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What is the rest of the paper going to explain? That people can benefit mentally from listening to classical music? If so, I'd stick to just that-- listening. In one of your sentences you state that “the success is not dependent upon whether or not one can sing well or play a musical instrument.” Then you go on to say “listening to and/or performing…”…so will your paper explain the benefits of both listening to, and learning to play? If not, take out the part about performing and just stick to listening. I glanced over it, and edited the way I would anything someone gave me at work—likely a lot more edits than you were looking for, but here’s an example of an alternative intro with the same meaning…
The universal language that humans share, music has value beyond what meets the ear. Music is often taken for granted; many people solely understand it as rhythm, harmony and tempo, yet music is markedly more than just a beat or entertainment. Specifically, the elegance and movement of classical music can bring about emotions of serenity and happiness, while simultaneously stimulating the brain. This combination of stimulation and emotion can strengthen cognitive skills—valuable for academic success. Independent of singing ability or musical talent, these benefits rely only on one’s ability to listen. Listening to classical music composition improves brain flow, enhances emotional well-being and spatial-temporal reasoning, and therefore improves academic achievement.
*reasoning, thereby improving academic achievement.