Singing and brain function

Further to my blog in March on The Developing Voice, an interesting story appeared online, courtesy of The Herald. It forms part of the Youth Music Initiative.

'Standing before the assembled pupils of Castleton Primary in Castlemilk, Glasgow, a ring of six and seven-year-olds were singing a simple song about liking coffee, or alternately, liking tea.
On the beat of the song, one pupil would bounce a basketball in the centre of the ring. Another sat before a bass drum, clocking it with a stick, also on the beat. As the song progressed, the ball was passed from girl to boy, boy to girl and back again, the song was sung, and neither a beat - nor a ball - was dropped. Finally, the song finished - to applause.

"We do a lot of games with the ball, bouncing and catching it to the beat of the song: it's all about learning the beat and co-ordination," she said.
"The main aim is to make the pupils feel comfortable with singing, with working in a group and reacting to each other, and the feeling of self-confidence once the song is learnt is very important."'

I for one and very glad that the government is realising the potential of music training for improving brain function across the board. Singing is a whole-brain activity, and one that has a number of spin-offs including perception of pitch and rhythm, structure, the use of 'building blocks' of sound, 'sentence' construction and even stylistic 'vocabulary'.

Singing can also be a solo or a group activity. The popularity of both karaoke and programmes such as Pop Idol or Fame Academy demonstrates a desire for artistry and self-expression as much as the competitive element demonstrates a desire for conquest and success. The recent programmes such as BBC's The Choir and Channel Five's The Singing Estate showed that bringing people together to make music can also bring them together as a community.

I recently reviewed a superb book for The Music Teacher magazine called The Singing Neanderthals (Dr Steve Mithen), which was packed with information and studies on why singing and language developed. One of the most interesting ideas was that verbal communication developed among the prehistoric nomadic groups because the groups became too large for each member to groom every other member (which provides reassurance and connection to the group). So verbal communication was used to pacify, reassure and bond with large numbers of individuals.

You can read the full review in issue 15 of the free Vocal Process eZINE


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