Music Improves Reading Skills

Music Can Help Those with Dyslexia

Do you know anyone who has dyslexia?  If so, music can help some of the skills associated with reading and compre-hension!   Fascinating!  This is an excerpt from the Los Angeles Times:

 

Research suggests that people with dyslexia, or difficulty reading, also fare poorly on tests of auditory processing. Their timing is also poor. They have difficulty filtering out unwanted background noise and "tuning in" to sounds — such as a teacher's instruction — that they want to hear. Intensive music instruction has been found to improve those skills, and with them, some skills related to reading.

Music Improves Memory for Dementia and Alzheimer's Patients

Music Can Help People with Dementia

Music is so powerful!  I have worked with dementia patients, and even though they may not have spoken for years, the moment I begin engaging them with music and songs - they begin singing along!  Read more from this Los Angeles Times article.

Memory: The progressive degeneration of memory in Alzheimer's disease cannot be reversed or slowed by any intervention. But music can temporarily unlock memories for patients who have lost their grip on nearly every other detail of their daily life and relationships.

Patients in the depths of Alzheimer's and other dementias regularly respond to — and even play and sing — music from their distant past, without missing a word or a note. Nursing homes have seized upon that fact, exposing residents to the songs of their childhoods or courtship years to help reunite spouses in dancing and singing and try to coax dementia sufferers from their isolation. One study even found that dementia patients allowed to punch a button on a robot and hear a familiar song experienced improved mood, function and performance on musical memory games.

Parkinson's Patients Walk With The Help of Music

Music helps Parkinson's Patients

This excerpt from a Los Angeles Times article further confirms the almost miraculous power of music in helping Parkinson's patients to walk with a rhythmic gait.

Movement: If you're old enough, recall John Travolta walking down the street to the song "Stayin' Alive" in the opening scene of "Saturday Night Fever." Now imagine a patient with Parkinson's disease, a degenerative brain condition that affects the initiation and smooth completion of movement. Here's where music's rhythmic qualities appear to get in the back door of a patient's brain and provide a work-around to brain functions degraded by Parkinson's. By engaging the network of regions that perceive and anticipate rhythm, music with a steady, predictable beat can be used to cue the brain's motor regions to initiate walking.

Once off the dime, a Parkinson's patient can use the music's beat to maintain a steady, rhythmic gait, like John Travolta.

"It works well and it works instantaneously, and it's hard to think of any medication that has this effect," Schlaug says.

Neuroscientists suspect that music may work in much the same way for stutterers, who can experience difficulties initiating speech and maintaining a steady flow of words. Case studies have long observed that when stutterers sing, their halting speech patterns disappear. Music's predictable beats may help them initiate speech and continue fluently.

If you are interested in learning more about my Viva La Voice program that uses singing as the basis for helping Parkinson's patients speak clearly and understandably, contact me here.

Preemie's Weight Gain Supported by Music

Music Helps Preemies to Gain Weight

Watch any baby when you begin to sing a lovely lullaby, and you will note an instant relaxation and calm take over.  Babies are soothed by music, and especially their own mother's voice.  Here's more about a study done that showed the positive effect of music in the neonatal ICU. (This from the Los Angeles Times).

Preemies' weight gain: An Israeli study, published December in the journal Pediatrics, found that playing Mozart quietly in neonatal intensive care units supported the weight gain of premature infants by slowing their rate of energy expenditure. Babies exposed over two days to 30 minutes of music (drawn from, yes, an Israeli "Mozart for Baby" CD) slowed their metabolisms, helping to accelerate their growth.

If you would like to soothe your baby, please download my beautiful, award-winning lullabies from Land of Sleepytime….Lullabies for the Heart and Soul.

Mary Blige Uses Music As Therapy

Mary Blige Uses Music As Therapy

In an article by Malcolm Venable in the Virginia Post, he talks about how Mary Blige has used music to heal her own demons.  In this article about her latest concert, Venable says," Blige, who's been public about her addiction, abusive relationships and rough inner-city upbringing, demonstrated the legitimacy of music as therapy.  Women in the audience - most of them African American - roared as she sang mantra-heavy songs like 'Good Woman Down.'"

 

Later, he quotes Blige as saying, "Ladies, we are so necessary!" she said. "We're very special, very beautiful! There's not a man or woman or child that would be here if not for a woman that carried them for nine months and pushed them out into this Earth!"

 

The next time you have challenges in your life, try writing a song about it. Write down your feelings, stream of consciousness if necessary, and then let yourself make up any melody that comes to mind. It doesn't have to be perfect; let the melody come from the emotions or frustrations you're feeling. There's no right or wrong; no one's listening, but it's a great way to heal you with music. When you bypass your thinking brain, and begin singing your lyrics you can tap into that emotional place that needs expression and healing.

Music has been used as therapy since time began. Next time you have a challenge in life, do as Mary K. Blige has done - write about it.

Singing releases feel good endorphins!

Here's more confirmation about the benefits of singing, especially group singing, from Julia Layton @ TLC network:  

All types of singing have positive psychological effects. The act of singing releases endorphins, the brain's "feel good" chemicals. Singing in front of a crowd, a la karaoke, naturally builds confidence, which has broad and long-lasting effects on general well-being. But of all types of singing, it's choral singing that seems to have the most dramatic effects on people's lives.

A study published in Australia in 2008 revealed that on average, choral singers rated their satisfaction with life higher than the public -- even when the actual problems faced by those singers were more substantial than those faced by the general public [source:MacLean]. A 1998 study found that after nursing-home residents took part in a singing program for a month, there were significant decreases in both anxiety and depression levels [source: ISPS]. Another study surveying more than 600 British choral singers found that singing plays a central role in their psychological health [source:ISPS].

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Inspiration on Demand

Engage in creativitiy

One of the challenges that comes up for many songwriters and writers is inspiration, and keeping motivated.  When you're not involved in an ongoing class or writer's circle, it's often difficult to make time for your art, even when that's your passion.

It's so easy to let the everyday stuff of living get in the way of your creativity. Sometimes when you're done with your day, it's the last thing you feel like doing. I think most of us would agree, though, if we just start working on a song, or play an instrument, or listen or dance to music, the time flies and the music works as wonderful therapy. We de-stress, forget the concerns of the day, immerse ourselves in right brain activity, and feel great. It's a fantastic way to end the day.

I suggest setting aside an hour or two once a week to do music, even when you don't feel like it. Put it on the calendar, and commit to that time. It's rewarding time for yourself, and you'll feel better when you make that an ongoing "date" with yourself. Also, during your work day, take 15 minutes to work on lyrics, music, or a song you'd like to share. It will free your mind, and you'll return to work more open, more productive, and able to "think outside the box," Take a moment to be inspired by the beauty of nature around you, by the sounds of life happening right where you are.

It's easy to let our passions assume a place of lowest priority in our lives; but when this happens we suffer. We feel out of balance, unfulfilled and resentful. Take time, make time, to indulge in those activities that you love, that bring you joy and peace; that make you feel good about yourself. Instead of thinking about music or art as a "hobby" that you do when you have time once in awhile, think of your art as being the driving force in your life! Only you can give it that place of importance in your schedule. It's not a hobby, it's your life blood; it's what makes you a creative, vibrant, artistic human being! Don't diminish the importance of your artistic outlets. Your creative spirit, your playful spirit is always there, tapping on your shoulder, reminding you to come out and play.

We all have responsibilities, but don't let those responsibilities rob you of the joy of expression through music and art that makes you who you are. We communicate through art, it is part of our collective psyche as human beings. Take time to express yourself! You will feel so much better, so free, so open when you integrate your creative spirit back into your life!

The Toddler's Voice

Sing like a toddler

Have you ever heard toddlers when they're unhappy, tired, or just want attention? The voices could break glass! When I'm teaching voice, I often say, "How would a two year old sing this?'  The answer: They just LET THEIR VOICES OUT. They don't TRY to do anything with their voices; just natural, released voices that have incredible volume. Most of the time my students get it in their heads that when they sing, they have to control, cajole, or 'project' their sound. All that does is lead to constriction, pushing, and too much compression on the vocal cords. I can't stress enough that to sing correctly, you must release, never push the voice. There's a huge difference. You'll get so much warmth and volume when you use the body as a resonating chamber rather than pushing the voice or forcing volume by trying to 'project'. If you feel like you're pushing too much, 'sing like a two year old'!

Voice and Intention



       Communicate with clear
          emotional intention

Studies show that 93% of communication is NOT contained in the words you use, but in the tone of your voice and your body language.  With a little practice you can learn to be aware of your tone of voice so that you are communicating with a clear emotional intention.

The Sound of Sexy

A resonant voice can help your love life!

Here's more proof that the sound of your voice does matter!  In fact, a 2004 study showed that a deep, resonant voice (in both men and women) can actually help your love life!  The study found that men and women with more attractive-sounding voices reported having more sexual partners, had their first sexual intercourse at a younger age, and were more promiscuous.

I'm not advocating any of the above, mind you, but all of us want to feel that we're attractive to others, so cultivating a pleasing, resonant voice may be just the ticket if you're looking for a relationship - casual or otherwise!

Vocalizing everyday really helps and is easy to do.  It only takes a few minutes and easy vocal exercises can be done while driving to work, to school, or on daily errands.  If you're shy about vocalizing, the car is a perfect place to practice singing.  No one can hear you, and it utilizes otherwise wasted time while sitting in traffic!

You can change the sound of your voice with a little bit of instruction and practice.  Remember that your voice is a valuable tool in increasing not only your business, but also your chances for enhancing your love life!

Music Sweetens Mangoes!

Here's a great article about using music to create a superior crop flavor and yield!  Fascinating!  Try it on your houseplants at home.  Remember the book, 'The Secret Life of Plants'??

Article from Daily News & Analysis by Anshuman G Dutta, March 18, 2007

http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report_here-music-makes-the-mangoes-sweeter_1085634

Here, The Mangoes Grow Sweeter

GANDHIDHAM: If music can have an enchanting effect on humans, it can also help mangoes grow sweeter. Sounds bizarre? Not really, if this cultivator in Kutch is to be believed. Making mangoes ‘listen’ to his music to make tastier has become the USP of Batuksinh Jadeja, who grows the fruit in his Ashapura Farm and Nursery in Mau, a village 37 km from Mandvi.

“Like humans, plants too respond to music. Mangoes from our farms are sweeter compared to those from other farms that produce Kesari mangoes,” claims Jadeja.

Mango trees in Jadeja’s orchards get their ‘dose’ of music twice a day. Jadeja has installed speakers across the farm, which is spread over 200 acres, to belt out classical and devotional songs, and aarti for the mango trees.

“Bhajans are for mornings while aartis and classical folk songs are slotted for the evenings,” said Batuksinh’s younger brother Prithvirajsinh Jadeja.

Almost 90 per cent of the yield from Batuksinh’s farm is exported to London and the Middle East where his mangoes are said to be giving a tough fight to the well-established Sinduri and Chausa varieties from Pakistani.

“Our Kesari variety is treated at par with Indian Alphonso which is in high demand in Europe and other countries,” said Batuk.

The family is not new to this music therapy. Batuksinh’s father first used music for his banana crop in 1960. “He would play his old bulky radio for the plants. At that time too, our bananas were in great demand and used to fetch almost 25 paise more per dozen,” said Prithvirajsinh.

Batuksinh is among the largest producers in Kutch, famous for the Kesari mangoes. Estimates say Kutch produces between 30,000 and 35,000 tonne of Kesari every season.

Estimates say Kutch produces between 30,000 and 35,000 tonne Kesari every season. Last year, the total produce was around 33,000 tonne. Looking at the good monsoon and advancement of summer, farmers are expecting production to cross 35,000 tonne.

Last year, Ashapura farm produced around 150 tonne Kesari mangoes and this year, the yield is expected to be over 200 tonne. Orders have already been booked with new buyers from the Middle East showing more interest in the product.

Expecting an increased demand, Batuksinh is also building his pre-cooling and refrigeration unit to assure longevity of his mangoes. "Pre-cooling is essential as the mangoes are shipped to foreign shores. It reduces the latent temperature of mangoes and they remain fresh for a longer period," Batuksinh said.

Besides mangoes, Ashapura Farm and Nursery also sells "special" mango saplings (which have been 'treated' to music) to places like Surat, Vadodara and Navsari, and is planning to expand its farm by around 400 acres.

Music helps mangoes grow sweeter

Your Voice Is Your Calling Card!

Unless you're talking to yourself - you're a PUBLIC SPEAKER!

I coach speakers, as well as singers, and increasingly, folks are realizing the importance of developing a rich and compelling speaking voice - a voice that reflects your power and self-confidence.

I also coach clients over the phone and online, and can 'hear' exactly what their challenge is, as well as know how to help them.  If you're interested in developing your voice, which is your best calling card, please contact me.

Cheers,  Beth Lawrence, Viva La Voice

BY JENNIFER SARANOW, Wall Street Journal

       VINYA LYNCH HATES the sound of her voice. She thinks it is timid and sing-songy. She blames it for why she is frequently cut off giving presentations at work, and for why it takes her as many as 10 tries to record a voice-mail message.

       "When I listen to myself, it doesn’t sound intelligent," says Ms. Lynch, a 35- year-old handbag designer.

       So last summer, simply to change how she sounds, Ms. Lynch began seeing a speech pathologist. Total cost: $2,250 for 10-sessions plus evaluation, text and tapes. "I want my voice to be charismatic and confident all at the same time," she says.

       Speech therapy used to be for stutterers, lispers and other people with medically diagnosed language problems. But in a culture increasingly devoted to personal trainers, self-help books and cosmetic surgery, a new outlet for self-betterment is emerging: the personal voice trainer.

       Eager to boost their prospects professionally or socially (or both), a growing number of people are hiring speech pathologists to "tone" and improve normal voices. It’s a phenomenon driven partly by the tight job market, where every little advantage counts, as well as the pervasiveness of cellphones and voice mail, which can amplify the eternal tendency to cringe at the sound of ones own words.

       "This is not speech therapy, this is beautification of the voice," says Ita Olsen, a speech pathologist in New York whose firm Oslic Consultants LLC sees about 275 individuals a week for "cosmetic" voice-changing, compared with about one per week three years ago.

       Technological advances are making cosmetic voice changes easier. A number of speech-therapy practices are using digital video endoscopy, a technology that allows speech pathologists to see the vocal folds as they are vibrating - and to home in on what the talker is doing wrong. (It involves sticking a small fiber-optic tube with a camera at the end up the patient’s nose.) Others use a computerized system that quantifies speech. Patients speak into a microphone and a line appears on a computer screen that reflects their pitch, loudness and vocal quality. The number provides a quantitative baseline voice from which doctors can work.

       But speech therapists are also finding low-tech ways to capitalize on the growing market. Sandra McKnight, a voice coach in Santa Fe, N.M., offers voice training over the phone (a typical treatment program is four 75-minute phone sessions for $640). She says she doesn’t have to see patients in person to know what their voice problems are; she just needs to hear them. Susan Miller, a Washington, D.C., speech pathologist, and Susan Berkley, a voice expert in Englewood Cliffs, N.J., recently released a compact disc package, available through the Internet (www.voicetrainer.com), called "Vocal Vitality: A safe, easy warm up program to energize and enhance your speaking voice" with morning vocal exercises for unsatisfied talkers. They’ve sold several hundred so far.

       Dr. Miller says the growing demand for voice improvement became apparent to her in the fall of 2002 when she gave a six-week course at the Smithsonian called "Cultivating the Medium of the Message: Your Voice." She expected about 30 participants at the first class. More than 150 showed up. "I was shocked," says Dr. Miller, who estimates about 35% of her 120-patient-a-week practice now is devoted to training normal voices, up from 5% three years ago.

       People have been wincing when they hear themselves speak since the dawn of the recording. Common complaints run the familiar litany of too high-pitched, too monotone, too nasal, too much like the opposite sex. For women, they often include: too shrill, too "valley girl," or too faint. For men, familiar grievances are too gravely or too weak.

       Voice experts say that many voice "problems" are caused by unbalanced talking, or using too much of one part of the voice. (The components of the voice include breathing, vocal chord vibration and the sound of the voice as it resonates out of the mouth, nose and throat.) For example, hypernasality results from letting sound resonate too much through the nose. A gravely or harsh tone comes from excessive tension in the throat area.

       The voice "is very similar conceptually to a person’s knee," says Joseph Stemple, a speech pathologist at the Blame Block Institute for Vocal Analysis and Rehabilitation in Dayton, Ohio, and author of a well-known voice pathology textbook. "It can become strained and weakened and unbalanced and you can do direct exercise to enhance it."

       The key behind most voice exercise programs is teaching patients to find their "true" sound when emphasis isn’t on one part of the voice over others. Patients learn to breathe from their stomach and let the voice carry more fully out of their mouth. They learn to feel whether they are exerting their mouth, nose or throat too much when talking. They use relaxing exercises to relieve tension that may be putting emphasis too much on one area.

       Patients say that the end result is a better voice and more- effortless talking -- but getting there takes a lot of work. Learning to talk with a "true" voice can mean anything from figuring out how to hold your tongue while speaking to breathing differently -- movements that feel weird and unnatural at first. It takes extensive practice to turn such changes into habit.

       "The results are largely dependent on the amount of energy that they are willing to put into their practice," says Kate DeVore, a speech pathologist from Chicago, who estimates that personal training of normal voices now accounts for about half of her practice.

       It requires not only practice, but a substantial amount of money, usually between $100 and $200 per session. Group sessions, which Dr. Olsen in New York has dubbed "voice spas," cost less.

       Ms. Lynch says the gain has been worth the pain. At her third session with Dr. Olsen this past summer, Ms. Lynch relaxed her head from side to side, took a few breaths and practiced saying phrases she utters daily such as "40th and Broadway" and "two tickets please" using her new "true" voice.

       A few weeks ago, she finished the last of her 10 sessions. Her new sound is deeper, slower and stronger than her regular voice, thanks to relaxing her throat muscles more to let air out and figuring out how to use her tongue differently.

       "I learned a lot in theory and now, it’s just a matter of applying it," she says. For now, she’s mostly practicing around strangers -- when she orders coffee, for instance, or gets in a taxi. But one day at work, she decided to use her new voice -- or as she prefers to call it, her "natural voice" -- all day. Everyone asked, " ‘Why are you speaking that way?' "

       -- The Wall Street Journal Online

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Don't Lose Sales Because of A Nasal Voice!

Speakers and Presenters do one important thing.....they speak.  It's important that when you communicate with people you are aware that the sound of your voice is a crucial component in how your 'message' will be received by the listener.

If you've been told that you have a 'nasal' voice, here's a very easy way to get rid of that annoying sound!  This is one of the '7 Easy Steps' in my book From Shower To Stage....7 Easy Steps for Singing Like A Pro! and applies to anyone who uses their voice for speaking or singing.

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Music Therapy for Dogs

I came across this blurb and thought it was indicative of the trend of upscale pet owners to go to expensive extremes when it comes to their dogs.  I'll do just about anything for my doggies, but I'm really not sure that they care one way or another about spa treatments and other modalities mentioned in the excerpt below.  Music therapy for pooches?  Maybe.....

By Renee at smalldogsparadise.com

Bear in mind, many grooming salons these days don't operate the same way as those from the 80's or 90's. Then, groomers would just groom the dogs and the job is complete. Nowadays many grooming salons offer spa treatments and rejuvenation and music therapy for pampered pooches. These luxury sessions are not cheap. If you operate an upscale grooming salon in urban areas (i.e. Tokyo or New York), your customers are expected to pay anywhere from $100 to $200 for a complete doggie "makeover." I kid you not! 

With so many dog owners who are willing to spend obscene money on their furry children, it's no wonder many aspiring groomers jump into this bandwagon. I'm not saying money brings all evil intentions; just some will value money over passion.

Music therapy for dogs?

Common Sense Public Speaking!

Steve Jobs was a passionate, confident speaker!

Public Speaking is  like everything else - you've got to use plain common sense.  If you speak too fast people can't understand you - and can't process what's being said fast enough to 'get' your message.  If you speak too slowly, you give the brain too much time for distraction - you lose them.  Filler words are a distraction.  Constant movement is a distraction.  A speaker needs to minimize distractions so that the audience is locked on to the message, not the quirks of the messenger!

If you're totally connected with the real message you're presenting, and are passionate about it, your energy will reflect that.  If you're speaking too slowly or too fast, that tells me, as a listener, that you're not totally 'feeling' what you're talking about, or that you're not  reading your audience to determine whether they are tuned in to you or not.  During a presentation I believe that a speaker has to know their topic so well that they can be flexible to change up pace, audience interaction, and just overall, be able to take command of the energy in the room!

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Whitney Houston Star Spangled Banner

What an incredible performance!  This is what I call 'going for it'!  She sang this with so much energy, courage and confidence that it really is one of the best renditions I've every seen or heard.  Although she had her demons and fought her own internal battles, I know that she reclaimed her beautiful soul and stunning voice when she left this plane.  Sing on, lovely Whitney!

HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY!

Cheers,  Beth Lawrence

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Singing and Brain Development

Singing causes endorphins to flow, stimulating good feelings throughout the body and stimulating brain activity.  
Singing encourages deep breathing, which brings more oxygen to the brain.  
Singing requires the brain to work at many tasks simultaneously.  
Singing strengthens memory.  
Singing teaches opposites, such as fast and slow, loud and quiet, long and short, tension and release. Every good song carries some of these elements of contrast in it.

In short, singing helps to develop your brain.

Singing causes your brain to be fit

Helen Keller on Optimism

The path of our lives is not so much determined by what ‘happens’ to us, because life does ‘happen’ – but how we react to the things that ‘happen’ to us in life.  Are you choosing to be a Victim or a Victor?  A successful business person, or someone who complains about a lack of business?  Are you someone who gives value, or simply tries to ‘get’ business?

Helen Keller - Beautiful inside and out!

This article from Helen Keller is a favorite of mine because it speaks about a positive attitude; gratitude, and the perception of good in everything around her.  What a remarkable woman!  At Viva La Voice, we are committed to bringing out the positive in singers, speakers and everyday people who seek a more confident, fulfilled life.

Helen Keller - Optimism

“My optimism rests on a glad belief in the preponderance of good and a willing effort always to cooperate with the good, that it may prevail. I try to increase the power God has given me to see the best in everything and every one, and make that best a part of my life. The world is sown with good; but unless I turn my glad thoughts into practical living and till my own field, I cannot reap a kernel of the good.

Thus my optimism is grounded in two worlds, myself and what is about me. I demand that the world be good, and lo, it obeys. I proclaim the world good, and facts rearrange themselves to prove my proclamation overwhelmingly true. To what is good I open the doors of my being, and jealously shut them against what is bad. Such is the force of this beautiful and willful conviction, it carries itself in the face of all opposition. I am never discouraged by absence of good. I never can be argued into hopelessness. Doubt and mistrust are the mere panic of timid imagination, which the steadfast heart will conquer, and the large mind transcend.

I trust, and nothing that happens disturbs my trust. I recognize the beneficence of the power which we all worship as supreme—Order, Fate, the Great Spirit, Nature, God. I recognize this power in the sun that makes all things grow and keeps life afoot, I make a friend of this indefinable force, and straightway I feel glad, brave and ready for any lot Heaven may decree for me. This is my religion of optimism.” From “Optimism” by Helen Keller, introduction by Carl Japikse.