PBS高端访谈:为什么学音乐能帮助孩子更好地学习其他东西（在线收听）

STANFORD THOMPSON, Founder, Play On, Philly!: I grew up in a musical household in Atlanta. And I have seven siblings. We all played music. My parents are both retired music educators. And we always had a rule in our house that you only ate on the days that you practiced. They taught me and my siblings growing up that we would have opportunities that they didn't. And if we took advantage of them, then we could see ourselves on a path to become a professional musician. I was able to study with musicians with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, and worked really hard to earn a spot at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia. I was able to play the staples of the orchestral and chamber music repertoire with world-renowned conductors and musicians just about every week.

I went back to Philadelphia in 2010 and founded Play On, Philly!, which now serves over 300 students every day after school for three hours. We work in under-resourced neighborhoods, mainly in West Philadelphia. And each student is able to access our program tuition-free, and able to get access to get high-quality instruments and teachers on a daily basis. It might sound like that our aim is for these kids to become professional musicians. We really care most about them becoming really great people. Our kids are still performing a letter grade ahead in every academic subject. And we know it's because we teach them to expand their memory, to control inhibition, to help them lengthen the amount of time that they can focus on something. These are skills that they learn the moment they begin to make music. Take a violinist. They have to figure on their left hand where to put their finger to create a certain pitch. Their right hand, of course, will then control how long they're able to hold that note. They also have to look at the music and determine which note they are supposed to play, how loud, how fast or how slow. When you stimulate the brain like that for hours every single day, then that's what helps to turn the clock on some of the damage that is done because of the amount of stress they live with and, of course, brain development. That's really important, especially for younger kids, to make sure that they can go back into a classroom, focus for a longer period of time, be able to memorize the information, so they can go home and do the homework, and then recall it later at the end of the year on a standardized test. We all have the responsibility of providing the best instruments to the poorest kids, that we provide the best teachers to the most marginalized kids, and that we continue to provide the best musical opportunities for the most vulnerable kids. My name is Stanford Thompson. And this is my Brief But Spectacular Take on how music can create harmony and opportunity.

斯坦福·汤普森，Play On, Philly!创始人：我在亚特兰大的一个音乐家庭长大。我们兄弟姐妹七人。都爱演奏音乐。我父母都是音乐教育家，现已退休。我们家里有一条规矩，不练习就别吃饭。他们告诉我和一起长大的兄弟姐妹，我们会有他们没有的机会。如果我们好好把握机会，我们就能走上一条职业音乐家之路。我能和亚特兰大交响乐团的音乐家一起学习，而且我要非常努力，才能在费城柯蒂斯音乐学院赢得一席之地。几乎每个星期，我都能与世界著名的指挥家和音乐家同台演奏管弦乐和室内乐曲目。2010年，我回到了费城，成立了Play On, Philly!，现在每天都有300多名学生，在放学后，来到这里练习三个小时。我们在资源不足的社区展开工作，主要在西费城。每一个学生都可以免费参加我们的课程，而且每天都能接触到高质量的乐器以及高素质的教师。听起来我们的目标是让这些孩子成为职业音乐家。我们真正关心的是让他们成为真正出色的人。我们的孩子，每门学科的成绩都名列前茅。我们知道这是因为我们教他们扩大记忆，缓解拘束，帮助他们延长专注时间。这些是他们自创作音乐伊始就学到的技巧。举个小提琴手的例子。他们必须识别左手手指应放在哪个合适的位置上，来演奏某一个音高。他们的右手，当然，（配合）控制音长。他们还得看乐谱，确定该演奏哪一个音符，要多大声音，多快或多慢。你每天这样刺激大脑几个小时，会帮助你修复此前形成的一些损害，这些损害是他们此前承受的生活压力，当然还有大脑发育造成的。这是非常重要的，尤其是对年幼的孩子，以确保他们可以回到课堂上，集中较长时间的注意力，能记忆信息，这样他们才能在回家后完成作业，然后在年底的时候再（将学习内容）回忆起来，完成标准化测试。我们都有责任为最穷的孩子提供最好的乐器，我们向最边缘化的孩子提供最好的老师，并且我们继续为最脆弱的儿童提供最佳的音乐接触机会。我叫斯坦福·汤普森。这是我的Brief But Spectacular Take，关于音乐如何营造祥和，如何缔造机遇。