A chat this morning with an elementary school teacher revealed something quite unexpected: apparently children who regularly attend services in a church, mosque, or synagogue pay better attention in the classroom than those who do not -- and we are talking about a South Bronx public school classroom.
This reveals something about the nature of attention: I think it thrives on variation. If a stimulus bombards the brain always at the same unrelenting rate of speed it merely succeeds in turning the brain off. I would not be in the least surprised but that it was this aspect of the media that most got to me when as a child I simply couldn't stand television. Not that I was an ideal kid who moved easily from one rate of stimulation to another: I craved speed. Never fast enough, seemed to be my mantra.
Now I recognize the danger inherent in that kind of superficial emphasis on rapidity. Slow down. I work on slowing kids down, using a metronome to tease them into being aware of how fast or slowly they actually can move without losing concentration.
It's a critical skill, not just in music.
