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 synchronises our brain!
There is a theory called the theory of familiarity in music. It is, as described at the end of this article, the idea of an inverted U.
Being musical is part of our human design
In today’s world, filled with myriad parenting methods and high-tech toys that promise to enhance infant development, it is easy to overlook how fundamental the time-honoured practice of music is for all children—starting pre-birth.
Everything in moderation, including syncopation and harmony
This new research looks at the emotive factors in music and uses an idea called the “inverted U”.
Where does perfect pitch come from?
There is a great deal of debate around this question. In the research, the term Absolute Pitch (AP) is used for the more common term of perfect pitch. This recent study points to a stronger genetic link than previously thought.
I got rhy-thm?
Do you know someone who seems to have rhythm coming out of every part or pore and other people who couldn’t walk to a beat if their life depended on it?
If you have perfect pitch, your brain looks different!
Researchers have known for sometime that the brain structures (parts) of a person with absolute pitch has specific areas that are identified as unique or different. However, they don’t know how those structural differences might function or connect in equally unique or specific ways.
Why does white matter matter?
You have probably heard of grey matter but have you heard of white matter? White matter in our brain is tissue composed of nerve fibres.
There isn’t a music centre in the brain, the brain is the music centre
We used to think that there was a centre for every major processing task, like language or maths. We know that there are both centres for processing as well as a complex set of interlinking and overlapping networks that contribute to the processing of information.
Are musicians‘ brains wired differently?
Dr Psyche Loui is a psychologist, neuroscientist and musician who investigates how music can be used to understand the brain. She is a violinist and works to connect our understanding of the brain with the experience of being a music learner and performing musicians.
Here’s how to train your brain!
There is an interesting term in this article – experience-dependent plasticity. Here is a good plain language definition that also happens to include a musical reference.
Starting music at 6 years old supercharges the brain
Here is one of those research sentences that are so useful when we are explaining how music learning impacts on every child’s development.
A solution to stuck song syndrome!
Finally, that song that keeps playing on a loop inside our heads for no apparent reason has a name – stuck song syndrome!
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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