Research Updates
Here at Bigger Better Brains we believe that through educating yourself, you can then educate and affect positive change in your community.
With all of the research in the field of neuromusical science, our BBB Research section serves as a content hub for you. We regularly share findings and break down the latest research to educate and inspire discussion. We hope you enjoy this page on our website and share BBB news with your colleagues, parents and students.
Music learning is a full brain workout!
The different types of connectivity are ultimately what makes every human unique. For children and adults with autism, it has been identified that the auditory and visual areas of their brains are highly connected.
Neural Biomarkers for Dyslexia, ADHD, and ADD
The researchers built on top of the research that found that music learning could improve these “traffic black spots”. Hence, they used a music learning intervention to see if they could track changes in the auditory cortex and hemispheric activation in children with Dyslexia, ADHD and ADD.
Rhythm can predict risk of language disorders
Here is a fascinating new theoretical paper about the relationship between rhythm and language abilities. A theoretical study is one that brings together all the relevant current research and puts forward a theory of, in this case, how two concepts may be connected.
Dyslexia, beta waves and rhythm processing
Dyslexia, beta waves and rhythm processing – that is a mouthful of tricky words. But in this new study, they are all connected and could reveal new understandings about the brain mechanisms that cause dyslexia.
Can singing in a choir benefit you or your community?
Group singing scientifically strengthens a community! “You hear people say all the time, ‘Oh, I can’t sing’ or ‘I’m not good enough to sing,’ and I really think that’s a shame. It goes against our evolutionary history.”
People who move together like each other more
This could be why music festivals seem to be going from strength to strength, we are just finding ways to like each other more.
Could clapping along with the music at a school concert be a form of advocacy?
In this new documentary film from the LiveLab at McMaster University in Canada, PhD researcher Dana Swarbrick created an experiment to explore how audience participation changes the impact of a concert experience.
Musical activities improve social communication skills for autistic children
In this study at the University of Montreal, 51 children with ASD ages 6 to 12 were randomly assigned to participate in a clinical trial involving three months of either a music-based, or a play therapy intervention.
Make your brain more efficient
How efficiently is your brain working today? Music learning trains the brain to use fewer brain resources when compared with non-musically trained people (and in this case those who are also bilingual).
Get your dopamine flowing with music!
Most people enjoy listening to music, but some people do not. For some, music just does not do much; either emotionally or cognitively. Studies around how people experience music can help us understand the mechanisms behind the enjoyment of music.
How does our brain use rhythm to get back in sync?
It is hard to conceptualise that our brain waves can be in sync or out of sync. Yet this concept of brain wave synchronisation is fascinating to neuroscientists as they are finding that the more consistent the synchronisation, meaning the longer our brain waves can stay in sync, the more effectively we can learn.
Your Brain Will Thank You for Being a Musician!
One of BBB’s favourite researchers, Dr Patricia Izbicki, has done all the hard work for us and summarised the five great reasons why music learning is the childhood experience that just keeps on giving well into our later life.
Make the skills your students build through music visible
A simple, low-stakes app and teacher toolkit that helps students notice, record and celebrate six learning habits that grow through music, from focus to self-management.
Music builds far more than musicians. Every time students practise, they develop focus, persistence, adaptability, collaboration, confidence and self-management, skills that serve them well beyond the music room. The Music Learning Passport helps students notice, record and celebrate that growth, and gives you a simple way to capture it. Students work through six passport stamps in the app, reflect on the habits they are building, and email their finished learner profile to you and their parents.
WHAT YOU GET
Access to the Music Learning Passport app: a link and password to share with your students, who track their progress on any device
A teacher how-to guide with everything you need to set it up and run it with your class
Six printable habit pages, one for each habit, each with a clear explanation, how music develops it, what it looks like in practice, and a reflection prompt
A shareable learner profile: once students collect all six stamps, they choose their strongest skills and email a finished profile to you and their parents
Six Habits of Music Learning posters to display in your classroom, reinforcing each learning habit throughout the year
WHAT IT HELPS YOU DO
Make the skills students build through music visible to them, to you and to parents
Support reflection, goal-setting and student-teacher check-ins
Provide a light-touch piece of evidence for assessment
Help students who are struggling to see their own progress
Strengthen the case for music by showing the wider skills it develops
HOW TO USE IT
Share the app link and password with your students, then use the passport as a quick end-of-term reflection, a goal-setting activity for a new term, a student-teacher check-in, or a support tool for students who need it. Students can complete it independently, in class or through guided discussion, and email their finished profile to you when they are done. Use the printable habit pages to introduce each stamp or spark class discussion.
WHY IT WORKS
When students can see the habits they are building, music learning becomes about more than performance. It becomes visible proof of the focus, persistence and self-management they are developing, skills they carry into every part of their lives. As one student profile puts it, music is not only about what you can perform, it is shaping the learner you are becoming.
"This app was a lifesaver on a day I couldn’t be in class and I didn’t want to set just another worksheet to complete. This experience was deeply beneficial for the students and has sparked many many conversations.” Holly, Middle School Music Teacher
COMMON QUESTIONS
What is the passport? A student app plus a teacher toolkit for tracking six learning habits that grow through music.
How do students access it? You share a link and password. Students can complete it on any device.
Will their progress save? Yes, progress saves on the device they use, so students should return to the same device and browser each time.
Do I need to mark anything? No. Students reflect and email their finished profile to you. It is designed to be low stakes and low effort.
How can I use it? End-of-term reflection, goal-setting, check-ins, assessment evidence or support for students who need it.
Add to cart NOW. Help your students see how far their music learning has taken them.
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