Musical training boosts memory and hearing

Playing a musical instrument can help keep you young, a new study claims.

Researchers found that musicians are more likely to keep their memories active and also their hearing in tact.

They believe that the training helps your brain be more adaptable to ageing and make adjustments for any decline in the ability to remember or ability to separate speech from background noise.

The findings add further weight to the benefits of musical training which is also associated with greater learning ability in the classroom,

The study co-author Dr Nina Kraus, at Northwestern University, in Chicago, said: "Lifelong musical training appears to confer advantages in at least two important functions known to decline with age – memory and the ability to hear speech in noise.

"Difficulty hearing speech in noise is among the most common complaints of older adults, but age-related hearing loss only partially accounts for this impediment that can lead to social isolation and depression.

"It's well known that adults with virtually the same hearing profile can differ dramatically in their ability to hear speech in noise."

To find out why, researchers at the Auditory Neuroscience Laboratory, made 18 musicians and 19 non-musicians, aged 45 to 65, carry out a number of tests for speech in noise, memory and processing ability.

The musicians – who began playing an instrument at age nine or earlier and consistently played an instrument throughout their lives – beat the non-musician group in all tests except one where they showed nearly identical ability.

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Doctor Kraus said the experience of extracting meaningful sounds from a complex soundscape – and of remembering sound sequences – enhances the development of auditory skills.

She said: "The neural enhancements we see in musically-trained individuals are not just an amplifying or "volume knob" effect.

"Playing music engages their ability to extract relevant patterns, including the sound of their own instrument, harmonies and rhythms."

Dr Kraus said music training "fine-tunes" the nervous system.

She said: "Sound is the stock in trade of the musician in much the same way that a painter of portraits is keenly attuned to the visual attributes of the paint that will convey his or her subject.

"If the materials that you work with are sound, then it is reasonable to suppose that all of your faculties involved with taking it in, holding it in memory and relating physically to it should be sharpened.

"Music experience bolsters the elements that combat age-related communication problems."

The study was published in the journal PLoS One.

By Richard Alleyne, Science Correspondent

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Antonio Banderas funds college scholarships

Malaga –  Antonio Banderas's Lagrimas y Favores (Tears and Favors) Foundation has donated 130,000 euros ($188,000) for college scholarships, aid for cancer victims, and to help people currently down and out from the economic crisis.

The actor endowed Monday his native Malaga with 75,000 euros ($108,000) in scholarships to enable students to take postgraduate courses at universities in the United States and Canada.

Accompanied by his wife, actress Melanie Griffith, he has also gave 25,000 euros ($36,000) to the Cancer Care Association, or Cudeca, and 30,000 euros ($43,000) to the Catholic charity Caritas.

"Too many people are calling on churches these days needing help, they need some kind of support because the situation is maybe a lot worse than we think," Banderas said.

"The whole world," he said, is in "a very tough, very deep crisis that is causing suffering to lot of people."

"We're not going to fix the problems of the whole world, but we have a great belief in the work the foundation is doing," the actor said.

Banderas said that these funds have been collected over a year through such events as the "Starlite" benefit gala held last summer in the nearby city of Marbella, with which the foundation of U.S. actress Eva Longoria also collaborated.

Banderas' Lagrimas y Favores Foundation is named after an Andalusian devotion to the Virgin Mary known as Our Lady of Tears and Favors.

Souce Fox News Latinos

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"Amanda LewKee Collection- LG Canadian Fashion Week 2011"

Amanda Lew Kee is a women's wear designer born and raised in Toronto, Canada. At a young age, Lew Kee discovered her love and passion for innovative design and further established her talent at Ryerson University, where she graduated in 2010 with a Bachelor of Design in Fashion. Amanda Lew Kee's collection was premiered at the exclusive Mass Exodus 2010: In Bloom's Press and Media showing at Ryerson University.

The designs have also been displayed at Holt Renfrew's annual showcase of selected Ryerson graduates, as well as winning Flare Magazine's student editiorial competition featured in the August 2010 issue. Straight out of University, Amanda hosted her industry debut (May 2010) at the Great Hall in Toronto and later was invited to show her SS2011 collection at Toronto's LG Fashion Week (October 2010).

Soon after, Amanda was invited by The Fashion Collective and the FDCC to show at Toronto's LG Fashion Week, October 2010. Amanda's showing was the most anticipated collection of the season. As the audience arrived additional seating had to be arranged to accommodate the large attendance.

Montreal's Ka Magazine also extended the invite to Amanda Lew Kee to show her Spring'11 collection at the first annual Ka Best Of Canada 2010 Benefit Event that was hosted in a 35,000 square foot private jet hanger at Starlink Aviation, in Dorval, QC.

Amanda has worked on many projects aside from building her brand, currently she is working on custom wardrobe for HBO's TRUE BLOOD, she dressed Shenae Grimes of 90210 for the 2010 MMVA's, Keri Hilson for various red carpets and photoshots, was the muse and wardrobed a music video for Fritz Helder.

She has been featured in Teen Vogue, Nylon Magazine Sept 2010 issue as one of the Top Canadian Designers, The Globe and Mail's quarterly Lifestyle Magazine as Canadian Designer to Watch, WeAr Magazine's January 2011 issue as 'Designer to watch', the TorontoStar as one of 2010's best dressed, EyeWeekly's 2010 Most Powerful People, LOOK Magazine UK Sept 2010, and featured on segments of Fashion Television's In Fashion.

At age 21, Amanda had already had attracted the attention of industry heavy weights Lisa Tant, Derek Blasberg, Glen Baxter, Adrian Mainella, and Derick Chetty to name a few.

Source Amanda Lewkee
Images Salsa Circuit

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Renovated Latin Fever

The popular nightclub in Toronto back to our night with a totally new.Because the party do not stop the dance floor and waits for no man, I have prepared a very good news, Latin Fever Nightclub, a popular nightclub in our town located at 2220 Highway 7, returns with a totally renewed from Friday April 1, and begins to gear with Touch Fridays nights by Samuel Perez.


"The idea is to bring to Latino audiences a different option than what is currently in the national clubs. We offer varied entertainment, faces new artists and we are focusing on the musical genres that are making waves in the youth "She says Samuel, who also adds that" We want to focus on a younger clientele while giving due prominence music in English. "

In terms of musical genres will be present on Friday April 1st and all Fridays Touch Friday, we mentioned Samuel rhythms like reggaeton, bachata, urban music, latin pop and dembow among others, thus giving the final touches to a space promises to be a favorite for our community will celebrate every Friday.

But that's not all because Samuel Perez also made a very interesting announcement for all DJ's of our city, it tells us "The idea is to have several DJ's. They do not have a fixed share going to give the national DJ's all have a day. We want to bring other local DJs to take charge of encouraging the parties. " A unique offering for those looking to continue growing in this world of mixing.

Well we could talk with Connie Caruso, owner of the club who gave us a few words about this great change in the appearance of local "I feel very good about this renewal, imagine, after 14 years of having Latin Fever and to be renewing little by little, this has been a total change. There never was a renewal of this magnitude. " If you think that this change everything will be different, Ms. Caruso can confirm this, but always be a change for the better: "You can expect a more modern, more comfortable environment and more space, with a much better service."

Finally, and to invite everyone to visit this newly renovated Latin Fever on opening day, hand in hand with the Touch Fridays, Samuel Perez leaves us a few words "If you're tired of the monotony of going to a disco and stay the night stand, why not spend the bachata or merengue you like, if you feel that the promoters do not give you the attention and respect they deserve and are looking for a classy and affordable prices, then Friday is the Touch perfect for a Friday night. " See you there!

Source Torontohispano

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Why Do 40% of Latinos Drop-Out of Toronto Schools?

getty images

Pedro, a 10th grader whose family emigrated from Colombia a few years ago, was labeled a slow learner because he didn’t speak English. Rita, a high school student, said that when she arrived from Mexico, she was shunned and berated by her peers for not knowing English.

Both are students in the Toronto school district, which, with over 250,000 students and 600 schools, is both the largest in Canada and the one with the most Latin American students. And both were part of a study released last month which examined Toronto’s high Latino drop-out rate: About 40 percent of these students—nearly double the number of the overall population—fail to finish high school.

Compared to generations of Latin American migration to the U.S., large numbers of Hispanics started settling in Canada relatively recently. The first wave came in the 1970s, as political asylum seekers fled South American dictatorships. The largest wave, however, came after 2000, when the immigration debate in the U.S. became most heated.

About 350,000 Latin Americans are now in Canada, where the overall population is about 32 million. The largest concentration – a little more than a third – have settled in Toronto. But some say that the Canadian school system was not prepared for a sudden influx of Spanish speakers – which now total about 5,200 – and the young Latinos who migrated there have paid the consequences.

Rubén A. Gaztambide-Fernández, an education professor who headed up the University of Toronto’s years-long study, said many students told researchers scarce resources for Spanish speakers and economic stress impacted their performance.

They also said teachers and their peers had such negative stereotypes about them, that it bred low expectations.

“In the U.S., depending on where you live, all the stereotypes about Latinos tend to be bad, but at least there are a lot of stereotypes,” said Gaztambide-Fernández, whose final report, released this month, was 103 pages long. “What we found in Canada was that everyone assumes that because you are Latin American, you are Mexican. And because you are Mexican, you are poor, lazy and you belong to a gang. That was it.”

Gaztambide-Fernández believes the narrow view may be due to Latinos’ relatively recent arrival. “The only images many Canadians consume of Latin Americans are those that come from Hollywood movies,” he said.

A Puerto Rican Harvard University graduate, Gaztambide-Fernández moved to Toronto from Boston in 2006, around the time the Toronto school district began collecting demographic information about its students.

It was the first time the city was able to look into student success based on race and ethnicity, which turned out to be a long and arduous task. But when the results came in, the school district realized Latin Americans were dropping out at double of rate of the rest of the student population. No one knew why, so a group of Hispanic Torontonians decided to find out.

Sixty students from six Toronto high schools filled out surveys and were interviewed in focus groups or alone. Over and over again, Gaztambide-Fernández said, the students complained about not having enough Spanish-speaking support or ESL classes. Many reported they had to work to help their families, and said juggling those hours with school was affecting their class work. They also said the negative stereotypes sapped them of academic motivation.

“It is like a little burlap sack, you throw in discrimination, you throw in work, you throw in that you have no money, you throw in that, well, you don’t like school, you throw in this and you throw in that, and the burlap sack gets heavy,” said Mercedes, a 12th grader who was interviewed for the study, which published only first names. “It is not just one factor that leads you leave school.”

The 250,000-student Toronto school district, the largest in Canada, acknowledges that Latino students have struggled there. Members of the school board say they have tried to address the group’s problems in the past but nothing has worked. But now, following the University of Toronto study, the school board plans to launch a more far-reaching program.

The school board will adopt a series of recommendations in the study and has already reached out to the community, universities – and even school officials in New York – to address the issue.

“It is very clear to us that in order to help specific students improve their achievement we have to have innovative approaches,” said Jim Spyropoulos, Coordinating Superintendent for Inclusive Schools at the Toronto District School Board. “If we keep doing the same things, we are going to keep getting the same results.”

As part of its efforts, the district will kick off a pilot program in February that will offer cultural sensitivity classes to teachers so they could understand the Latin American culture, offer support programs for newcomers, and give low-income students part-time jobs at the school. Latin American history courses will also be part of the curriculum.

If the pilot program is successful, it will expand to all schools.

“What our kids keep telling us is, 'they don’t get us',” said Spyropoulos of the school board. “This is our best attempt to try and support them.”


Source: Carolyn Salazar | Fox News Latino

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Aventura Live in Toronto (Canada)

The much awaiting Live Concert of Aventura will surely make a big wave for 2011.Aventura features a blend of several different music genres including hip-hop, R&B and reggaeton. They are unlike any other group currently on the scene and you will want to see them live onstage!It will be held on February 11, 2011 at Powerade Centre 7575 Kennedy Road South Brampton, ON, L6W 4T2, Canada.
 Buy your tickets now at ticketmaster.com.

 

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