Music for the Brain

Exploring neural pathways in a child’s brain:

The brain is the most complex part of the human body and it consists of two hemispheres, the right brain, and the left brain. The right brain develops early in life and is responsible for non-verbal communication, emotions, and feelings, whereas the left brain develops later in life and is responsible for verbal communication, intelligence, and reasoning. Both sides of the brain are very important and have their own unique features, but only one hemisphere is dominant in people. The right brain functions the left side of the body and the left brain functions the right side of the body. Interestingly both the hemisphere of the brain can be used interchangeably or alternatively. Brighter Minds helps the children to tap into their brain. Brighter Minds Alpha program helps to tap into the child’s brain which will build and strengthen new neural pathways in the brain i.e activating both hemispheres of the brain. Whole brain activation helps the child to tap into both the hemisphere of the brain, helping them to bring out the best in them and to be more confident and intuitive.

Brainwave Entrainment:

Now that we know what to do, the next step is to know how to do it? How is a child supposed to tap into their brain for new pathways? The answer to this is through Brainwave Entrainment i.e. with the help of the music, which consists of the binaural beats (right and left ears are exposed to two different frequencies at the same time). For the binaural beats to work effectively the child needs to be asleep.

Why so? Because in this state the brain has the Alpha level of frequency, which is the optimum state of brain functioning or the relaxed state of mind.when the child’s brain is exposed to the music, it undergoes a process known as Hemispheric Synchronization-when both right and left brain waves are equally working together.

The age range for this is from 5 to 15 years old. The child is in a tender age where he/she is able to grab things easily and the child’s brain can be molded accordingly. As a child the environment they are exposed to build their personality in the future.

Benefits of the music:

• Music helps to build neural pathways in the brain, giving space to new creative ideas.
• Enhances a child's ability to think out of the box, and to overcome problems from a different perspective.
• Enhances clarity of thought and improves focus, concentration, and memory.
• Music increases the sense of intuition, self-confidence and develops the cognitive capabilities of the brain.
• Develops a  positive outlook in the child and develops the child mentally and emotionally.

Blindfold activity:

After the music, comes the blindfold activities which helps the child to unleash their potential. Blindfold activities are done to understand if the music had any impact on the child’s brain. In blindfold activities, the child is blindfolded and then they are given different colored balls or cups and are asked to identify them. The child is actually able to identify the color of the ball or cup.

There are a variety of activities like - identifying the cards, solving puzzles, reading a book, coloring, etc and all these activities are done with a blindfold on. This activity basically helps to activate other senses(touch, smell, sound). They are basically able to see through the sense of touch, smell, and sound. The completion of the activity shows that there have been some changes in the functioning of the brain. Now the child is able to learn new skills faster.

Article Written by:

Aparna S. Nair

Amity University Noida

B.A. Applied Psychology (Hons)