Transcriber: F Laffeber Reviewer: Denise RQ
Hi everyone. Great to be here.
I'm Jesse, I'm a jazz singer,
and I'm going to tell you how music can make you and your kids smarter
because music is an ability and it's closely intertwined
with all kinds of social, emotional, but also cognitive skills.
Therefore, I feel music is not a luxury.
Now, please raise your hand
if you wish you had learned to play music when you were a kid,
when you were younger.
Thank you.
20% of kids learn to play music.
70% of adults wish they had.
Now, these are real numbers,
this is a pamphlet for a writers campaign from an Australian Arts Organization.
And I did some photoshopping.
Now, some are calling me an idealist,
and, yes, in my ideal world, we would see this pamphlet.
But I'm a realist too,
and I think that within a few years, we can swap these numbers.
So, why should we be teaching our children music?
Well, because music influences the brain in a very big way.
And I'll give you a few examples to show this.
But first, I want you sing for me.
And this is going to be very easy.
This is a TED-talk, I only have one minute to teach you a little melody,
so let's go.
It goes like this:
Two, three, four.
(Piano music and singing)
You guys. Three, four.
(Sound switched off)
You're going to need that later. (Laughter)
Please remember it.
So what does music do to the brain?
If I click on this thing again,
a very interesting video will start,
and it will show a real-time brain scan
of a brain listening to a piece of music it had never heard before.
And interestingly, this brain is actually anticipating the end of the music piece.
(Classical music playing)
Now pay attention to the red color; that's activeness.
The end is nearing, it's nearing.
A lot of brain activity.
A new music movement starts, and the brain activity lowers again.
Now in this research they found, that listening to music,
actually trains you to concentrate.
So in a nutshell, it means that gets a bit easier to stay concentrated,
while listening to your boring math teacher.
Now, this is when listening to music, you might think;
what about playing music?
Got it right here.
If you let children do a spelling test,
you can actually see the ones playing an instrument
make much fewer mistakes.
It's that simple; they just make fewer mistakes.
And these results are all corrected for social and economic statuses.
Now, another example.
To me, this is the most convincing research that is out there.
This is a controlled experiment, in which a number of kids are divided
in a music group and a non-music group, randomly.
After one year of music lessons,
the music group has a significant higher increase in IQ than the control group.
That is extraordinary.
So music is important for our children's cognitive development,
not even going into the social and emotional positive effects,
I think I can truly say,
we should be using music in our education more than ever.
Music is not a luxury.
Unfortunately, a lot of parents don't know about the positive effects
music can have on their children's development.
And only few children really get stimulated
to start picking up an instrument, to start learning to play.
And that's if the parents can even afford it,
because music education is pretty expensive.
It seems to be more and more for the wealthy.
than for the others, the 70%, the majority we have to think about,
because also to them, music is not a luxury.
That's why I call for an extensive collaboration
between music institutions, music professionals, and primary schools.
Because together, they can provide access to music for all children.
The music institutions can provide expertise
they know how to teach children music.
They could even share facilities, why not join together in a building?
Let's bringing the music as close as possible to the children.
And I think we all agree that children need role models.
Music educators can be really good role models.
Let's let our children discover their talents.
I was very lucky, I discovered my talent in primary school
when a local choir recruited me.
I discovered I could sing.
And now I've become a singer.
Let's give everyone that chance.
In the beginning I said, this is an ideal world,
but actually, this is the real world in Amsterdam,
because Amsterdam launched a project,
in which by 2030 all schools will give their children music education.
And with all schools, I mean everyone:
for all children, one hour of music education a week
by music professionals.
So it is happening, right here, in Amsterdam.
Let's make this the real world, period.
So, we've looked at facts, we've looked at figures,
now let's check out the great acoustics of this hall,
because after all, I'm a musician,
and I want you to experience the power of music too
not only listening to me talking about it.
So I'm going to sing again, you need to remember the melody,
just - I'll guide you through it.
(Piano playing)
(singing) The engines start, the lights go off
And all that's left is me
Feeling empty as the air, where I'll very soon will be
As I go higher, higher, higher than the clouds
I think about that voice of yours, I want to forget about
They say home is where the heart is
but I don't feel I'm going home today
They say home is where the heart is
But you, my dear, you stole my heart away
Flying far away from you
Some turbulence I feel
I'm sure that it's you, my dear, messing with the stratosphere
All the time I look at a framed picture of the sea
The fact that I'm leaving you is too hard to bear for me
They say home is where the heart is
But I don't feel I'm going home today
They say home is where the heart is
But you, my dear, you stole my heart away
Jesse Boere: One more time.
(Applause)