Can engaging our Children in learning music increase academic and career success, social emotional wellbeing, wealth, and physical health.

September 28, 2024Blog, UncategorizedMoosicology

Effects of Music Training on Inhibitory Control and Associated Neural Networks in School-Aged Children: A Longitudinal Study (2019)

Inhibitory control, the ability to suppress an immediate dominant response, has been shown to predict academic and career success, social emotional wellbeing, wealth, and physical health. Learning to play a musical instrument engages various sensorimotor processes and draws on cognitive capacities including inhibition and task switching. While music training has been shown to benefit cognitive and language skills.

This passage explores inhibitory control, a key component of executive function tied to the brain’s prefrontal cortex. Inhibitory control helps suppress automatic responses, improving focus and decision-making, which is linked to areas such as the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, anterior cingulate cortex, and inferior frontal gyrus. Studies show that strong inhibitory control correlates with academic and career success, better social emotional health, and lower risks of substance abuse and physical health issues.

The passage reviews how programs that enhance inhibitory control (like mindfulness, exercise, and music training) improve these skills, especially in children. Some research points to short-term exercise, martial arts, and classroom-based programs helping develop inhibitory control. More recently, music training has been examined for its role in improving this function.

However, studies on the effects of music training on inhibitory control have produced mixed results, both for adults and children. While some studies found that musicians showed improved reaction times in tasks that require inhibition, others did not find significant differences. Various factors may explain these inconsistent results, such as differing definitions of “musician” and the type of music training programs. The need for studies with more socio-economic and cultural diversity is also emphasized.

The current study aims to investigate the long-term effects of music training on inhibitory control in children, comparing those with music training to those involved in sports and those without any structured extracurricular activity. The study hypothesised that music-trained children will show greater behavioural and neural improvements in inhibitory control than other groups.

This study investigated the impact of group-based music training on inhibitory skills in children from under-resourced communities, using a four-year longitudinal design. It compared children involved in music training with those in sports and a control group (no structured after-school program). Children’s inhibitory control was assessed using tasks like delayed gratification and the Flanker task, both inside and outside an MRI scanner.

Key findings include:

Flanker Task: Music-trained children showed gradual improvement in inhibiting dominant responses, especially after 3-4 years. Though all groups improved, only the music group’s accuracy in incongruent trials reached significant levels, suggesting a unique effect of music training. Overall, all groups had similar accuracy by year four, though music participants started slightly lower at year two, suggesting they had more to gain.
Delayed Gratification: Music-trained children were faster in learning to delay smaller immediate rewards for larger future ones, showing enhanced rational decision-making compared to the other groups. The sports and control groups also improved but did so at a slower rate.
Neural Correlates: In the fMRI Stroop task, the music group displayed accelerated neural maturity in brain areas associated with cognitive control, particularly the right inferior frontal gyrus (IFG). This trend aligned with faster reaction times in musicians seen in other studies, though differences between groups diminished by year four.

This study suggests that music training promotes earlier development of inhibitory control, possibly due to parallels with musical practice (example: error monitoring and attention to detail). Interestingly the correlation with the high percentage of bilingual children in the study, suggests that both music training and bilingualism independently contribute to enhanced inhibitory skills.

A limitation was the decrease in sample size over the four years, and the study wasn’t randomised, so pre-existing differences between groups might have influenced the results. Despite this, the study offers evidence of music training’s modest but positive effects on inhibitory control in children from underserved communities.

https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/neuroscience/articles/10.3389/fnins.2019.01080/full

The Benefits of Early years music engagement

November 18, 2023BlogMoosicology

There is a growing body of research suggesting that exposure to music in the early years can have positive effects on brain development in various ways. Here are some key findings from scientific studies:

Cognitive Development:
- Memory and Attention: Engaging with music can enhance memory and attention skills in children. For example, learning and remembering songs or musical patterns involve cognitive processes that can transfer to other areas of memory and attention.
- Pattern Recognition: Musical activities often involve recognizing patterns, which can contribute to the development of early mathematical and logical thinking.
Language Development:
- Phonological Skills: Exposure to music, especially through singing and rhythmic activities, can contribute to the development of phonological awareness—the ability to recognize and manipulate sounds in language. This is a crucial skill for early language development.
- Vocabulary Building: Songs often introduce new vocabulary and help children learn the sounds and meanings of words.
Social and Emotional Development:
- Social Bonding: Music activities, such as group singing or playing instruments, can foster social bonding and cooperation among children. These interactions contribute to the development of social skills.
- Emotional Expression: Music provides a means for children to express and regulate their emotions. Singing, dancing, and playing instruments can be outlets for emotional expression and creativity.
Motor Skills:
- Gross and Fine Motor Skills: Activities involving movement to music, such as dancing or playing instruments, can enhance both gross and fine motor skills in young children. This can contribute to overall physical development.
Neurological Benefits:
- Brain Plasticity: Exposure to music has been linked to changes in brain structure and function. Musical experiences may enhance neural plasticity—the brain’s ability to adapt and reorganize itself in response to new stimuli and experiences.
- Auditory Processing: Musical training may positively impact auditory processing skills, including the ability to differentiate between different sounds and tones.
Executive Functions:
- Executive Function Skills: Musical activities often require planning, organizing, and executing sequences of actions. Engaging in such activities can contribute to the development of executive function skills, including working memory and cognitive flexibility.
Emphasis on Early Childhood:
- Many studies emphasize the importance of introducing music at an early age when the brain is particularly sensitive to environmental stimuli and experiences.

It’s important to note that the benefits of early years music are often intertwined with the quality and nature of the musical experiences provided. Positive, engaging, and interactive musical activities tend to yield more significant developmental benefits. Additionally, individual responses to music can vary, and not all children may respond in the same way.

Parents, caregivers, and educators can play a crucial role in promoting positive musical experiences for children by incorporating music into daily routines, providing access to a variety of musical genres, and encouraging active participation in musical activities.

Children’s brain development and music: a winning combination featured in today’s Telegraph

January 1, 2023Blog, testimonialsMoosicology

There’s a insightful and comprehensive article that our founder was interviewed in by the Telegraph titled ‘Can music make your child cleverer?’

The article discusses our founders book “The Music Miracle – the scientific secret to unlocking your child’s full potential” and studies on music and children’s brain development. The article also features some tips (on how to engage musically with your child) from The Grown-Up’s Guide of the Moosicology Package.

Still, I genuinely think it’s a fabulous read, as the writer has done a great bit of research to make one fact-packed and nicely written article! Furthermore, the benefits of music for children clearly need this kind of national exposure: us parents need to be more informed on how crucial music is for babies and children. I very nearly missed this opportunity myself with my son six years ago – not wanting to be a ‘pushy parent’, or ‘living my music dreams through my son’, I hesitated in introducing my peculiar obsession with music to him – so it was just as well I came across one study when he was just a few months old (in the wonderful parenting book What Every Parent Needs to Know by Margot Sunderland) – and when I started to look for more information, a whole new world opened up in scientific journals; a wealth of information on how music benefits the brain development of children.

Without further ado, here’s a snippet of the article, which you can read in full at The Telegraph site:

“Liisa Henriksson-Macaulay, 30, Finnish author of The Music Miracle, believes that she has found the key to enhancing a child’s development. “In Finland, most children go to a music playschool until the age of seven,” she says. “They teach the children music in a very child-centred way. The benefits of this are so amazing that when I moved to Britain, I wanted to bring them to British children.”

According to the PISA international league tables, Finnish children are 14 places above Britain in maths, sixth in the world in reading, and fifth in science. The country has become something of a cause celebre among educational experts, who have long searched for the secret of this success.

Henriksson-Macaulay’s six-year-old son, Toivo, has been having piano lessons since he was four. She also has music sessions with him for half-an-hour a week, and for Christmas she gave him a drum kit. “He is exposed to music of all different types,” she says.

In her book, she concludes that musical practice can produce nothing short of a “a full-scale brain upgrade”. She has also developed a system of music tuition called Moosicology, which is intended to be used by parents to maximise the benefits to their child’s development.

According to a collation of peer-reviewed studies quoted in the book, benefits of early engagement with music include improved performance in mathematics and languages; higher levels of IQ; better emotional fluency; greater self-esteem; a more powerful memory; and physical health and fitness.

Such elaborate claims might sound far-fetched, especially as they are made by a non-scientist. But the book has been verified by a number of leading academics at the Institute of Education and elsewhere.

For babies up to the age of one, Henriksson-Macaulay says, it is best to play them a range of music, including major and minor keys, and different time signatures, rhythms and scales. “In Britain, children’s songs are usually in 4/4 time, and in the major key,” she explains. “That’s a bit like speaking to kids only in verbs. For the full benefits, children need a variety of music.”

She suggests singing and clapping games for children under the age of four, and for those aged between five and seven, she recommends introducing instruments.

“The most dramatic benefits happen before the age of seven or eight,” she says. “But it is important not to create a hothouse environment, or there will be a connection between music and stress.” ”

Click here to read the full article – including what Alex James from Blur and Susan Hallam from the Institute of Education have to say about the meaning of music for child development!

Why is music Training the only activity that increases your Child’s IQ

September 28, 2022UncategorizedMoosicology

Why is music training the only activity that increases your child’s IQ?

Children aged 0-7 gain the full benefits, including faster and more accurate information processing.)2)

Because learning music activates more parts of the brain than any other activity.(1)

Boost your child’s IQ more accurate and brainpower the proven way: early music training

Miranda, E. R., & Overy, K. (2009). Preface: The Neuroscience of Music.
Bugos, J., & Mostafa, W. (2011). Musical training enhances information processing speed. Bulletin of the Council for Research in Music Education,

learning music skills BOOSTS your child’s self-esteem

June 28, 2020UncategorizedMoosicology

See Your child thrive

Studies have consistently found that learning music skills BOOSTS your child’s self-esteem.

Find out how music can positively affected your Childs development by reading thousands of studies compiled by our founder in a fascinating book Music Miracle:

How the steps we take as children effects the rest of their lives

September 28, 2019UncategorizedMoosicology

How the steps we’ve taken earlier in our lives as children and throughout our life is the current effect of where we are on presently at as adults, known as the “butterfly effect” which is the understanding of cause-and-effects . As parents I’m sure this influences us to plant seeds to grow in our children, like the activities we encourage them to engage with when they are young with the hope they will benefit from them when they are older and more mature to appreciate.

Which bring me to reflecting on Maya one of our first students of Moosicology:

Update a year later: “Maya got a certificate for excellent rhythm in her music class – the only child to get one and she told the teachers it was because she learned it from Moosicology! It’s motivated her to do more than just play around on the piano at home now and she’s keen to have lessons – not bad as she’s only just turned five!”

Build a brighter future for your children with the seeds you plant in your children.

Moosicology Making Learning Fun!