Why Music Is The BEST LEARNING TOOL EVER?
Let's start with a little test, shall we? Can you try to name all the alphabets in your mother tongue in the exact correct order they are supposed to be? Take a minute. Try to do it right now. How did you do the test? Most likely you weren't able do it. Or atleast you must've had a hesitation in few places. Let's see what does this test have anything to do with music.
Just one more test please?
I know I'm losing your patience already but just try this one last test. This test is the key to understand the idea. Now try to name all the alphabets of English language in the exact correct order they are meant to be. Same test. Just like the last time. But with English language now. How did you perform this time? I bet you did much much better than the first test. Why is it so? It's definitely not because English is a superior or an easier language. One might argue that their mother tongue had more alphabets. Maybe. But certainly that is not the key reason.
Why more letters is not the reason?
I did the test. And my mother tongue is Thamizh. So the number of "Mei ezhuthukkal" (key alphabets) in my language is just 18. That's 8 less than English. Yet I aced the English test and failed the Thamizh one miserably. Maybe it's just me. I'm just an idiot. But no. I remember my Thamizh teacher (of Class X) in school once asked the whole class to do the first test. Literally no one were able to do it except one guy in a class of 40. Even the guy who tops every single exam since the day he was born couldn't do it. And I'm not exaggerating by any means. Even the guy who got it right needed multiple attempts. I never thought deeply about it. I just assumed it's because we were all idiots and nobody uses Thamizh in written form anywhere outside school.
MUSIC is the reason
Do you remember how we were taught alphabets in school? For English alphabets we used the mnemonic of "Twinkle twinkle little star". The most popular universal tune. So even if we don't remember each individual letter, we remember them all together as a whole in terms of tune and lyrics. Yes, lyrics. When we sing it as a tune there's no way you would make a mistake. It's because you think of it as lyrics. Even if you have no idea what the lyrics is about, you'll still remember them perfectly without a doubt. I know a lot of friends who used cinema songs as mnemonics to study the period table in chemistry. At that time I thought it was just useless and unnecessary way of complicating things. But now I realize it is the most powerful learning tool ever. Probably those people might remember the period table using mnemonics even to this day. Though it is a useless thing to remember things without understanding from an application point of view. It can serve as a tool to store large databases of information in your mind. When you think of it the other way around, if you can't remember a key information, say a formula, then there is no use with your understanding of the concept.
Why only English?
If the mnemonics are so effective then why not use it to learn all languages. I have no idea why they don't this. Maybe it's because they thought "Twinkle twinkle little star" is a foreign tune? Though it is a stupid reason, you can still try to incorporate any simple, easy to remember tune to do the job. I don't know why this isn't a standard thing yet. In more than 50 years of schooling system literally nobody thought of making this a univeral way of learning things? Though I understand that this can be seen as 'mugging up' in adults, there is no justification for not using this with the kids.
Things to note
I see that "Twinkle twinkle little star" is a clever choice of tune. It has a beautiful stepwise melody with simple rhythmic structure. Rhythmic complexity involves lot of mathematical calculation in the brain. So it is ideal to keep the rhythm as simple and repetitive as possible. Taking into consideration that kids obviously can't sing easily, it's definitely a no brainer to have a simple melody as well. The ideal way to ensure that a mnemonic has a distinct yet simple melody is by using stepwise movement. It is also worth noting that all rhymes are usually in a happy 'major' scale. Apart from all this, exposure to this kind of 'simple' music might help too. One universal example of such kind of music is Mozart's works.
I know I'm losing your patience already but just try this one last test. This test is the key to understand the idea. Now try to name all the alphabets of English language in the exact correct order they are meant to be. Same test. Just like the last time. But with English language now. How did you perform this time? I bet you did much much better than the first test. Why is it so? It's definitely not because English is a superior or an easier language. One might argue that their mother tongue had more alphabets. Maybe. But certainly that is not the key reason.
Why more letters is not the reason?
I did the test. And my mother tongue is Thamizh. So the number of "Mei ezhuthukkal" (key alphabets) in my language is just 18. That's 8 less than English. Yet I aced the English test and failed the Thamizh one miserably. Maybe it's just me. I'm just an idiot. But no. I remember my Thamizh teacher (of Class X) in school once asked the whole class to do the first test. Literally no one were able to do it except one guy in a class of 40. Even the guy who tops every single exam since the day he was born couldn't do it. And I'm not exaggerating by any means. Even the guy who got it right needed multiple attempts. I never thought deeply about it. I just assumed it's because we were all idiots and nobody uses Thamizh in written form anywhere outside school.
MUSIC is the reason
Do you remember how we were taught alphabets in school? For English alphabets we used the mnemonic of "Twinkle twinkle little star". The most popular universal tune. So even if we don't remember each individual letter, we remember them all together as a whole in terms of tune and lyrics. Yes, lyrics. When we sing it as a tune there's no way you would make a mistake. It's because you think of it as lyrics. Even if you have no idea what the lyrics is about, you'll still remember them perfectly without a doubt. I know a lot of friends who used cinema songs as mnemonics to study the period table in chemistry. At that time I thought it was just useless and unnecessary way of complicating things. But now I realize it is the most powerful learning tool ever. Probably those people might remember the period table using mnemonics even to this day. Though it is a useless thing to remember things without understanding from an application point of view. It can serve as a tool to store large databases of information in your mind. When you think of it the other way around, if you can't remember a key information, say a formula, then there is no use with your understanding of the concept.
Why only English?
If the mnemonics are so effective then why not use it to learn all languages. I have no idea why they don't this. Maybe it's because they thought "Twinkle twinkle little star" is a foreign tune? Though it is a stupid reason, you can still try to incorporate any simple, easy to remember tune to do the job. I don't know why this isn't a standard thing yet. In more than 50 years of schooling system literally nobody thought of making this a univeral way of learning things? Though I understand that this can be seen as 'mugging up' in adults, there is no justification for not using this with the kids.
Things to note
I see that "Twinkle twinkle little star" is a clever choice of tune. It has a beautiful stepwise melody with simple rhythmic structure. Rhythmic complexity involves lot of mathematical calculation in the brain. So it is ideal to keep the rhythm as simple and repetitive as possible. Taking into consideration that kids obviously can't sing easily, it's definitely a no brainer to have a simple melody as well. The ideal way to ensure that a mnemonic has a distinct yet simple melody is by using stepwise movement. It is also worth noting that all rhymes are usually in a happy 'major' scale. Apart from all this, exposure to this kind of 'simple' music might help too. One universal example of such kind of music is Mozart's works.
Do you remember how we were taught alphabets in school? For English alphabets we used the mnemonic of "Twinkle twinkle little star". The most popular universal tune. So even if we don't remember each individual letter, we remember them all together as a whole in terms of tune and lyrics. Yes, lyrics. When we sing it as a tune there's no way you would make a mistake. It's because you think of it as lyrics. Even if you have no idea what the lyrics is about, you'll still remember them perfectly without a doubt. I know a lot of friends who used cinema songs as mnemonics to study the period table in chemistry. At that time I thought it was just useless and unnecessary way of complicating things. But now I realize it is the most powerful learning tool ever. Probably those people might remember the period table using mnemonics even to this day. Though it is a useless thing to remember things without understanding from an application point of view. It can serve as a tool to store large databases of information in your mind. When you think of it the other way around, if you can't remember a key information, say a formula, then there is no use with your understanding of the concept.
Why only English?
If the mnemonics are so effective then why not use it to learn all languages. I have no idea why they don't this. Maybe it's because they thought "Twinkle twinkle little star" is a foreign tune? Though it is a stupid reason, you can still try to incorporate any simple, easy to remember tune to do the job. I don't know why this isn't a standard thing yet. In more than 50 years of schooling system literally nobody thought of making this a univeral way of learning things? Though I understand that this can be seen as 'mugging up' in adults, there is no justification for not using this with the kids.
Things to note
I see that "Twinkle twinkle little star" is a clever choice of tune. It has a beautiful stepwise melody with simple rhythmic structure. Rhythmic complexity involves lot of mathematical calculation in the brain. So it is ideal to keep the rhythm as simple and repetitive as possible. Taking into consideration that kids obviously can't sing easily, it's definitely a no brainer to have a simple melody as well. The ideal way to ensure that a mnemonic has a distinct yet simple melody is by using stepwise movement. It is also worth noting that all rhymes are usually in a happy 'major' scale. Apart from all this, exposure to this kind of 'simple' music might help too. One universal example of such kind of music is Mozart's works.
I see that "Twinkle twinkle little star" is a clever choice of tune. It has a beautiful stepwise melody with simple rhythmic structure. Rhythmic complexity involves lot of mathematical calculation in the brain. So it is ideal to keep the rhythm as simple and repetitive as possible. Taking into consideration that kids obviously can't sing easily, it's definitely a no brainer to have a simple melody as well. The ideal way to ensure that a mnemonic has a distinct yet simple melody is by using stepwise movement. It is also worth noting that all rhymes are usually in a happy 'major' scale. Apart from all this, exposure to this kind of 'simple' music might help too. One universal example of such kind of music is Mozart's works.
Nice Dinesh. Never thought about this. By the way your blogs are getting interesting. Keep it up.
ReplyDeleteThanks a lot!!
DeleteHi ,I want to learn any musical instrument. which instrument is easier for a beginner to play? suggest some cheap musical instruments (less than 1000) for a beginner to play.
ReplyDeleteand also it will be very helpful if u teach these stuffs on YouTube platform with live classes
ReplyDelete