Click here to watch on Youtube

Here is a wonderful innovation inspired by the difficult times we live in during COVID-19. The great singer, Renee Fleming, who normally hosts the extraordinary live series at The Kennedy Centre called Music and the Mind, is now hosting a weekly podcast on youtube every week.

If you don’t have an hour to listen to the whole event here are some great excerpts

14’30” – 16’00” – demonstration of a trust learning activity which uses bouncing to either a synchronised beat or non-synchronise beat to gain trust and make the toddler feel like that can help the researcher with a problem like dropping a peg. Guess which group of toddlers were more likely to help the researcher because they trusted them – the toddlers who bounced to a synchronised beat!

25’00” – 31”00” – “Sound is our most underrecognized sense” listen to Nina Kraus explain the ingredients of sound and what our brains makes out of these ingredients

31’30” – 36’00” – Listen to Assal Habibi explain how her study found that children who learn music have higher levels of inhibitory control that children who learned sports at the same level and time on task or did no activity outside of school at all – this is a skill that benefits future achievement and life outcomes

36’30”- 39’00” – Why should we value the more intangible benefits of music education – fascinating response from Nina Kraus

42’00 – 43’00” – Why is active music making more beneficial than listening alone in young children – fascinating response from Laurel Trainor

43’00” – 50’00” – Listening to the questions from the public, music teachers and parents for the panel.

Enjoy!