Music and speech – two peas in a baby’s brain pod 🧠🎶👶🏼 In this study they found that 9 month old babies who had one month of exposure to directed music listening improved not only their auditory processing of music but also their language. So little time, so much benefit! 🧠🎶🗣 Become a BBB Member […]

Music is medicine and one we can prescribe to ourselves 🧠🎶❤️ This fascinating study proposes that we use music for different reasons at different stages of our lives. With this knowledge therapists and educators could use music in more effective ways. Here is the impact statement, let’s break it down. “The younger participants listened to […]

Want to ‘train your brain’? Forget apps, learn a musical instrument! 🥁🎹🎷🎺🎸🎻 We have shared this article because it is a good way to look at the impact of music learning on the brain when compared to the more modern and technological approaches to brain development, enhancement or improvement. Imagine a poster set that shows […]

What is the connection between rhythm and reading?👏📖 They use overlapping neural mechanisms and this brand new study with beginner readers (aged 5-7) found a whole swag of connections, concluding that “rhythm skills and literacy call on overlapping neural mechanisms, supporting the idea that rhythm training may boost literacy in part by engaging sensory‐motor systems”. […]

10 minutes of music learning a week for 10 weeks can improve reading skills for poor readers. This amazing study is by the great Prof Susan Hallam and she tested a music intervention to assist poor readers. After a rhythmic intervention involving clapping, stamping, and chanting to music while following notation on a chart, the […]

Our traditional ideas about musical talent are being challenged by neuromusical research. Through studying musicians Neuroscientists and psychologists are working with a theory that we are born with predispositions for many things. Some people are born with a predisposition for learning and understanding music. This is often evident in their very high levels of auditory […]

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 […]

Dementia prevention 🧠 take one course of “learning a musical instrument” 🎶 “If you don’t play a musical instrument, now [in our 40s and 50s] is the time to pick up the guitar or start playing the piano” says this researcher. While learning a musical instrument when we are young wires our brain well for […]

Can we introduce you to a researcher to watch – Dr Psyche Loui Dr Psyche Loui is a psychologist, neuroscientist and musician who investigates how music can be used to understand the brain. She is a violinist and works to connect our understanding of the brain with the experience of being a music learner and […]