Twenty years ago, on October 2006, I was sharing the research articles I was working on with my good friend, Jeanne Golner, a marvelous elementary school teacher who taught reading, writing, math, science, and social studies for 30 years in the elementary schools. She was also a remarkable pianist and we had played many concerts together. Jeanne said that day, “why don’t you write a blog and share what you find out with teachers, parents, scientists, medical doctors and others every month?”
That was the day I began writing my blog to share research and strategies to improve learning and teaching through playing a musical instrument. Also, the blog began to honor, write about, and interview scientists, researchers, astronauts, engineers, medical doctors, chemists, biologists, teachers, and others who were also fine musicians and had played since they were children to find their discoveries and teach their classes.
A year later Jeanne said, “how about adding a radio show each month? I agreed and she was our first interviewee.
Background: Many of the worlds, scientists, medical doctors, physicists, mathematicians, biologists, chemists, engineers, NASA rocket scientists, researchers, inventors, accountants, CPA’s, teachers, and others have studied and played Musical Instruments since they were children. These eminent individuals have integrated music into their thinking process. Studying a musical instrument develops millions of new connections, synapses, between nerve cells in the brain. Just like we exercise our bodies to strengthen them, playing a musical instrument exercises our brains.
October 2026, this month, is the 20th anniversary of Madeline’s Monthly Musical Tips Blog. We have shared 240 blogs on the internet for Free. October 2006-October 2026.
Our Radio Show, Madeline’s One Minute Musical Radio Show is nineteen years old this month, October 2026. We have shared 228 Radio Shows for Free. October 2007- October 2026.
What do the scientists, medical doctors, mathematicians, engineers, physicists, chemist, biologist, researchers, inventors, NASA engineers, astronauts, actors, American film directors, rocket scientists, biologists, accountants, CPAs, teachers and others have in common?
Here are just a few of the notable people who have also played musical instruments:
Hedy Lamarr, actress, mathematician, inventor, “Secret Communication System” (Frequency Hopping) with George Antheil. Hedy Lamarr is the Mother of WiFi.
Judith A. Resnick, astronaut, electrical engineer; Dr. Edward Jenner, physician created smallpox vaccine; Dr. William Withering, medical doctor discovered digitalis; Dr. May Edward Chin, medical doctor, cancer researcher; Dr. Margaret Fountain Pinkston, chemist, biochemist, and professor; Dr. Theodore Billroth, physician, father of gastrointestinal surgery, and professor; Dr. Lisa, M Wong medical doctor, professor; Dr. Mark Almond, medical doctor, pulmonologist and General internal medicine physician; Dr. Burton Fine chemist, “ worked on problems of aircraft and space propulsion at NASA.”
Neil Armstrong, Astronaut, engineer, test pilot, “first man on the Moon”, professor ; Dr. Ilya Prigogine, Noble Prize winner, Chemist, and professor.
“Dr. Condoleezza Rice was the sixty-sixth U.S. Secretary of State and the first black women to hold that office. She was also the first women to serve as national security advisor. She has served as provost of Stanford University", and is a professor.
Dr. Max Born, physicist, mathematician, who taught 9 Nobel Prize winners before he won his Nobel Prize. His youngest granddaughter was Olivia Newton-John.
Dr. Marguerite Vogt, medical doctor, Polio Virus researcher, Molecular Biologist; Dr. Emmy Noether, mathematician, professor; Dr. Oliver Sacks, physician, neurologist and professor; Dr. Albert Einstein physicist, Noble prize winner, and professor: Dr. Albert Schweitzer, medical doctor, theologian. Dr. Nesim Halyo, NASA Engineer, Inventor of DIALS, the first direct digital design automatic landing system for Boeing 737, NASA flight tested. Dr. Gerald Edelman, Medical Doctor, brain researcher, Nobel Prize winner.
Dr. Virginia Apgar, medical doctor, developed the 5 Point APGAR Score for immediately assessing the status of a new born given at one minute and 5 minutes. 1) Appearance, skin color 2) Pulse, heart rate 3) Grimace, reflex irritability 4) Activity, muscle tone. 5) Respiration, breathing.
David J. Piatak, NASA Engineer, Rocket Scientist. He and his team ensure it’s safe to fly crew so there are "No" disasters traveling to space.
Katherine Coleman Goble Johnson, NASA Mathematician, human computer. Her “complex calculations successfully achieved space flights.” The movie Hidden Figures is about her life.
Results: All of these scientists, medical doctors, mathematicians, engineers, physicists, chemists, biologists, researchers, inventors, rocket scientists, astronauts, actors, teachers, and others have studied a musical instrument since they were children, and continue to play to help them make their discoveries, teach their classes, and do their work. They have helped the world, cure diseases, invent new products to protect others, and have provided a better life for mankind. These are just a few of the 240 blogs that we have written since October 2006 at Madeline’s Monthly Musical Tips Blog.
To read the Free blogs or hear the Free Radio Shows on the net go to
https://madelinefrankviola.com
