Singin' in the brain Final

How do Marsh and Young define play?

How do Marsh and Young define play?

“activities that children initiate of their own

accord and in which they may choose to

participate with others voluntarily....

Enjoyable, intrinsically motivated, and

controlled by the players”

What does all musical play have in common, across

all ages?

1) multimodality-blend movement, singing, instruments if available or other sound-making objects. Involves hearing, seeing, kinesthetics*

2) unplanned,** and improvisational

Phases of musical play

Divided into roughly 4 age ranges

1) newborn to 3 years

2) 3 to 6 years

3) 7 to 12

4) 13 through teen years

typical settings for music play

-Day cares, nursery schools, home, playground, in the car, on school buses, etc. nearly everywhere children are with some freedom to engage in play

-Form it takes depends on many factors, including what is available (singing voice vs clapping songs vs instruments)

-Usually encouraged in preschools, which are more play-based

-By age 5 or 6, kids often transition to more formal school

Musical play is also a form of _______________, differing

depending on age

social interaction

young children and types of musical play

Young children share and exchange musical ideas, imitate each other, synchronize rhythmic movement

middle childhood and types of musical play

Mid childhood-actively pass on, create and teach musical games,

songs, and activities to friends

Campbell observed and interviewed children from ages

4 to early teens, looking at ways they used music at all

ages, for different purposes and found that music is used to:

-maintain emotional and social equilibriums

-entertain themselves

-relieve the boredom of their surroundings

-create and enjoy its sonic forms

-assist in the formation of identity (p. 465)

Musical play: infancy to 3 years old

infants participate in musical exchanges with caregivers*, older babies and toddlers start to sing pieces of songs, making up their own potpourri version

Tendency to enjoy repetition, while they “master” the experience

Musical Play: Toddlers and preschoolers

Goal is engaging in process more than final product

3 main categories of musical play (vocal, spontaneous play

with instruments, movement play)

vocal play

2 main types (influenced by social context):

A. Chant-like repetitions–usually in groups (“chants”)

B. Free-flowing singing “often on open syllable sounds”-usually solo (“plainsong”)

Often take known songs and alter with different lyrics,melodic or rhythmic changes

Often accompanied by movements, either themselves or with toys

Spontaneous play with instruments-

Might at first look “random” or purposeless, like “just making noise” (in keeping with Piaget model of exploratory but unstructured play), But actually often quite sophisticated, and structured experimenting happening

One study compared music production by 3 and 4-year olds when given chance to play freely with percussion instruments, guitar, and piano compared to teacher-led class

Free play won out in terms of complexity, range and variety

Movement play

Natural for children to respond to music with movement*

Starting at about age 3, young children enjoy twirling, bouncing, and repetition

Adult Role: Will often imitate adults modeling movement- but only if movements were similar to child’s natural tempo and movement style

**To encourage movement in children, match them

and allow for reciprocal interactions

Musical Play: School-Aged Children

Children’s musical play can be surprisingly complicated

As children get older musical play takes on more social and collaborative character

Playground play—songs, chants, handclapping, hopscotch, jump rope

Age 7 or 8, children start to shift from improvisational play into a more product-oriented mindset.

Age 10 to 11 develop novel compositions in pairs-collaborative compositions

Home play

Still abundant, often using musical or technological props

bought by parents

Eg toys, instruments, video games, computers, TV, radio, etc

More often see independent play cf. earlier year

Playground play

Many chants, clapping game

Clapping pattern is in TRIPLE while chanting is in DUPLE*

Usually 6-year-olds can dothis!

Sharon Davis: Ch 14, Children, popular music, and identity

Musical engagement begins early through shared social interactions with parents

Shared early musical experiences help shape a child’s identity

*Helps child “understand and interpret their capacity for

exchange”

Early caregiver interactions helps infants begin to establish social identity

Many other factors for identity formation: eg social and cultural influences

children become enculturated into popular music styles through ”[TV], radio, movies, music videos, and games, and through personal music devices and social media”

Music listening provides “common space for bonding and communication” within the family

Popular music is everywhere!→influences on musical identities

Transition from parent orientation toward peer orientation” p. 270

Children learn music through listening, composing /improvising, practicing,

immersion.

One difference from adults is that when children make a ”mistake” they tend to start all over again*

2 forms of musical identity are:

1. identities in music–how are musicians categorized (eg performer or composer)–only applies to some people–identity as a musician

2. Music in identities-how does music fit into and shape your identity-your musical identity

Adolescence–section of Davis reading

More likely to play clapping games with siblings at home than publicly with friends, but in some cultures still encouraged and prominent–often older kids teaching the younger ones (with natural tendency to scaffold)*

Also dance routines, cheers, chants after school

Can learn and pass along very rhythmically complicated songs

Eg: Cup Song, popularized in Pitch Perfect

Siblings influence musical interactions in the home

Role of music in adolescence

Music serves as one vehicle for identity formation

Music may be a means of self-expression

Music may be used as a coping skill

Musicians/music address mental health

Preference vs Taste

Preference: Liking one piece more than another at any given point in time

Taste: overall pattern of an individual’s preference over time

3 Components of musical experience

music-Structure, style, complexity, etc

person-Age, gender, culture, occupation etc

situation- Environment, work/leisure, solo vs social

4 approaches to studying musical preferences in childhood and adolescence are:

1. Experimental aesthetics

2. Developmental approaches–includes Experiential Sequence Monitoring

3. Social identity perspective

4. Neuroaesthetics

Experimental aesthetics

Study of tastes and preferences using experimentaldesign

Mainly based on aspects of the music itself

focuses on cognitive categories (ie “pop”) and arousal mediation

Findings that preferences _____ “during a critical period of development associated with late adolescence or early adulthood”

peak

Developmental approaches to studying music in children and adolescence

Age & stage-related changes in perception and musical preferences; individual variables within a person that change over time.

Growing number of studies using Experience Sampling Method (ESM)

Extensive research on content of musical preference

“open-earedness”

Younger children more able to listen to and enjoy

unconventional music

Social identity perspective research on children and adolescents music

By acting as a group member individuals develop a sense of belonging and well-being

2 categories of research:

look at role of music in expression of EXISTING SOCIAL

IDENTITIES

look at how music contributes to CONSTRUCTION OF SOCIAL

IDENTITY

Neuroaesthetics of music

Neuroaesthetics of music—the study of its affective and emotional effects

“subjective affective states can be triggered by various and even

opposite musical events”

Stems from rapid growth of research pertaining to the neurosciences

of music

Investigating the neural basis for music perception, cognition and emotion responses.

Striking the right balance-Levitin reading,

Preferences partially governed by finding right balance between simplicity and complexity

Relationship between complexity and liking

inverted u-curve

Other factors that shape preference

Aspects of the music*: Pitch (preferring low sounds (like bass in rock music) or high sounds), Timbre, Rhythmic patterns

Previous musical experiences and positive or negative associations

Our openness to new experiences*** (balanced by associations

with and comfort of childhood experiences)

“For many, our future likes and dislikes will be a consequence

of the the types of cognitive schemas we formed for music

through childhood listening.”

The role of music in adolescent development: much more than the same old song

Bridge between psychology of music and developmental psychology in adolescence

Bio-psycho-social effects of music

Music influences key aspects of adolescent development

Music as a protective factor

Music as a risk factor in development

Music in its role for prevention and intervention

Why do developmental psychologist underestimate the

importance of music In adolescence?

Lack of scientific communication

Trends of publications on music and developmental journals

Biological effects of music

Evolutionarily perspective-addresses how music could be an

evolved psychological mechanism, increasing fitness for survival

Music is mediated by and impacts biological structures and

processes (neurotransmitters, hormones etc

Psychological effects of music

Music is an emotional experience”, and serves an adaptive

purpose of emotion regulation

Experience sampling methods

Helping to advance our knowledge about how music induces

emotions

Social effects of music

“music has many different functions in human life, nearly all of

which are essentially social”

A developmental psychology of music in adolescent

investigates the influence that musical behaviors, emotions, cognition, and motives can have on normative and positive development as well as psychopathology

“Music is their soundtrack during intense development period”

On average adolescents listen for up to 3 hours daily >10,000 hours of active music listening through adolescenc

Musical influences of adolescent development

Positive Youth Development

“positive psychology” movement aims to research positive aspects of growth

Findings thus far suggests adolescent emotional wellbeing

is enhanced in the following situations:

Able to experience strong positive emotions from music

Able to develop music tastes with friends and family

Music lessons may boost intellectual abilities and academic achievement

Emotion Regulation & Coping

Essential task to allow adolescent to adapt to many developmental changes

Music fulfills emotional needs

Primary motive for listening to music

Listen to relieve tension and distract themselves

Help with adjustment (self-reflection)& maladjustment (rumination)

Music as risk factor for development of externalizing behavior problems

Controversial music taste is not a cause of mental health issues but marker of emotional vulnerability?

Study demonstrated that genres which explore controversial themes can predict more externalizing behaviors

Repeated exposure to aggressive songs reinforces and primes aggressive behavior in vulnerable adolescents

Music as risk factor for development of internalizing problem behaviors

Music may influence (reduce or increase) subclinical symptoms

Mixed evidence- links btwn preferences and internalizing symptoms vs no risk factor at all

7-year longitudinal study found excessive exposure to media was a RF for depressive symptoms*

Popular music as protective factor

Music as risk factor for risky behaviors (study)

Research in 2012 “fantasizing while listening to music may act as a protective factor against the influence of peer substance use on individual substance use in adolescence”

Two year follow-up study adolescents listening to degrading sexual lyrics predict early sexual activities and intercourse

2008 study showed potential link between music preferences and self harm

Music in prevention & intervention

prevention:

Use of music to distribute information for HIV prevention to peers; Positive outcomes related to HIV prevention behaviors

Educational strategies promoting critical thinking about media products

show promising outcome for media literacy

intervention:

Music therapy can result in decreased depressive symptoms

Intervene on identity formation, resilience, connectedness, competence

CLINICAL IMPLICATIONS: Make a Joyful Noise Integrating Music into Child Psychiatry Evaluation and Treatment

“Music is a remedy, a tonic, orange juice for the ear. But for many of my neurological patients, music is even more—it can provide access, even when no medication can, to movement, to speech, to life. For them, music is not a luxury, but a necessity.”

What is the most common non-school activity of adolescents?

Music, of course!

Occupies approximately 4 hours per day

Important for social connections and for identity

Triggers specific brain pathways associated with pleasure, reward, arousal, and decreases activity in harm/avoidance/risk appraisal pathways.

Specifically, elevates dopamine (=REWARD!), opioid and

oxytocin activity (see next slide)

Playing music has even more benefits than listening

brain structures involved in music

what can child and adolescent psychiatrists do to integrate music into clinical evaluation and treatment?

1) Evaluate roles that music play in a patient’s life- Identify preferences. Any lyrics that are particularly meaningful? Do they participate in music or play any instruments?

2) Evaluate a piece of music itself, and how a patient responds

-Help patients figure out how they can use music to positively alter or regulate their mood

-An alternate approach: goal not to change mood but rather identify with negative emotions (eg sadness), and in doing so to feel better (eg listening to sad music can make you feel calm, relaxed, or comforted*)

-Music as medium to enhance well-being

“In school/work environments, music that is soft, slow, instrumental, and low intensity can be helpful during student _________________ activities.

practice/homework

What makes for effective music practice?

Use all body parts (as relevant)

Play difficult sections slowly at first, emphasis on playing correctly

with attention to how they sound musically

Only after master smaller pieces, connect different parts so that

the piece flows togethe

factors influencing effective musical practice

What is the Lullaby Project?

Pairs pregnant moms and new moms /dads with professional musicians to create and sing lullabies together

It was “launched at the Jacobi Medical Center in the Bronx (NYC), by Carnegie Hall’s Musical Connections team, part of the Weill Music Institute, and has been running [...] [since 2011]. In New York City, the project has reached mothers in hospitals, homeless shelters, schools, and correctional facilities. It has now extended significantly across the United States and is beginning to spread internationally.”

the Lullaby Project in the Uk

worked in two areas:

1) Work with migrant mothers and refugees

2) Work with fathers in prison

tried to answer two questions:

What areas of change elicited by the project, if any, as perceived by the participants?

Mechanisms of impact behind its perceived effect?

Lullabies are for mothers as well as for babies (studies)

Cirelli (U of Toronto)-found that when mothers sing ;ullabies to their babies, stress hormone levels dropped in both babies and moms! Despite the fact that many lullabies are “cautionary tales”

In one study: People are asked to listen to songs from other cultures, and identify as healing songs, dance songs, love songs, or a lullaby.—→Identification of lullabies was most consistent!

CLINICAL IMPLICATIONS: Nicholson et al.: Music Therapy to promote Positive Parenting and Child Development (2008)

Sing & Grow: Australian 10-week group intervention, led by music therapists, for parents, mainly based for 0 to 3 (but accepted until age 5)

What parenting behaviors are targeted?*→parent’s expression of affection, physical touch; Praise; Emotional responsiveness to children

Findings of Nicholson study:

High rates of parent satisfaction!*

Improvements on questionnaires, including on child outcomes, parenting behaviors, and parent mental health

musicality

According to the reading (Hallam): “the state of being “musical” which in turn, is defined as being fond of, or skilled in, music.” (p.67)

Often interchanged with “musical ability, musical aptitude, musical potential, and musical talent”

Sensitivity to, knowledge of, or talent for music

The quality or state of being musical: Melodiousnes

one example of environmental exposure is….

maternal smoking and ADHD

The effects of gene-environment interaction on musical ability

One study found that there is a heritability estimate of __% related to musical abilities

48

why do humans have a propensity towards music?

benefits for mate selection

social and group cohesion

motor-skill development

conflict reduction

trans-generational communication

Perlovsky (2011) has suggested that as spoken language evolved, cognitive dissonances were created between knowledge and instincts. Differentiated emotions were needed for resolving these and music provided a means of developing such a differentiated and refined emotionality.” Hallam, p. 67

“ Adopting a more holistic approach, Cross (2003) suggests that music a has a “transposable aboutness” (p.51), i.e., it has many meanings which can change from situation to situation.” Hallam, p.67

musical savant

People born with below normal levels of general cognitive

functioning (often with autism), but with exceptional

musical talent

Often also visually impaired or with language disorders–

seems to coopt brain areas for musical development

instead

Many with perfect pitch

Environmental aspects as well as genetic–may be drawn

to highly structured codes, leading to repetition and high

levels of internal reward that fuels further practice

Need opportunities for musical engagement to be able to

develop these skill

musical prodigy

Given environmental opportunities, will show exceptional talent from an

early age.

Key factors:

Support of parents and teachers

Extensive practice

Motivation: “the rage to master”→repetitive practicing that fuels mastery

williams syndrome and music

Rare genetic neurodevelopmental disorder, deletion on chromosome 7

Characteristic facial features (elfin)

Low IQ + learning difficulties

Short stature

High rates of musical interest (and with practice, abilities)

Absolute pitch (“perfect pitch”)

Rare ability to identify or produce a given musical note (pitch) without aid of a reference pitch

Significantly more common in professional musicians than in general population (<1/10,000), but even then only 4 to 8?

Can generally say early musical exposure (eg beginning an instrument between ages 3 and 7) is NECESSARY but not sufficient for development of perfect pitch

Tone deafness (congenital amusia)

The inability to recognize musical tones or to accurately

reproduce them*

Emerges early in life and persists throughout adulthood

Affects around 1.5 to 4% of population

Strong hereditary component, but not fully understood

Gordon’s 6 stages of audiation

Stage 1 Momentary retention

Stage 2 Imitating and audiating tonal patterns and rhythm patterns and recognizing and identifying a tonal center and macrobeats

Stage 3 Establishing objective or subjective tonality and meter

Stage 4 Retaining in audiation tonal patterns and rhythm patterns

that have been organized

Stage 5 Recalling tonal patterns and rhythm patterns organized

and audited in other pieces of music

Stage 6 Anticipating and predicting tonal patterns and rhythm

processes

After approximately 2.5 years of musical instrument training, part of

___________ was significantly bigger in the high practicing group

corpus callosum

Expertise paradigm

“If resources are limited and selection has to be made, interest

in music and motivation to engage with it may prove to be the

best predictors of success. If motivational criteria are used for

selection, the musical skills developed are likely to be well

utilized in the long term in some aspect of musical activity”

types of music exposure

1) Listening

Passive: Everywhere in western societies: often

playing in background, in restaurants, gyms,

stores.... Can’t get away from it

Chosen: music videos, downloading music,

streaming, going to concerts, sharing with

friends etc.

2) Performing

Relatively rare in Western societies

More ubiquitous in other cultures where singing,

dancing, drumming etc. may be near universa

effects after listening to music

effects due in fact to changes in 2 aspects of

affective states:

1) arousal levels-that is, how alert do you feel?

2) mood-improved?

listening to music can improve spatial abilities and help performing tasks sometimes afterwards

performance while listening to music

What shapes how background music affects a

primary task?→ How does music make the listener feel? How does music affect processing capacity? Consider bottleneck effect.***

Studies with adults have shown that music with lyrics

is more disruptive, cf instrumental music which is more neutral

Music strongly liked or disliked was also more disruptive.

Personality also plays a role! Who does better with background music, extraverts or introverts?—> extraverts! Seem to like the extra stimulation

Studies have been mixed, esp in children-but generally seem to show small negative effect on reading comprehension and memory.

Calm music, however, benefits active children, presumably by decreasing (heightened) arousal levels and thereby improving concentration

What is known about associations between music training and nonmusical abilities?

its difficult to draw conclusive causal inferences

Pre-existing differences could impact likelihood of taking lessons as well

as testing of abilitie (ex: music aptitude, cognitive abilities, personality, demographic factors)

music aptitude

Designed to be a measure of student’s potential to learn music

Tested by measuring how listeners can perceive and remember sequences of tones that vary in pitch or duration

In tasks that test __________, musically trained individuals tend to do better

perception of speech

5–year-olds who took music lessons for 16 weeks did better on task of phonological awareness than kids in control groups who took no lessons OR swim lessons

Study of 8-year-olds were assigned music OR painting lessons

–those who took music lessons did better on tasks identifying repeated 3 syllable nonsense words.

musicians tend to do better on other language abilities such as:

remembering lists of words that are read or heard

making grammaticality judgements

pronouncing irregularly spelled words (eg “subtle”)

vocabulary

reading comprehension*

Spelling

music does NOT increase ___________ abilities

mathematical

Musical benefits—IQ and academic achievement

Studies have shown that:

Children who take music lessons have higher IQs- even increasing as duration of training increases. Correlation remains even when controlling for SES, and involvement in nonmusical out-of-school activities

Musically trained children get better grades in school than one would expect based on their IQs

available evidence indicates that high-functioning

individuals are likely to take music lessons, and music lessons may exaggerate slightly their pre-existing advantages

music benefits: memory and executive functioning

there is some evidence that music improves executive functioning and memory (includes visual and spatial memory)

musical benefits: social-emotional skills and personality

for adults, duration of music training in childhood correlates with higher scores on “Openness-to-experience” on big 5

music is correlated w openess and conscientiousness

Music training with individual lessons has _____ shown benefits for self-esteem or other social factors (but this might be different in

group settings)

NOT

What conditions in home environment are potential influences on musical learning?

Parental music background

Socioeconomic background

Parent support for practice and lessons

Parental goals and values

Family interaction patterns

Characteristics of parental support:

1) Behavioral Support

2) Cognitive /intellectual support

3) Personal support

Children benefit when parenting style (“emotional

climate”) and practices (“behaviors”) support “the

developing musician’s sense of competence, autonomy,

relatedness, and purpose

suggestions for when a child says “but I don’t want to practice!”

Leave the room

Discuss at another time

Lower expectations for daily practice

Use praise as a reward

“Allow child to choose when and how much

to practice, within parameters negotiated

with the teacher

the ways that music matters

Researchers and music educators should stress importance of

QUALITY!

Responsiveness-be able to improvise and adapt, let children play a role

Live music–”it’s about variation, improvisation, and human interaction”

Multimodal presentation–dance and instruments helps to engage the whole child

What can those wanting to advocate for music do?

Designing maternal and child health care that helps

nurses, doctors, and other health care workers understand

music as a strategy for developing relationships,

emotional health, and communication skills. Imagine

lullaby writing as part of birth classes or well

baby visits.”

Supporting universal pre-school with a strong music

component

Supporting music education

Asking libraries to feature music programming

What helps foster lifelong engagement in music?

Supportive parents

Music playing in the home

Inspiring teachers and educational

programs featuring music

“Resources, attitudes, and

opportunities”

What should be avoided?→Messages that a child is “not good” at music