What is musical play? Is it bashing on an upturned drum in the playground or banging pots and pans on the kitchen floor? Well, it can be both. A different term to use might be musical exploration, the idea that young children get the opportunity to explore sounds. Most playground designs or outdoor spaces take […]

This is not new, but recent research helps us understand why it works. The abstract says “The primary musical features of infant-directed singing are ideal for emotional coordination and sharing between parent and infant without the risk of over-stimulation.” Check out our posters designed to get your students talking about the benefits of music! What […]

Music processing uses something called top-down and bottom-up processing. Think about when we listen to music, we can appreciate the whole sound at the same time as identifying individual parts of the sound. With ADHD this processing, which requires synchronised timing inside our brains, is disrupted and leads to problems with attention and inhibition. The […]

Music learning in early childhood increases pre-reading skills and vocabulary 🧠🎶📖 The results of this study of 90 3-6 years olds found that early childhood music training can lead to associated improvements in both musical skills and language skills, thus strengthening the evidence for a developmental link between these two abilities. The study also found […]

Here is a very different kind of study for the BBB community to ponder. Periodically the research community completes a systematic review, sometimes known as a literature review, of a given area of research. These studies help  people who use research to inform their practice and policies to compare across studies within that given area. […]

Some people have favourite fiction writers. We (The BBB Team) have favourite science writers. This abstract alone by Prof. Nina Kraus and Dr. Travis White-Schwoch has some great gems in it. Let’s start with this one: “The active, repeated engagement with sound demanded by music making augments the neural processing of speech, eventually cascading to […]

An extensive study has been released which found that students who studied music in primary school and into high school were almost one year ahead of their non-musically trained peers in their Maths, Science and English performance. This study is receiving a lot of attention on social media because it has such a large sample […]

Prof Glen Schellenberg is a giant in the field of music training and brain development. His paper of Music Learning and IQ was an incredibly important study when the field was in its infancy. His work has continued to rigorously examine the validity of the studies and findings within the field. As he works towards […]

“Research suggests music helps parents bond with babies who have had a harrowing start to life, and may benefit the babies’ health and brain development.” This research is incredibly valuable to help us understand why and how singing is important in the first weeks and months of life, whether it be a smooth or harrowing […]