How music technology can boost student skills Meris Stansbury, Associate Editor

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Meris Stansbury, Associate Editor writes, "In today's news, a new study reveals that music education can offset widespread student achievement gaps, enhance student learning skills, and promote better brain function later in life. The good news for cash-strapped schools is that new music tech can provide students with music ed at little to no cost."

“We are what we do,” said Nina Kraus, Hugh Knowles professor and principal investigator at the Auditory Neuroscience Lab at Northwestern University. “And the brain helps prove that.”

Also fascinating is the brain’s dependence on experience. For example, if the brain hears a few notes of a song it recognizes, even if the song stops playing, the brain will often continue mirroring the next few notes of the song.
For a recording of the brain’s electrical responses to music, watch the slideshow.

Musician Quincy Jones’s software, Playground Sessions, helps students learn to play the piano using popular songs. Playground Sessions also has hours of interactive video tutorials starring pianist David Sides teaching songs and music theory, explains the Playground Sessions website.

Playground Sessions: 30 days to play

Playground Sessions’ platform includes a music store for sheet music, video lessons, and a MIDI keyboard setup for learning to play through popular music.
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Source: eSchool News and Channel Playground Sessions (Youtube)