We want to wish all of our readers a very Happy Mother’s Day! One mother recently said, “Mothers are the quiet unsung heroes!” Mothers are more concerned about their children’s needs then their own. (Selflessness) Mothers love their children with their whole heart and are willing to sacrifice for their children’s needs. (Unconditional love) Music is a powerful tool for motivating, inspiring, educating and soothing pain. Remember no one is immune to the power of music! Parents remember to have classical music on your family’s iPod.
If anyone has an experience they would like to share with our readers on the benefits of classical music please send it and it will be include it in the June 2011 newsletter!
Article for May 2011:”Count Your Blessings” by Madeline Frank, Ph.D.
http://madeline-firstimpressions.blogspot.com/2011/04/count-your-blessings.html
Madeline’s One Minute Musical Radio Show for May 2011:
How did Classical music play a part of Mary Chernick Leader’s life as a secretary, stock investor, Mother, and Grandmother and what musical instrument did she play?
https://www.madelinefrankviola.com/madelines-one-minute-radio-show/
Question of the Month: Who was Mary Chernick Leader?
Mary Chernick Leader, my maternal Grandma, Momma, Romayne Leader Frank’s momma was born on August 12, 1909 in New York to the Chernick’s. Mary Chernick was the 3rd of 4 children. She had two older brothers born in Russia and a younger brother born in New York. Her father was an iron worker. Mary’s parents, the Chernick’s taught their children the value of hard work, honesty, and integrity. They were taught to never give up until the goal was accomplished. As a child Mary had a beautiful singing voice, was a good student, and a voracious reader. She studied voice and the mandolin at a young age. Mary’s older brother Harry studied the violin and was a wonderful violinist as was their first cousin Jascha Heifetz. Times were hard for the family so Mary and her older brothers started working as soon as they were old enough.
Mary Chernick married Earl D. Leader and they had their daughter Romayne, my mother, on May 28, 1929. Mary Chernick Leader, my Grandma worked as a secretary at the Boroughs Corporation, had a women’s stock club where she taught other women how to study companies and invest in the stock market with little money to develop a nest egg. She also helped the Braille Society and sang and played the mandolin in a Mandolin Orchestra. Mary Leader and Earl D. Leader taught their daughter Romayne the value of truth, honesty, hard work, religious faith, and service to others. Her parents discussed local politics and world affairs with her.
My Grandma Leader enjoyed listening to and playing music, cooking, reading, helping others, enjoyed working on cross word puzzles and had a remarkable vocabulary which she shared with her daughter, my Momma, Romayne Leader Frank. Mary Chernick Leader died on January 8, 1997 in Newport News, Virginia. She was a woman of valor.
“Study: Live Music Helps Parkinson’s Symptoms Subside” (March 25, 2011) from the Wane.com, Fort Wayne, Indiana.
“Music as medicine has been tested and is often used for several disorders. But, for the first time, a study looked at how watching a live concert would affect people with Parkinson’s. The Fort Wayne Philharmonic teamed up with IPFW and Physician’s Health Plan to conduct the study. It started in January and now the first look at results found that symptoms improved.
Dr. Pamela Kelly, the Executive Board Task Force Committee Chair, said “The excitement at the end of each concert was palpable. They were so appreciative of hearing the music and excited their symptoms got better.”
“There were 26 people with Parkinson’s who participated in the study. Members of the Philharmonic performed three concerts: one was a string quartet, one was a woodwind quintet and one was a brass quintet. Of the 26 participants, 19 were able to attend all three concerts.Each person filled out a survey rating their symptoms on a scale of one to five before, during and after the concert. The results showed tremors, stiffness, handwriting, swallowing and energy levels all improved during the music.”
Kelly says, “These are subjective findings, or the person evaluating himself or herself. At some point we’ll need to have objective findings.The organizers said this study is the first one to ever look at live music and Parkinson’s. While the results are exciting, this study will ultimately lead to more studies. But, the eventual results could be life-changing for people living with Parkinson’s.”
Kelly said, “You can’t have a live orchestra following [people] around so we need to figure out why live music does this and where in the brain it affects and why it it works and then be able to duplicate it in a manner other than live music.”
http://www.wane.com/dpp/news/local/study%3A-live-music-helps-parkinson’s-symptoms-subside
“School Reform Through the Arts: New Way to Teach Science Standards with Music and Dance” Marcia Daft has a new DVD called “Caterpillar to Butterfly: Adventures in Science, Music, and Dance” integrates the arts with classroom science instruction. Research shows that students quickly grasp more complex and rigorous academic content when the arts are integrated into the learning process. Parents, teachers, and students all benefit from deeper, longer-lasting comprehension.”
http://news.yahoo.com/s/prweb/20110405/bs_prweb/prweb5225764
“Music Makes Kids Smarter – Prove Me Wrong!” (April 2011) by Sharon Burch from the Teachers.net Gazette. Sharon Burch says, “Our brains are “wired” with neural pathways. Most activities only cause a portion of the brain to “light up” with activity; thus, the saying, right brain/left brain, etc. But there are actually four parts to the brain and music makes All of the areas “light up” and create new neural pathways as a person is learning and playing an instrument.” Ms. Burch continues by saying that “Music has a huge impact on activity in the brain. You can physically/visually see the growth and changes that happen inside the brain. The possibilities are endless. The implications for music therapy and music education are profound. Just check out PBS video “The Music Instinct.” Neurologist and author, Oliver Sacks relates a true story from his book, Musicophilia, where a man was indirectly struck by lightning through a telephone and three weeks later is composing and playing the piano for the first time. Sack’s believes the man was “re-wired” through that experience. The list goes on and on.”
http://teachers.net/gazette/wordpress/sharon-burch/music-makes-kids-smarter-%E2%80%93-prove-me-wron/
“Using Thoughts to Play Music” (March 27, 2011) by Rathi Manohar from the Medindia.net/news. “Now, paralyzed people can play music just with their thoughts using an instrument invented by Eduardo Miranda the University of Plymouth.” “Users need to focus attention on a particular task repeatedly. The device starts to connect particular brain signals with specific tasks by picking up the tiny electrical impulses of neurons in the brain. When the user pushes a button just by directing attention to it, this builds up a distinct pattern which can trigger off a melody. Even the intensity of the music can be changed by changing the intensity of attention. The researchers tried out their invention on a female patient who has almost total paralysis caused by brain lesions called locked-in syndrome, at the Royal Hospital for Neuro-disability in London. During a two-hour session, she learnt how to manipulate it and was eventually playing along with a backing track. She reported that “it was great to be in control again”.
“Although the researchers have only developed a four-button system, it is proving to be therapeutic for patients with brain and spinal cord injuries. Taking part in making music had proved to be beneficial for people with neurodegenerative diseases such as dementia and Parkinson’s disease.”
http://www.medindia.net/news/Using-Thoughts-to-Play-Music–82836-1.htm
“Our Kindergarten Teacher” {DPRK Music} Here in the United States we cut music out of our public school programs and in North Korea they understand the importance of teaching their children to play musical instruments at a very young age . Watch this impressive video sent to us by B.V.Smith.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yE7waNi5dc0&feature=player_embedded
“Health: Tinnitus Treatment Is Music to Some Sufferers’ Ears” (March 26, 2011) by Sarah Avery from thePressofAtlantic City.com. “Ringing. Buzzing. Hissing. For people with tinnitus, a phantom sound only they can hear plagues their every waking moment. Imagine a Salvation Army bell ringer camped out in your head every day, all day. The intervention, called Neuromonics, retrains people to manage how they hear the internal sound. But it’s not covered by insurance and is expensive – about $4,500 for a device that resembles a portable music player and for sessions with an audiologist to tailor the treatment.”
“Teri Kim, 48, of Cary, N.C., started the therapy in August, and almost quit a month into it when she still hadn’t gotten relief from the high-pitched whine that has blared in her head for years. Then she gradually began having good days and even good weeks as the whine began to diminish. Kim said, “It was wonderful.”. “The therapy works on the finding that many cases of tinnitus are produced inside the brain, not the ear.”
Hear the Band? It’s ‘Orange Juice For the Ears'” (March 27, 2011) by Betsy Shea-Taylor from The Sun Chronicle. Music has the power to heal many different health problems.
“An older woman with dementia who’d listlessly watched TV for three years picked up her embroidery again after being treated to one playing of classical music. Charles Darwin speculated that ‘music tones and rhythms were used by our half-human ancestors, during the season of courtship, when animals of all kinds are excited not only by love, but by strong passions of jealousy, rivalry, and triumph’ and that speech arose, secondarily, from this primal music.” Dr. Oliver Sacks wrote, “Music can lift us out of depression or move us to tears – it is a remedy, a tonic, orange juice for the ear.”
http://www.thesunchronicle.com/articles/2011/03/27/columns/9069887.txt
For more scientific evidence, medical evidence, test results, and true stories of the world’s scientists, medical doctors, and mathematicians who have studied and played musical instruments since they were children read “The Secret of Teaching Science & Math Through Music” by Madeline Frank, Ph.D. Click on the link:
https://www.madelinefrankviola.com/the-secret-of-teaching-science-and-math-through-music/
“Musical Notes On Math” teaches your child fractions and decimals, the fun way, through the rhythm of music, Winner of the Parent To Parent Adding Wisdom Award. For more information click on the following link:
https://www.madelinefrankviola.com/musical-notes-on-math/
For Tips on how to use “Musical Notes On Math” click on the following link:
https://www.madelinefrankviola.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/pg47.pdf