TVO The Agenda - Alanna Mitchell on Neuroscience in Education

I watched this interview with some interest and at the same time some concern. My concern is not that the concept is not proven, but that in the modern day education system, with all the rules and regulations and vested interest from government, teachers, business and parents, any additional demands on an already overstretched system could actually make matters worse.

For me, there is one simple fundamental truth when it comes to education - how, in a classroom of about thirty children, can any one teacher be expected to address the needs of every individual student? It simply is not going to happen. Far too many people leave the education system with inadequate if non existent qualifications which automatically put them at a disadvantage in the workforce.

Until it is accepted that all people are different and so their needs educationally will be different, then this situation is not going to get better. Neuroscience in education could be the way forward but ultimately, the biggest player in this game of Russian roulette, the government, is not going to be able to justify additional expenditure on a concept it does not necessarily want?

As the saying goes, when it comes to most things in life, what the government wants and pays for, the government gets.

The Portal of Healing.

Stop and Hear the Music - Pearls before Breakfast

From the article 'Pearls before Breakfast' by Gene Weingarten of the Washington Post, this remarkable video is in a way sad and a reminder that more needs to be done to help music especially classical music become more accessible and less elitist.

If I have any criticism of this event, stunt call it what you will it is that it tells me nothing I did knot know already i.e. most people don't care if you are playing some of the best music ever written, played by one of the best violinists out there on a instrument worth $3.5 million dollars.

Most people do not know and have never known who J.S. Bach was that's because they are never shown and will most likely not be shown either. I was lucky when I was a child to be given lessons in the violin when 8 years old, This I did until I was about 30 when I sadly had to give up. Most people will never get that chance to do something so wonderful as play a musical instrument.

So, it is not surprising that most people who are ignorant of what it is and who it is will continue to walk by in their humdrum, busy lives completely oblivious to what they are hearing - they are just not educated and caring enough to stop and listen much less care enough to part with some loose change.

If it had been Britney Spears and with all due respect to Joshua Bell, most people know who she is, there would have been a riot at the station and that says it all. We must get music back into our schools and have it on the main agenda for teaching, not an option but something that all students are exposed to from an early age.

It is no surprise that the children all wanted to stop and listen and were hurried along by their busy and embarrassed parents. The US, along with other countries needs to follow he example of El Sistema in Venezuela and start to educate young people in the beauty and discipline that music offers.

If Joshua Bell had played at a station in Venezuela, I suspect that there would have been a crowd quite quickly and although they may not have given as much money, what they would have given would have been their love, respect and admiration.

Here is a link to the complete performance Joshua Bell gave at the DC Metro Station: Joshua Bell at DC Metro Station

The Portal of Healing.

In Harmony

In Harmony is a community development programme aimed at using music to bring positive change to the lives of very young children in some of the most deprived areas of England, delivering benefits across the wider community.



The programme encourages participation in music – in the form of the Symphony Orchestra – which can have huge personal benefits for the children involved, providing opportunities to grow and develop, both socially and musically. In Harmony is inspired by the hugely successful Venezuelan project El Sistema and is chaired by world renowned cellist, Julian Lloyd-Webber.

(Photo Courtesy of Paul Lewis Daily Mail)

From the Portal:

In Harmony is a project that we should all encourage as much as we can. The power of music on people and the benefits it brings are clear for all to see. I personally have used music as a means of therapy when working with people with special needs and the effects are quite wonderful to see, especially with the power and subtlety that a symphony orchestra can create.

I am sure most of you can remember going to see a concert or gig somewhere for the first time and felt your body, spirit and emotions moved by the sound. This is exactly what people need in their lives, that exposure to music and the vibrational, spiritual and emotional benefit it brings.

The Portal of Healing.

El Sistema - How Music Saved Venezuela's Children

The remarkable accomplishment of a great humanist, José Antonio Abreu, who dedicated his life to set up the 'Sistema' in 1975, an extraordinary music and social project, which has been running in Venezuela in an attempt to transform the lives of the nations poorest children.

El Sistema has been using classical music to tackle the social problems of a country where 60% of the population live below the poverty line. By offering free instruments and tuition through a network of after-school centres all over the country, the Sistema has kept thousands of children away from the drugs, alcohol and gang-related violence of the streets and has led to the creation of 30 professional orchestras in a country that had only 2 before it started. Currently, 275,000 children attend the El Sistema schools and many of them play in one of the 125 youth orchestras.

At the pinnacle of the system stands the Simón Bolívar Youth Orchestra of Venezuela under its music director Gustavo Dudamel who is himself a product of the Sistema and is also the musical director for the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra.

This is an initiative we need to get going again in the UK. I was also the beneficiary of a musical education coming as I did from a poor background. I grew up in a bad neighbourhood and we always had problems with violence. My father had the good wisdom and courage to put me into music school at an early age, something for which he sacrificed and I will always be eternally grateful.

The result of that was I was always busy as a young person in a very rich, rewarding and creative environment, mixing with nice, creative people. Had I not been there, I am sure I would have to got into trouble for it was inevitable given the area we lived in.

The result of that early and intense exposure to a musical education was that I did better at school across a range of subjects, I developed social skills early on especially the confidence to communicate, I had a greater awareness of cultures from other countries and history through music and most importantly, at a time in my mid teens when I found it most difficult to cope, music was there as a release and a means of self discipline to act as a guide and a way of investing my energy in rewarding and creative pursuits.

The study of music gave me the chance to travel, something I would never have done being poor and it gave me tools later in life to study further in my adult life and acquire skills and qualifications in other subject areas purely because the discipline of playing an instrument and the mental challenge it creates was a wonderful platform for further study.

The benefits of music for everyone are plain for all to see from the video. More importantly, we must get music back on the core curriculum for everyone, not just classical but all forms of music, playing, study, music appreciation taking students to concerts. gigs and festivals is all part of what I call the rich learning experience I had as a young person.

It is so important to bring people together today and music is one of those simple things that can help to do just that. I know the In Harmony project has started in England and is based on El Sistema but it is only on a small scale. We need desperately to get music available to everyone that wants to do it. The rewards are clear to see and the money invested will reap a rich harvest of talented people.

The Portal of Healing.