One of the newest features, which you may have already noticed, is our News section. This is where we’ll post upcoming event information, music news, studies related to music and more!

Please feel free to make a comment on this article, letting us know what you think of the new site. A nice feature of our news section is the ability for our readers to give us their opinions. We are especially looking forward to interacting with The Music Chamber community online as well offline. Also, feel free to use our new contact form to send us an email.

Some 40 students from the Music Chamber will take part in this highly enriching experience at the hands of Lithuanian composer Vykintas Baltakas. He is one of four renowned composers of contemporary music visiting Dubai to create a musical piece reflecting on the city as an international metropolis on the Arabian Gulf.

Rawhi Abeidoh, General Manager of the Music Chamber said: “This is an excellent learning opportunity for our advanced students into the art of composition, improvisation and building bridges between various musical styles.”

“We are delighted to been chosen for this workshop since we feel it is an acknowledgment of the role we play in enriching Dubai’s Cultural life,” Abeidoh added.

The academic staff has selected some 40 students, who are showing exceptional talent on a rich variety of instruments taught at the academy. They include piano, guitar, violin, cello and percussions students aged between 11 to 35 years.

However, my father didn’t want me to emulate him. He had a very rough time as a musician in a conservative society like ours! However, he failed with my two brothers – a twin — who are now noted musicians and they have both joined me at the Music Chamber.

But my passion for music survived, perhaps hibernating for few years. I managed to keep it alive through going to concerts and building what my friends say is an impressive library of CDs and videos until I finally managed to have time to learn how to play an instrument. That was in Cairo in the late 1990s, when I headed Reuters’ editorial operations in North Africa.

It was only then that I started seriously thinking about creating something unique for musicians. At first, the idea was to set a Jazz Club in Cairo and later, a Music Academy when I moved to Morocco. The plan started to take new visions of its own.

It mainly evolved around fulfilling to musicians their needs of quality instruments, accessories and literature at affordable prices. Now we can claim that the Music Chamber has on display the biggest variety of instruments, accessories and music books in the Middle East. Certainly, we are still far away from what can be done and must be done for musicians in the region. But considering the paucity in this field, we feel that we are on the right track.

The bigger scheme is to get musicians of diverse cultural backgrounds together to learn more about each other through jamming sessions, workshops, or simply hearing that other mood, accent. Call it whatever you like, but one thing for sure: music is the only universal language. It is a language of genuine peace and love – not of diplomacy and deception.

For someone who has worked as a journalist in three languages – as Editor of the Arabic Service for Reuters News Agency, a correspondent for the U.S. news agency United Press International (UPI) and the French News Agency (AFP) – I have seen how languages are used and abused. I don’t see that in music because every tone is beautiful – perhaps one is more beautiful than the other, but anything musical is pleasing to the ear.

Twenty-five years was enough for me as a journalist. In January 2003, I resigned from my last assignment as Gulf Bureau Chief for Reuters because I didn’t want to cover yet another war.  I took early retirement to do with the rest of my life what I have always longed to do.

I have covered so many wars, starting with the Lebanese Civil War, the Palestinian struggle for independence to end Israel’s humiliating occupation, the two Gulf Wars and others. I have seen enough bloodshed and sufferings.

My family and I feel that I have left journalism at the most appropriate time. The person who succeeded me in Dubai was badly injured when the U.S.-led coalition forces entered Baghdad on April 15, 2003. She was lucky, but for me, it was a mixture of guilt and relief. I am glad I had left because one thing I know for sure about myself is that I would have been at the balcony of the 15th floor of the Palestine Hotel on that particular day. I would have been there watching the first American tanks rumble into the heart of Baghdad along with Reuter’s cameraman whose life had been ended by a tank shell that exploded inside Reuter’s office in the Iraqi capital.

The timing is also perfect on another more important front. Dubai is rapidly becoming the main hub in the Middle East. It is not only a major regional tourism and trade centre, but also a cultural centre. It is attracting so many talents. My brothers and I are impressed by how many good musicians are living here — not only professionals, but just normal people who play music as a hobby and with great passion.

It is not all too bad about Reuters and journalism. I have traveled around the world, met kings and queens, including Queen Elizabeth, presidents, important people – good and bad. I also enjoyed breaking important stories like Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait in 1990, Algeria’s flawed presidential elections in 1999, OPEC’s famous pricing strategies and others. The biggest joy was coaching so many young talents in the world of journalism.

Perhaps the last straw was when I had to be awakened so frequently around dawn in the days that preceded the last Gulf War.

Do I regret the switch? Not a chance!  I have a new life now and every day brings joy and satisfaction. I know for a fact that I am doing something to my society and to myself in the context of a universal theme.

I have so many plans for the future. I want the Music Chamber to become the reference for musicians. I want to set up a prestigious academy that teaches all types of music. I want to organize quality concerts on regular bases and establish a community of musicians from various ethnic and cultural backgrounds.

I know that the seeds have been planted in a fertile soil. We now have 500 students from more than 50 nationalities. We have our own orchestras and new young talents are joining every day!

RESEARCH FINDINGS SHOW MUSIC CAN ENHANCE KEY COMPONENT OF HUMAN INTELLIGENCE

Music lessons, and even simply listening to music, can enhance spatial reasoning performance, according to research presented at the 102nd Annual Convention of the American Psychological Association (source). Psychologist Frances Rauscher, Ph.D. and neuroscientist Gordon Shaw, Ph.D., representing a research team from the University of California at Irvine, presented the new findings.

Dr. Rauscher and Dr. Shaw’s studies confirm, and substantially extend their earlier research that demonstrated an unmistakable causal link between music and spatial intelligence. This further research will have considerable potential to reverse the commonly held view of music education as essentially irrelevant to intellectual development.

The researchers note that well-developed spatial intelligence is the ability to perceive the visual world accurately, to form mental images of physical objects, and to recognize variations of objects. The researchers theorize that spatial reasoning abilities are crucial for such higher brain functions as music, complex mathematics, and chess. As many of the problems in which scientists and engineers engage in cannot be described in verbal form, progress in science may, in fact, be closely linked to the development of certain spatial skills.

Dr. Rauscher and Dr. Shaw’s results show that the spatial reasoning performance of 19 preschool children who received eight months of music lessons, far exceeded the spatial reasoning performance of a demographically comparable group of 15 preschool children who did not receive music lessons.
Moreover, scores on a puzzle task, designed to measure spatial reasoning ability, increased significantly during the course of the period they received the music lessons. This experiment was designed to follow up on results generated by a preliminary pilot study completed by the researchers in 1993.

The second experiment, presented at the meeting by Dr. Rauscher and Dr. Shaw, expanded on their widely-reported study published by Nature in October 1993, which found that listening to 10 minutes of Mozart’s Piano Sonata K 448 increased spatial IQ scores in college students, relative to silence or relaxation instructions. The new findings replicated the effect, and found no increase in spatial skills after subjects listened to 10 minutes of either a composition by Philip Glass or a highly rhythmic dance piece, suggesting that hypnotic musical structures will not enhance spatial skills.

Dr. Rauscher and Dr. Shaw suggest that these two complementary studies have serious educational and scientific implications. “We are in the process of designing further studies directed toward strengthening the enhancing effect of music training on spatial reasoning that we found for the preschoolers. We hope our research will help convince public school administrators of how crucial music instruction is to all children,” they explained. Dr. Rauscher and Dr. Shaw also plan experiments which will begin to examine the neuronal mechanisms responsible for the causal link between music and spatial intelligence

The pace of scientific research into music making has never been greater. New data about music’s relationship to brainpower, wellness and other phenomena is changing the way we perceive mankind’s oldest art form, and it’s having a real-world effect on decisions about educational priorities.

The briefs below provide a glimpse into these exciting developments. For a more in-depth treatment of current music science, visit The International Foundation for Music Research, and to see updates on the latest findings, check the “Build Your Case” section of the Support Music website.
Did You Know?
Middle school and high school students who participated in instrumental music scored significantly higher than their non-band peers in standardized tests. University studies conducted in Georgia and Texas found significant correlations between the number of years of instrumental music instruction and academic achievement in math, science and language arts.
Source: University of Sarasota Study, Jeffrey Lynn Kluball; East Texas State University Study, Daryl Erick Trent
Did You Know?
Students who were exposed to the music-based lessons scored a full 100 percent higher on fractions tests than those who learned in the conventional manner. Second-grade and third-grade students were taught fractions in an untraditional manner ‹ by teaching them basic music rhythm notation. The group was taught about the relationships between eighth, quarter, half and whole notes. Their peers received traditional fraction instruction.
Source: Neurological Research, March 15, 1999
Did You Know?
Music majors are the most likely group of college grads to be admitted to medical school. Physician and biologist Lewis Thomas studied the undergraduate majors of medical school applicants. He found that 66 percent of music majors who applied to med school were admitted, the highest percentage of any group. For comparison, (44 percent) of biochemistry majors were admitted. Also, a study of 7,500 university students revealed that music majors scored the highest reading scores among all majors including English, biology, chemistry and math.
Sources: “The Comparative Academic Abilities of Students in Education and in Other Areas of a Multi-focus University,” Peter H. Wood, ERIC Document No. ED327480
“The Case for Music in the Schools,” Phi Delta Kappan, February, 1994
Did You Know?
Music study can help kids understand advanced music concepts. A grasp of proportional math and fractions is a prerequisite to math at higher levels, and children who do not master these areas cannot understand more advanced math critical to high-tech fields. Music involves ratios, fractions, proportions and thinking in space and time. Second-grade students were given four months of piano keyboard training, as well as time using newly designed math software. The group scored over 27 percent higher on proportional math and fractions tests than children who used only the math software.
Source: Neurological Research March, 1999
Did You Know?
A McGill University study found that pattern recognition and mental representation scores improved significantly for students given piano instruction over a three-year period. They also found that self-esteem and musical skills measures improved for the students given piano instruction.
Source: Dr. Eugenia Costa-Giomi, “The McGill Piano Project: Effects of three years of piano instruction on children’s cognitive abilities, academic achievement, and self-esteem,” presented at the meeting of the Music Educators National Conference, Phoenix, AZ, April, 1998
Did You Know?
Data from the National Educational Longitudinal Study of 1988 showed that music participants received more academic honors and awards than non-music students, and that the percentage of music participants receiving As, As/Bs, and Bs was higher than the percentage of non-participants receiving those grades.
Source: National Educational Longitudinal Study of 1988 First Follow-Up (1990), U.S. Department of Education.
Did You Know?
Research shows that piano students are better equipped to comprehend mathematical and scientific concepts. A group of preschoolers received private piano keyboard lessons and singing lessons. A second group received private computer lessons. Those children who received piano/keyboard training performed 34 percent higher on tests measuring spatial-temporal ability than the others ‹ even those who received computer training. “Spatial-temporal” is basically proportional reasoning - ratios, fractions, proportions and thinking in space and time. This concept has long been considered a major obstacle in the teaching of elementary math and science.
Source: Neurological Research February 28, 1997
Did You Know?
Young children with developed rhythm skills perform better academically in early school years. Findings of a recent study showed that there was a significant difference in the academic achievement levels of students classified according to rhythmic competency. Students who were achieving at academic expectation scored high on all rhythmic tasks, while many of those who scored lower on the rhythmic test achieved below academic expectation.
Source: “The Relationship between Rhythmic Competency and Academic Performance in First Grade Children,” University of Central Florida, Debby Mitchell
Did You Know?
High school music students score higher on SATs in both verbal and math than their peers. In 2001, SAT takers with coursework/experience in music performance scored 57 points higher on the verbal portion of the test and 41 points higher on the math portion than students with no coursework/experience in the arts.
Source: Profile of SAT and Achievement Test Takers, The College Board, compiled by Music Educators National Conference, 2001.
Did You Know?
College-age musicians are emotionally healthier than their non-musician counterparts. A study conducted at the University of Texas looked at 362 students who were in their first semester of college. They were given three tests, measuring performance anxiety, emotional concerns and alcohol related problems. In addition to having fewer battles with the bottle, researchers also noted that the college-aged music students seemed to have surer footing when facing tests.
Source: Houston Chronicle, January 11, 1998
Did You Know?
A ten-year study, tracking more than 25,000 students, shows that music-making improves test scores. Regardless of socioeconomic background, music-making students get higher marks in standardized tests than those who had no music involvement. The test scores studied were not only standardized tests, such as the SAT, but also in reading proficiency exams.
Source: Dr. James Catterall, UCLA, 1997
Did You Know?
The world’s top academic countries place a high value on music education. Hungary, Netherlands and Japan stand atop worldwide science achievement and have strong commitment to music education. All three countries have required music training at the elementary and middle school levels, both instrumental and vocal, for several decades. The centrality of music education to learning in the top-ranked countries seems to contradict the United States’ focus on math, science, vocabulary, and technology.
Source: 1988 International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IAEEA) Test
Did You Know?
Music training helps under-achievers. In Rhode Island, researchers studied eight public school first grade classes. Half of the classes became “test arts” groups, receiving ongoing music and visual arts training. In kindergarten, this group had lagged behind in scholastic performance. After seven months, the students were given a standardized test. The “test arts” group had caught up to their fellow students in reading and surpassed their classmates in math by 22 percent. In the second year of the project, the arts students widened this margin even further. Students were also evaluated on attitude and behavior. Classroom teachers noted improvement in these areas also.
Source: Nature May 23, 1996
Did You Know?
“Music education can be a positive force on all aspects of a child’s life, particularly on their academic success. The study of music by children has been linked to higher scores on the SAT and other learning aptitude tests, and has proven to be an invaluable tool in classrooms across the country. Given the impact music can have on our children’s education, we should support every effort to bring music into their classrooms.”
Source: U.S. Senator Jeff Bingaman (NM)
Did You Know?
“The nation’s top business executives agree that arts education programs can help repair weaknesses in American education and better prepare workers for the 21st century.”
Source: “The Changing Workplace is Changing Our View of Education,” Business Week, October 1996.