Music and the mind

In September, I had the fortune to travel to Canada and visit McMaster University where some fascinating research is occurring at the McMaster Institute of Music and the Mind. Dr. Laurel Trainor, a well respected researcher and David Gerry, also a researcher (and a fellow Suzuki colleague) invited me to see the pilot trials for their latest study. They were testing 6 month old babies for joint attention. They were testing to see how they baby responded to the researcher with looking and gestures. They are in the process of testing 60 babies! Half of these children will attend several months of a Suzuki Early Childhood Classes, with the control group having an unstructured gathering time. Then the babies will be tested again to see how participation in a music class affects joint attention.

At the institute, in their auditory lab, they study the perception of sound in infants, children and adults. They also study music and language acquisition and how music training affects brain development. They also do research to answer such questions as: Do babies recognize songs? If so, what do they perceive: structure, pitch, patterns? In some of their studies, the babies wear a cap with sensors (looks like a cap of marshmallows!) to assess stimulation of the brain.

Another study tested 7 month old babies to see if they could distinguish between music that had duple meter (feels like a march) or triple meter (feels like a waltz). The babies were bounced to music of certain meter. They then listened to selections played from speakers. One speaker would play the familiar meter then the other speaker would play music with the unfamiliar meter. Their length of time looking at a certain speaker playing the music showed their preference. The conclusion of the study showed that babies with music class experience could tell the difference between the meters. Some of the other studies include results from researching Suzuki instrumental students compared to children with no music instruction and the difference in brain development and response..
On the link below, you can read the paragraph summary of several of their studies. The pictures are fun to see too! Enjoy!
Research proves what we teachers believe: music grows beautiful minds and people!
www.psychology.mcmaster.ca/ljt/research.htm