Music can make you a better thinker
(StatePoint)
We all know the powerful emotional impact music can have on our psyche, but did you know that music can help you think?

According to experts, adults and teens alike can actually improve certain thinking skills by listening to classical music or learning to play an instrument.

"The experts have weighed in and classical music has been proven to be a boon to our minds, especially those of young babies and teens going through their formative years," said Ted Libbey, music critic and author of "The NPR Listener's Encyclopedia Of Classical Music."

It's not that classical music can make you smarter, but it can improve spatial reasoning and certain types of thinking - such as the skills it takes to put together a jigsaw puzzle.

And classical music has been proven to be more effective than other types of music at creating these new pathways in the brain - believed to be due to the complexity of the musical structure.

Here are some tips to get more classical music in your family's life:

+ Listen to classical music at home - both for your baby at moderate volume levels and at regular volume for the entire family.

+ Download classical music for your teen's iPod or other portable music player. If online sales are any indication, classical music shows no sign of dying out. Indeed, Libby's new book, "The NPR Listener's Encyclopedia Of Classical Music," comes with free online access to 75 hours of classical music on the Internet.

+ Pop on some classical tunes on those long family drives, allowing your kids to choose their favorite selections.

+ Start those music lessons early for your children. Preschoolers love making music and, with some help, can begin to learn the basics of some simple instruments. Older kids should be encouraged to select their favorite instrument to learn.

And when all else fails, turn up a classical composition in the key of C. Did you know the tuning fork doctors use to do a neurological exam is tuned to C because neurologists discovered that our bones respond most readily to vibrations of C? Our bodies are, in a sense, tuned to the key of C, which is one of the reasons that C major has such a pleasing effect on our senses and seems to sound particularly full, rich, and satisfying to our ears, writes Libbey in his new encyclopedia.