A new report examines which students are accessing extra-curricular activities and the long-term outcomes of students who do participate.
Category: Cognitive ability/development
A lifetime of being musical may improve our brain health [England, 2024, 1,107 participants, 3 years]
A new study by the University of Exeter has found a connection between brain health in old age and playing a musical instrument.
Playing an instrument could improve long-term cognitive ability [Scotland, 366 adults]
A study of older adults who’d taken part in cognitive ability assessments, indicates that people with more experience of playing a musical instrument were likely to show greater gains in cognitive ability.
Long-term vocal and piano training improves brain connectivity (Taiwan study)
A study published in Human Brain Mapping suggests that long-term vocal and piano training can improve white matter plasticity in emotion and language networks, and strengthen connections among emotion-related regions of the brain. Vocal training in particular reshaped the vocal motor control, sensory feedback, and language processing networks.
The benefits of music education for child development in a post-Covid world [Australia]
A new publication by the University of Adelaide highlights the benefits of music education for child development and well-being, particularly following the impact of the pandemic.
Find out about the benefits of drumming
The Data Drummer website has a research section that, summarises the wellbeing benefits of drumming: from improving general cognitive health, to helping control impulsive behaviour to reducing the symptoms of trauma.
Musical rhythms help children with speech and language difficulties [France, 33 students]
A new study led by a Western Sydney University researcher has found that musical rhythms can help children with speech and language processing difficulties.
Small study shows link between playing the piano, processing information, and mood
A new study by the University of Bath shows that learning to play the piano can improve the brain’s ability to process sights and sounds, and can help to improve mood.
Why music lessons make you a better learner
In both the UK and the US, school music is facing continuing pressures. Yet at the same time, there continues to be growing evidence for the cognitive benefits of music learning.
Music and sound in time processing of children with ADHD
Music, with its playful, spontaneous, affective, motivational, temporal, and rhythmic dimensions can be of great help for studying the aspects of time processing in ADHD.
Music improves social communication and brain connectivity in children with autism
Engaging in musical activities such as singing and playing instruments in one-on-one therapy can improve autistic children’s social communication skills and increase brain connectivity in key networks.
Music and dyslexia: A new musical training method to improve reading and related disorders
In 2016, researchers in Marseille, France tested the efficacy of a specially-designed Cognitivo-Musical Training (CMT) method for children with dyslexia.