Lois Svard

Tag: cognition

  • Music and math: Why study music, part II

    Math teachers have often noticed that students who are good in math have studied, or are studying, music.  In the past, it was assumed that the kind of discipline necessary to excel in playing a musical instrument would extend to other academic areas, leading to excellence in those areas as well.  But some researchers looked at the math-music…

  • Why study music, part I

    Albert Einstein, at or near the top of anyone’s list of “greatest scientists of the twentieth century,” revolutionized science with his theory of relativity.  And what did he have to say about this discovery? The theory of relativity occurred to me by intuition, and music is the driving force behind this intuition.  My parents had…

  • Mirror neurons and music, part I

    You are at a concert and find that you are becoming increasingly tense, uncomfortable, and nervous as the performer experiences several memory lapses.    You know by the look on a student’s face as he comes to your studio that he hasn’t practiced during the past week.   A stranger smiles at you as you walk…