The effects of music - Test 1

C2 Proficiency · Essay · Cambridge English: Proficiency 1, Cambridge University Press

Write your answer in 240–280 words in an appropriate style.

Use your own words throughout as far as possible, and include your own ideas in your answers.

Write an essay summarising and evaluating the key points from both texts.

We humans are a musical species no less than a linguistic one. This takes many different forms. All of us (with very few exceptions) can perceive music, harmony and rhythm. We integrate all of these using many different parts of the brain. And to this largely unconscious appreciation of music is added an often intense and profound emotional reaction. Shakespeare referred to music as the 'food of love', and for most people their lives would be the poorer without music. Music is capable of stimulating both passion and compassion, speaking to our very core and taking us to the heights and depths of emotion.

The Effects of Music

There is little doubt that regular exposure to music, and especially active participation in music, may stimulate development of other abilities. Some argue that music is as important educationally as reading or writing, and suggest that a musical education advantages those with mathematical aptitude. What people do not agree about, however, is which kind of music is the most educationally valuable. Some regard classical music as the only kind of music that should be taught in schools. However, leaving aside the problem of defining 'classical' in different cultural contexts, there is a strong case that all types of music are equally valid in stimulating an individual's potential.

Music in Schools?

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