Tag Archives: NY Times

Is Music The Key To Success?

This is a great article from Joanne Lipman in the New York Times:

Multiple studies link music study to academic achievement. But what is it about serious music training that seems to correlate with outsize success in other fields?

The connection isn’t a coincidence. I know because I asked. I put the question to top-flight professionals in industries from tech to finance to media, all of whom had serious (if often little-known) past lives as musicians. Almost all made a connection between their music training and their professional achievements.

The phenomenon extends beyond the math-music association. Strikingly, many high achievers told me music opened up the pathways to creative thinking. And their experiences suggest that music training sharpens other qualities: Collaboration. The ability to listen. A way of thinking that weaves together disparate ideas. The power to focus on the present and the future simultaneously.

Personally, I think the WORST thing I see are these kids who spend 6 days a week, 4+ hours a day on SPORTS. Fucking SPORTS. All year round. I’m not against sports, I played Soccer for 8+ years as a kid, but I remember practices being 2 times a week, and a game on Saturday (or Sunday). No “conditioning” after practice. No DAILY practices.

I think it is the worst thing for kids, all this emphasis on sports.

Wind Instruments and Sickness

The NY Times has an article out titled The Claim: Playing a Wind Instrument Causes Respiratory Infection.

“For years, scientists have noticed that people who play wind instruments seem to be at greater risk of chronic sore throats and airway inflammation. Some research suggested that saliva and microorganisms might build up in the mouthpieces, then get blown deeper into the instruments.

But until recently, scientists did not know whether the germs could breed and survive long enough to sicken someone playing the instrument a day or two later.”

Basically, yes, germs can survive a day or two and you might get yourself infected again. Bottom line is that you should clean your stuff out if you are getting sick or are sick…..and well, AT LEAST when you change a reed.