Can music tuition help the development of a young child’s brain?

⏱️ 3 Minute Read. ???? 16 Minute Video.

A department at the University of Southern California (The Brain and Creativity Institute, BCI) recently reported some of the results obtained during an in-depth five-year research study into the effects of music exposure in children.

This study focused on the brain development of young children (6-7 years old) and in particular, they covered the areas responsible for language, sound, reading and speech development.
Showing Children the Brain
The study monitored a group of 37 children from an underprivileged neighbourhood in Los Angeles (LA). Thirteen of the children received music training from the LA Youth Orchestra and practised up to seven hours in any given week.
Eleven of those children were enrolled into an athletic club, either football or a swimming programme, and a further thirteen children were starved entirely of any extracurricular programmes at all.
The research team tracked the electrical activity in the children’s brains, conducted behavioural testing and compared the results across the three groups to look for any differences between their development.
Children learning music

The results proved very interesting, after a couple years a pattern emerged showing that the auditory systems of those children that were enrolled in the LA Youth Orchestra Programme had accelerated faster than the groups of children that were not engaged in a regular music activity.

The auditory systems of young children were greatly stimulated by practising music and could be responsible for the earlier engagement of general sound processing.

It is possible that through the early introduction to music, young children can get a head start in the development of their reading abilities, language progression and communication skills.

Source: https://dornsife.usc.edu/bci/brain-and-music/

Q and A with Dr Assal Habibi ????

Dr Assal Habibi, PhD. was one of the Doctors leading this study and we couldn’t think of anyone better to go into the finer details! In the below video she delves deeper into the procedures undertaken and what the broader set of results could mean for the little people in our lives. Below the video we give SOPM’s final thoughts.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i1dVbavg9RU

Final thoughts and when tuition starts at SOPM

At SOPM we believe everyone should have access to the power of music and the doors it may open both mentally and socially. We provide music classes for all ages and that begins with our SOPM Mini’s! This group is specifically designed to introduce and develop musical skills for young minds.

It has always been our belief that music has a far more profound effect on the development of an individual. Our own evidence brought about through tutoring some of our students for over five years supports the results that Dr Assal Habibi and her team have produced.

But, we believe this is only the tip of the iceberg – yes, we’re very pleased to hear that music does indeed help to accelerate auditory development in young minds, but our evidence suggests that music will continue to provide great value to an individual as they grow into an adult and beyond.

For more information on the services SOPM offers, please explore our website, call us on 01481 244883 or drop us an email [email protected].

SOPM Mini’s: https://www.sopm.gg/sopm-minis/