Your Brain and Music: Can Music Make You Smarter, Happier, Healthier?

Many neuroscientists study music to elucidate mysteries of the brain. Why is music such a rich resource? Not only can scientists physically track the process of learning music as different areas of the brain light up, they can trace music’s powerful effect on our emotions, muscles and memory. The benefits of music span well beyond entertainment and many believe music will be the healing art of the future. Accumulating data about our “brain on music” unmistakably supports howimportant, positive and valuable music is to our well-being and our cultures, as well as its role in the human evolutionary process.

Janice Jarrett, a jazz singer, published lyricist, and arranger, is also an educator and journalist with a Ph.D. in ethnomusicology, a M.A. in world music and a B.A. in voice and composition. She has taught and performed across the country and abroad and she currently runs her own music studio in Tucson, while continuing to perform jazz with Tucson’s best. Jarrett also writes, with pieces published in the Arizona Daily Star, the Tucson Weekly and the Phoenix New Times.