says.

And when we make art, she says, we increase the brain's plasticity — its ability to adapt in response to new experiences.

"Children who engage in the arts are better learners," Ross says. "Students with access to art education are five times less likely to drop out of school and four times more likely to be recognized with high achievement."

The arts also can teach the brain skills that it's unlikely to get in a classroom, Ross says.

"I was a dancer for like 12 years and I really think it gave me a sense of form and negative space," she says.

Those brain circuits probably helped in her wide-ranging career, she says, which includes designing jewelry that's part of the permanent collection at the Smithsonian.

Dancing also seems to improve mental health, Magsamen says.

"Even just 15 minutes of dance reduces stress and anxiety," she says, noting that the activity causes the brain to release "feel-good" hormones like endorphins, serotonin and dopamine.

Measuring art's effects

The link between arts and academic achievement has been noted by educators for many years. But it's only in the past couple of decades that technology has allowed scientists to see some of the changes in the brain that explain why.

In 2010, for example, scientists used functional magnetic resonance imaging to show that professional musicians had greater plasticity than nonmusicians in the hippocampus, an area involved in storing and retrieving information.

"The arts provide children with the kind of brain development that's really important for building strong neural pathways," Magsamen says, including pathways involved in focus, memory and creativity.

Esson, the medical student, may have been using some of those pathways when he found a novel way to study difficult concepts in chemistry.

"I wrote [poems] about acid-base reactions," he says with a laugh. "Oh my God, just so nerdy."

A failing grade for arts in school

Despite growing evidence that arts can improve performance in many other areas, activities like music and drawing have fallen out of favor in education and our culture, Ross says.

"We optimize for productivity and push the arts aside," she says. "We thought we'd be happy. And the truth is, we're not."

So people like Michael Kofi Esson are trying to find a balance.

Now at the end of his second year of medical school, Esson spends his days on science. But sometimes late at night, he still writes poems, including one that ends with this thought about how art and the brain both create their own version of reality.

Deception is art,
An art the brain has mastered.
Although art is a lie,
It is the brain's truth
Although art is deception,
it is the brain's reality.
The brain is a lie,
a lie so beautiful, it is art.

Esson hopes that one day he will write poems about the patients he treats. For now, though, he's still mostly an observer.

"I get to talk to them. But at the end of the day, they come for the doctor, not for me," he says. "Once I'm actually in that position, I think I want to bring the patient into the poems."

And perhaps bring some of the poems to his patients.

Copyright 2023 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

"We are convinced that this could be a game changer for teaching more than just notes and rhythms, but bringing a broader sense of community to the music."

Jason Max Ferdinand's book Teaching With Heart takes a new approach to choral directing. The compendium was released in 2020 through GIA Publications.

Inspiration for the project stems from Ferdinand's choir, the Aeolians, which he took to the American Choral Directors Association's national conference in 2019. There the singers blew away the audience by challenging racial biases in the choral world with their outstanding performances of traditional Western classical songs and Black music. In 2022, the Aeolians released their first album.

After their success, Ferdinand's progressive teaching style moved to the forefront of the conversation. Choral directors around the United States wanted to know how to re-create what he has perfected at Alabama's Oakwood University, where the Aeolians are based.

"I know a lot of people are interested in that 'Aeolian' experience, and, honestly, this book and how it's laid out is a great part of what we do here."

Ferdinand emphasizes that his teaching process is about choirs and teamwork. He worked with contributors from around the country to make the guide practical and accessible. The book includes 12 modules that correspond with the tracks on the Aeolians' album, as well as questions for choir directors to ask singers and students to help guide the thinking process around creating socially conscious music. There also are four hours' worth of conversations with composers and arrangers on the project. The book is laid out so teachers can get going quickly.

"My choir is not all music majors and minors," he said. "We really talk a lot about learning life lessons that you can use, whether you're going into medicine or dentistry or law. We need to take a deep dive into more than just notes, rhythms and phrasings, but really go deep down on how this has been impacted by society."

When the Aeolians' new recording came out in August 2022, members of the choir realized that many of its songs spoke to social issues that were happening right now. A song like "We Shall Overcome" was recorded before the killing of George Floyd, and "We Remember Them," a song about losing loved ones, was done pre-COVID. It led to Ferdinand asking how to approach and teach around these important topics in virtual-based classes during the semester.

"This process happened very organically, where some of the teachers picked certain songs and created lesson plans that help extract life principles from the songs," he said. "One teacher attach them to the national core standards for music and socioemotional learning standards."

In today's world, Ferdinand believes that choirs can no longer just teach notes and rhythms. His students would be lost if that is all they did, because now he has them spend so much time talking about the nitty-gritty of the music, including why, how and where it was written. It is important now in this socially aware world to have a clear understanding of the music being performed, he said. That has been his formula that's worked for his choir for many years.

"We take people on that roller coaster ride of life, just life period," he says about the audience experience. "And I think it is so much more meaningful, for the performance, for the listeners to leave there thinking, 'Wow, they really made me think about X. They made me think about why, and I want to make some adjustments to my life or make some adjustment about how I relate to other people.'"

One of the core concepts of the book and a driving force in Ferdinand's teaching is that music can be transformative, whether people realize it or not.

"We shouldn't program passively and sing or play passively," he said. "And it has to be connected to society. Speaking up about issues and marrying it with our performance practices, I think that's such a powerful thing."

Resources

The Aeolians (Amazon)
Jason Max Ferdinand — Teaching with Heart (GIA Publications)
Jason Max Ferdinand (official site)

On this episode of YourClassical Story, Candilee Jackson from Crystal City, Mo., shares how she turned to classical music to help her students focus and how they eventually became hooked.

What's YourClassical Story? Share it with other classical music lovers.

Lonnie Dupre is a Minnesota legend who loves classical music. When I shared with him 'Spiegel im Spiegel,' he was so deeply moved by its meditative force, he said that the piece is joining his collection on his next expedition. Why does Dupre listen to classical music? Because it keeps him focused, calm, centered, brave and empowered — and you need every single one of those feelings if you're planning to travel across the North Pole in summer, or circumnavigate Greenland by kayak, or climb Denali all alone in the darkest time of year. Dupre shares a bit from his latest book, Alone at the Top.

We all have distractions in our lives that keep us from working, studying, concentrating or otherwise attempting to unlock something in our own brains. It could be roommates, or coworkers, or the 24/7 rage-spigot of the internet, or something else entirely, but we all have outside forces we need to drown out without merely adding more chaos to the mix. This two-hour playlist is engineered to help.

A few years back, I built and promoted a Spotify mix called "Songs for Editing," in order to share some of my favorite head-filling, concentration-inducing music — most of it instrumental, all of it engrossing enough to enjoy but not so far-out as to distract.

But that mix always felt imperfect, if nothing else because it was mostly an album-dump of full-length ambient recordings, rather than a varied and sequenced mix. For this playlist, I tried to put together a sonically diverse experience that'll only interrupt your concentration long enough to make you think, "Whoa, who is this?" Some of the music falls into the category of movie scores; some of it's orchestral, or acoustic, or electronic. One stretch even excerpts an eight-hour piece that you're supposed to experience while asleep.

All of it is gorgeous, and I hope you enjoy it.

Thinkin' Songs Tracklist

1. Max Richter Orchestra and Lorenz Dangel, "On the Nature of Daylight" (from The Blue Notebooks)

2. Hammock, "Now and Not Yet" (from Mysterium)

3. Stars of the Lid, "Even If You're Never Awake" (from And Their Refinement of the Decline)

4. Nils Frahm, "You" (from Screws)

5. Clarice Jensen, "BC (feat. Jóhann Jóhannsson)" (from For This From That Will Be Filled)

6. Nathan Salsburg, "Eight Belles Dreamt the Devil Was Dead" (from Affirmed)

7. Julianna Barwick, "Flown" (from The Magic Place)

8. The Calm Blue Sea, "Samsara" (from Arrivals & Departures)

9. Slow Meadow, "Linen Garden, Pt. 1 (feat. Hammock)" (from Slow Meadow)

10. Metavari, "Pacific Lights" (from Be One of Us and Hear No Noise)

11. Jónsi and Alex, "Happiness" (from Dark Was the Night)

12. Nick Cave and Warren Ellis, "What Must Be Done" (from White Lunar)

13. Eluvium, "Don't Get Any Closer" (from Nightmare Ending)

14. Godspeed You! Black Emperor, "Undoing a Luciferian Towers" (from Luciferian Towers)

15. Tim Hecker, "In the Fog I" (from Ravedeath, 1972)

16. Bing and Ruth, "Warble" (from Tomorrow Was the Golden Age)

17. A Winged Victory for the Sullen, "Steel Hills of Vicodin Tears" (from A Winged Victory for the Sullen)

18. Brian McBride, "Girl Nap" (from The Effective Disconnect)

19. Max Richter, Grace Davidson, Ben Russell, Yuki Numata Resnick, Caleb Burhans, Brian Snow and Clarice Jensen, "Dream 8 (Late & Soon)" (from From Sleep)

20. Jon Hopkins, "Recovery" (from Singularity)

Copyright 2018 NPR. To see more, visit npr.org.

When Nathan Bahr was a grad student, he was enrolled in a Psychology of Sports Injury class at the University of Minnesota, studying different techniques a coach or mentor could do to assist an athlete post-injury. That's where he first heard of progressive muscle relaxation (PMR). "It's a technique used to recognize muscle tension and to increase kinesthetic awareness, or self-recognition of body positioning and movement," Bahr explains.

For Bahr, the timing of the PMR lesson was particularly meaningful. "It just so happened at the time that I recently had knee surgery and was working on my own rehabilitation," he recalls. "I was surprised to find out that when the instructor got to the shoulders and said to tighten them, they were already tense and tight. I could have been walking around all day with tense shoulders without realizing it. It just felt so great to feel my shoulders drop. Turns out a rehab from an injury plus grad school adds up the stress and anxiety levels a little bit."

Bahr now has a M.Ed in Applied Kinesiology, and he works as a coordinator at Physicians Neck and Back Center and CORE Spinal Fitness in Edina, Minn., which is a part of HealthPartners. In his work, Bahr helps patients to recover from injury and — importantly — to pursue a fitness plan that can help them avoid re-injury. "Muscular tension can be caused by many factors such as stress, fatigue, anxiety, irregular sleep schedule, or even an injury," he says. "Knowing when and where you have muscle tension can be a step towards relief."

Because progressive muscle relaxation can assist with that relief, Bahr took time to answer questions about PMR and about how it can be part of one's overall fitness regimen.

How does progressive muscle relaxation work?

Progressive muscle relaxation is normally led by an instructor, and you follow their directions during the exercise. You can start by laying on the floor or sitting in your chair, preferably in a quiet space. You focus on your breathing. Not trying to control the pace of your breathing, but just to be aware that it is there, taking deep breaths and exhaling them. Once you are aware of your breathing and you are calm, the progression can begin.

The instructor will focus on as many or as few muscle groups as needed, depending on the time constraints. What you do is squeeze and tense the muscles the instructor tells you to, and then you will relax them as much as you can. The instructor will slowly move their way up the body, directing you to tense the muscles and relax them.

It sounds like a simple exercise just squeezing and relaxing muscles, but you might come to find you have muscles that are tense when you don't even realize it.

How can progressive muscle relaxation fit into an overall fitness plan or approach to personal wellness?

A progressive muscle relaxation session can be done really any time. There are many different versions on YouTube that vary in duration, so if you just need to check out for a few minutes during a stressful day, you can do so as long as you can find a quiet place.

As far as fitting it into a fitness plan, your muscles need recovery time after a workout. If stress and anxiety aren't allowing these muscles to relax and they are constantly firing at all hours, you aren't giving them the proper time to recover and heal in time for the next workout.

How does progressive muscle relaxation help with body awareness?

You are experiencing exactly how it feels when a muscle is tense and when a muscle is relaxed because you are physically doing it while the instructor is explaining the sensation.

After being able to recognize the feeling of a tense muscle, you might have the awareness to catch your tension building at any given time and have the self-awareness to relax the muscle on your own. It might take some practice, but I do believe that practicing these motions consistently could possibly help the muscles react properly and more efficiently.

As Bahr explains, progressive muscle relaxation can help relieve tension and lead to improved body awareness. When it's time to let your muscles relax, YourClassical's Relax Stream is always ready to provide the soundtrack.

Resources

Physicians Neck & Back Center website

In a recent article, KQED/MindShift staff writer Katrina Schwartz investigates self-control strategies in children, with a focus on the research of psychology professor Walter Mischel. When Mischel was a professor at Stanford University in the late 60s/early 70s, he led a team or researchers who who studied delayed gratification in what became known as "The Stanford Marshmallow Experiment."

In the study, a child was offered a marshmallow (or sometimes a cookie or pretzel) and presented with a choice. He or she could 1) enjoy the marshmallow immediately, or 2) withhold from eating the marshmallow for a certain amount of time, and be rewarded with an additional marshmallow. The video below shows a recent version of the marshmallow experiment:

In research that followed the original testing, children who were able to hold out for the better reward tended to have better ability to deal with stress, higher SAT scores, and other positive traits.

In the article, Schwartz points out that many of the tactics the children use in the test — such as self-distraction, self-distancing, and identifying one's 'hot' and 'cool' systems — are strategies the could be transferred to the classroom. She notes, "if educators can find productive ways to use his research in classrooms, they will also improve student motivation, which can’t be detached from the idea of student efficacy in meeting goals."

Read Schwartz's entire feature on KQED's website.

It's easy to get caught up in the stress of the work day. Here are ten tips for catching your breath and renewing your focus on the job.

Take a walk

Get a breath of fresh air. Walk to a different coffee shop than you normally do, or just go sit out on the grass for a few minutes and watch the world pass by. If that's not an option, stroll wherever your feet lead you — even if it's just to the conference room, or living room, and back.

Visit a friend

Sometimes I'll take a work break and visit some of my colleagues in a different department. Just connecting with people who aren't focused on the exact same things can help give me a little perspective — and a smile.

Stretch

This doesn't need to be a whole yoga regimen in your cubicle: just stand and reach for the ceiling, or touch your toes, or do a quick push-up if you don't mind putting on a bit of a show. Getting the blood circulating can do wonders for your mental health.

Read a book

Keep a novel at your desk, and when you need a break, set a timer. You can escape into another world for ten minutes, and come back refreshed.

Get a lava lamp

Your place of employment may or not permit you to have an actual lava lamp — but some kind of soothing little gadget can help remind you that the world doesn't begin and end on that spreadsheet.

Switch projects

If one project is stressing you out, give it a rest for a few minutes and turn your attention to a different project. You'll still be doing work, but the switch-up will help reset your attention span.

Have a tea

When you feel like you're about to lose it, a warm decaffeinated beverage can help soothe the savage beast you've become.

Change your scenery

Is there somewhere else you can sit? On a couch, maybe — or in an empty conference room? Just getting out of your usual spot can help you refocus.

Create some custom Slack emojis

If you're on Slack, you know what I'm talking about. If you're not...never mind.

Put on your headphones

May I draw your attention to the 24/7 stream of uninterrupted relaxing music by some of the world's greatest composers that's available at this great site called YourClassical?

Gallery

Fullscreen SlideshowPrevious Slide

1 of 1

Next Slide

My sisters and I often exchange e-mails throughout the work day with the subject line "very important"; or sometimes "EXTREMELY IMPORTANT," like when a baby elephant gets a bath (and loves every second of it!), a baby buffalo is born, or a couple of red pandas have the time of their lives playing in the snow. I sneak these precious moments in between projects, feeling a little guilty for not doing work.

Turns out, I can stop feeling guilty. Those e-mail breaks might actually be important, at least according to the University of Hiroshima's study "The Power of Kawaii" (kawaii means "cute" in Japanese), which asserts that looking at pictures and videos of animals actually helps a person concentrate.

Here's the bottom line: "Results show that participants performed tasks requiring focused attention more carefully after viewing cute images. This is interpreted as the result of a narrowed attentional focus induced by the cuteness-triggered positive emotion that is associated with approach motivation and the tendency toward systematic processing."

Now that's just when you look at an animal. Imagine what happens when you interact with one!

Attending a conference last year, I went to an educational session in the morning and then took a look around at the different booths. Feeling a bit uncomfortable and entirely out of place, I decided to visit the North Star Therapy Animals’ Puppy Cuddling booth.

I wasn't the only one who made a beeline for the booth—I had to wait in line to pet a dog, and it was well worth it. The golden retriever I sat with for a few minutes relieved my feelings of anxiety, and it was easier to make conversation with complete strangers now that we had something—a very cute something—to talk about. I wasn't the only one who felt the benefits of that cuddle time; the booth was nonstop busy with conference attendees taking a break from the work-related stress.

My workplace is one that allows employees to bring dogs to work. Sure, I'm not working the moment I'm playing catch with Lucy or petting Finnegan (who's wearing his new tie that day), but I find myself in a better mood when I return to my desk. Unsurprisingly, a 2012 study from the Virginia Commonwealth University found lower stress levels, higher levels of job satisfaction, and a more positive perception of their employer among employees brought their dogs to work.

Yes, animals can be kind of a distraction—but the benefits of the after-effect are proven. So watch all those cute videos, look at all those adorable pictures, and pet all the dogs you want.

Morgan Halaska is the assistant editor of Minnesota Meetings + Events magazine.

Gallery

Fullscreen SlideshowPrevious Slide

1 of 1

Next Slide

I guess you could say I have a creative side. I'm a professional photographer, I play the piano, I write fiction and nonfiction books and articles, and I've even been known to write the occasional boring poem. But, like many other "creatives," I also have a Great American (Unfinished) Novel.

It seems that almost every writer has that unfinished novel in a drawer, or—more recently—in the cloud. Rob Petrie from The Dick Van Dyke Show, Anne Shirley from Green Gables, and even "Paul" from Billy Joel's "Piano Man" all struggled to complete their personal Moby Dicks while also balancing daily life. If you're a writer with an unfinished Grapes of Wrath in hiding, let me help you make the most of your writing time by offering some musical suggestions to get help set the mood.

For my "writing music," I look for a non-distracting, calming sound that essentially maintains a steady feel and theme throughout. The main goal at your writing desk should be writing; the music is just there to act as a dash of inspiration and a way to get your creative right brain engaged. For this reason, I try to avoid pieces that present major shifts in style, volume, and tempo, or those that sound overly intense. Movie soundtracks and many symphonies fall into this category, since they tend to feature dramatic crescendos that can actually be distracting while you're trying to write.

Also, keep your speakers—and your desk—calm by choosing only the relaxing movements of any given work. This might mean skipping over Holst's Jupiter and instead opting for Venus. Feeling like some Mozart? Try the second movement of Eine Kleine Nachtmusik and you'll see what I'm talking about. Like Aesop's tortoise, when it comes to writing, slow and steady wins the race. (If you're brainstorming—dreaming up ideas—then all bets are off, and you can find inspiration on YourClassical's Energy or Movies streams.)

I've found that calm piano music can also be great for novel-writing. Chopin is a good choice, but you have to watch out because he can be a little too peppy and distracting! You should have good luck if you stick with quieter choices, like Nocturne in E-flat Major Op. 9, No. 2 for the happy scenes in your novel when Romeo meets Juliet, and Nocturne in B Flat Minor Op. 9 No 1 for those sad moments when Juliet must tell Romeo she's moving to Alaska—or whatever.

Some final novel-music advice?

Grab yourself a copy of Journey by modern composer Austin Wintory. Let me hasten to say: I'm not a video gamer—and, as I mentioned before, I tend to shy away from soundtracks when writing, so it may seem odd that I recommend the soundtrack to a video game as essential novel-writing music. That said, Journey manages—as much as is musically possible—to actually tell the story of a "journey" through music (and with the aid of helpful track titles). What's better than that when plotting your novel? The album's first track ("Nascence") pulls you in with a delightful cello theme around which the rest of the album is based. With a runtime of 59 minutes, the album perfect for those times when you're "going to go work on my novel for an hour." Good stuff.

Who knows? Maybe someday we'll actually finish those novels. Until then, at least it's a great excuse to listen to music.

Daniel Johnson is a Wisconsin-based photographer and writer, and the author of several nonfiction titles and one unfinished novel. You can see his photography work (he does a lot of animals!) at foxhillphoto.com. Nocturne in E-flat Major Op. 9, No. 2 is his all-time favorite piece of classical music.

Gallery

Fullscreen SlideshowPrevious Slide

1 of 1

Next Slide

When words feel clumsy and cumbersome, the right music can drown out distractions that can get in the way. Studies show that certain music improves the ability to stretch imagination and helps in problem-solving. When you're facing writer's block, classical music can help you let go of the outside world and concentrate on the task at hand.

Not sure what to listen to? Here's a playlist to get you working.

The Secret Garden score by Zbigniew Preisner

Polish composer Zbigniew Preisner creates, at times lush and others dark and heavy, worlds that invoke hope and sadness. His score for The Secret Garden (1993) is the perfect background for a fertile work environment. Preisner's haunting music features a ghostly, tremulous flute, along with the omnipresent piano, evoking the melancholy side of Chopin.

Trio For Piano, Violin and Violoncello in F Minor, Op. 65: III Poco Adagio by Antonin Dvorak

Cast as a trio, the piano, violin, and cello marry wonderfully on these pieces. The three instruments dance gracefully and leave room to breathe. Dvorak pulls listeners in by subtle coaxing, rather than dragging them by the hand.

Cello Concerto in E Minor, Op. 85 by Edward Elgar

My favorite soloist who has recorded this classic concerto is Jacqueline du Pre. While her career was cut short to multiple sclerosis, du Pre's precocious mastery eclipsed the achievements of many of her peers. Du Pre's playing was lyrical, mercurial, passionate, and energetic. She had the ability to make the cello sound like a human voice and she didn't fit into anyone else's mold.

Symphony No. 25 in G Minor: Allegro con brio by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Drawn-out to capture the romance of Mozart's expression, repeated listenings bring out the nuances that connect the deliciously somber opening to the bright and furious bridge. Perfect when you are feeling uninspired or lethargic.

Lieder ohne Worte, Op. 30: No. 1. Andante Expressivo in E Flat by Felix Mendelssohn

Leaning towards the meditative approach, Mendelssohn's music is slowed to a pace to allow the listener into greater passages of detail — sometimes lost on piano players who are intent on rushing through their interpretations.

Concerto in E Minor for Violin and Orchestra, Op. 64, II: Andante by Felix Mendelssohn

It was difficult to repeat a composer twice on this list, but Mendelssohn is an expert at crafting transparent layers that seem to fill the air with orbs of light that dance in the spaces that aren't being used by many other composers.

Swan Lake, Op. 20a, Danses des cygnes: II. Andante by Peter Ilyitch Tchaikovsky

Yes, this is Tchaikovsky at his heart-beating best, heavy with emotion and quick as the brain scampers over a lifetime of images. Swan Lake is one of his most famous compositions, full of life.

Harvest II by Jacob Pavek

Jacob Pavek, a St. Paul resident, builds dense lives in his piano tracks. Pavek's intelligence shines through his music, and it will surely make you want to put words to paper.

Youa Vang is appreciative of all genres of music — even country. When not writing about music, she can be found working on her standup comedy and cross-stitching mischievous sayings while watching The Simpsons.

Gallery

Fullscreen SlideshowPrevious Slide

1 of 1

Next Slide

Young children enjoy moving and responding to all types of music — and listening to classical music is a good place to start. Watch as their joyful enthusiasm and imagination ignite, and you may enjoy the experience with them!

Here are some activities you can do with your young children while listening to your favorite classical music.

Sway and dance back and forth to the music. For children 18 months to three years old, it's also fun to tell them to intermittently "stop or freeze" while they're dancing and swaying. Then, whoever is calling stop or freeze says "go" and they may start moving again.

An adult and/or one of the children could be the leader of a gentle parade. If there are scarves or rhythm sticks available, the children could "play" those while they are in the parade. If you're feeling industrious, you could also make some homemade instruments ahead of time by painting or using markers on boxes, milk cartons, or paper plates. The children may play the instruments while walking.

Children may turn into different animals during the music. Some suggestions for morphing into specific animals might be: a bird, an elephant, a sting ray, a dolphin, a snake, a sea turtle.

Children may turn into a very tall tree and slowly grow branches (arms) and leaves (fingers). They could also grow strong roots below their feet. Stomping their little feet to grow roots is a good way to do this. Here's a chant that's enjoyable to learn to while stomping their feet and growing roots: "Stomp our feet, grow our roots, shake our leaves up high! (shake hands above head) We are growing strong and tall. (Stand on tiptoes, if possible) We can touch the sky!" Children may then stand normally on their feet and lower their branches (arms) and pretend sunshine warms them. The sun may go away and then gentle rain falls on them as well as snowflakes.

If children are four to six years old, it's likely they would enjoy different scenarios involving what happens to the tree as it stands there. A kite may get stuck in its branches and they may have to gracefully throw the kite back to the child on the ground — or maybe there is a bird's nest with little chicks in one of the tree branches (arm or hand). Kids love to coo back to the little chicks, but of course, they must stand very still so as not to topple the nest. At the holidays, maybe someone will string brightly-colored lights on the tree and the trees will stand up very straight because they are so proud of their beauty.

A fun variation of the above is growing from a sunflower seed into a tall sunflower. Children would start out in a crouch on the floor and slowly grow until they're standing very tall. Hands may turn into flowers with fingers turning into seeds of the flowers. Of course, imaginary birds may fly down and nibble on the flowers and seeds! Then, it's fun to flutter fingers as the birds tickle them. Sometimes a storm will blow in and the tall sunflowers may sway from side to side because of the wind.

Use colorful scarves to make clouds that float above children's heads. You can also paint a pretend rainbow with the scarf/paint brush, imagine flying birds, or create a chrysalis that turns into a flying butterfly. Then there are elephant trunks, snowballs (squish the scarves up in a ball), magic flying carpets, super hero capes, flags, sails on sailboats, and any number of other fun imaginary objects. Older kids may enjoy going to destinations like the rainforest or any other exotic place while on the flying carpet or in the sailboat. Children may like making ghosts out of the scarves at Halloween time and swirling them around to the music.

While I've listed many action activities for children, one of the most peaceful gifts to give to your child is playing lullabies while your child is falling asleep. The beautiful music blocks out any background noise in the house as well as exposes them to more sophisticated music and gently lulls them off to sleep.

Joan Schubert is a music educator living in Minneapolis. She writes about children and music at her blog MusicChild.

Gallery

Fullscreen SlideshowPrevious Slide

1 of 1

Next Slide

Dr. Victoria Elmer is a surgeon at Regions Hospital. She uses classical music while performing surgeries - partly to keep her patient calm and soothed, but also to help her staff stay focused.

Dr. Elmer tells me that having classical music playing in the OR is like having an old friend - a security blanket - available during difficult and potentially stressful times.

"We never know when a surgery will turn from routine to chaos."

Music was always a part of her life growing up on a farm in rural Western Minnesota. After three years of piano lessons, Dr. Elmer branched out and kept learning to play by ear.

It wasn't until after nursing school and a decision to become a doctor that classical music really came into the forefront.

"I commuted 100 miles one way to a college in Moorhead to take the necessary requirements. That was when I started listening to MPR and classical music."

While some pieces like Bach and Chopin work beautifully in the OR - Elgar and Barber find their way into Dr. Elmer's private library for home listening.

Dr. Elmer says she wants to get her medical career established and then delve more fully into music. She's even begun studying cello and piano privately at MacPhail.

"In our field we consider it a bonus if we have an applicant who plays a musical instrument, it's a given that they will be focused, hard working, intelligent, have manual dexterity, good fine motor skills - necessary for surgery - and be a team player - also necessary in surgery!"

Gallery

Fullscreen SlideshowPrevious Slide

1 of 1

Next Slide

Major General Larry Shellito is the Adjutant General of the Minnesota National Guard - at least until Halloween, when he plans to retire from a long career in the armed services.

Music has played an important role in his life from the time as a little boy when he attended "Fantasia" and never forgot that early enchantment with Mickey and the dancing brooms accompanied by Paul Dukas' "The Sorcerer's Apprentice."

Later, he took up percussion and found he was forever drawn to music with a good beat. While serving in Vietnam, Shellito listened to an all-classical radio station each night while writing reports. He found the nature of the beat encouraged him to write in time, almost as a conductor leads an orchestra.

For solace and comfort, he loves the conjuring up of memories from good times drinking wine and dancing on a Danube Cruise by listening to any waltz by Johann Strauss.

Although he does say if stranded on a desert island, he would need his entire collection of the great works of classical music on a 10-CD set (and with good speakers!)

Gallery

Fullscreen SlideshowPrevious Slide

1 of 1

Next Slide