Celebrating the Joy of Music - Our Universal Language
World Music Day, Make Music Day or Fête de la Musique is celebrated on 21st June every year to honour musicians and singers. I asked Sue at Boogie Mites for more information about music – here is what she said:
Music is a universal language that transcends barriers and weaves its way into the fabric of human existence. It has the capacity to boost our mood, promote creativity, and bring people from different backgrounds together.
In the words of Paul Simon (song writer for one of the most popular albums worldwide ever)
“Music has the capacity to be in touch with the core of our being”
What We Know
Singing and dancing can be fun, uplifting and energising. We play music to motivate us when we exercise, to calm our minds and be in the moment, we sing at football to excite and express our combined support and at church to worship and celebrate common beliefs. Music is joyful; neuroscience evidence shows us how active participation in music (singing, clapping, tapping, banging, stamping along to the beat) positively impacts our brains. Music making is a whole brain activity activating neural networks across the whole brain – it is a whole brain workout!
Pro-social Behaviours
Research shows strong correlation between music practice and pro-social behaviours including:
- Kindness
- Empathy
- Agency
A study (Kirschner & Tomasello, 2010) points towards young children (4 year olds) behaving more pro-socially (positive, helpful and promoting cooperation and friendship) after taking part in music activities together. They become more empathetic and helpful towards each other, which suggests a group music session might be worth a try if you need to get your pre-school children playing more co-operatively together.
These are skills that can be modelled by significant adults but very tricky to teach. When we share music, clap, sing and move together we are developing teamwork skills and learning empathy and agency.
Children can start to learn pro-social behaviours such as these from 14 months old!
Social Cohesion
Research shows that when a mother and baby/child sing together their heartbeats and body temperatures align. This shows that when we sing and move together or make music together there is a powerful bonding or connection created. When a group of children making music together, the same emotional reaction promotes social cohesion for the group.
Studies such as Hove and Risen, 2009; Wiltermuth and Heath, 2009; Valdesolo and Desteno 2011; Launay et al. 2013, indicate when humans ‘synchronise’ with each other, social bonding can occur. ‘Synchronising’ is defined as performing movements simultaneously with someone else. This could include dancing, clapping, and tapping rhythm sticks in time with one another.
Therefore, music is a powerful tool for developing the emotional network in a positive way to promote social skills and inclusive cohesive activity. With this comes confidence and happiness.
Reward and Love of Learning
Research studies also show that music engages the reward-related regions of the brain through functional connectivity with the auditory system. The reward network is activated when we get something right and feel good about it. Music making often activates our brain’s reward network, with a far transfer effect of developing a love of learning, a love of getting things right.
Neurotransmitters
Neurotransmitters are the body’s chemical messengers. There are four chemicals that are stimulated when we are involved in group music making and exercise:
- Dopamine – plays a role in how we feel pleasure
- Oxytocin – plays a role in social bonding
- Serotonin – plays a role in modulating mood
- Endorphins – trigger a positive feeling in the body
Get your daily mood booster DOSE of music to stimulate happy hormones, motivation and bonding!
Universal Language
With all these things going on in the brain it is easy to understand that music can play a powerful role in supporting mental health, wellbeing and in bringing people together. It can also break down barriers of language and communication between families from different backgrounds, generations or cultures. Boogie Mites have experience of this in our parent education courses which include many families that have English as an additional language (EAL) and in our intergenerational music making projects. Week 1 of a course may demonstrate the communication barrier but by mid-course this all participants are communicating in some way, having created a bond through singing and dancing together.
Why not hold family and community music making workshops in your early years setting and try this out for yourself.
Boogie Mites Worldwide
Boogie Mites Music Programmes inspire early years teachers and educators worldwide – leaders have described how the music has also greatly benefitted children learning English as an additional language. Our training has taken place in Dubai and Australia, and Centres are using Boogie Mites programmes across India, Asia and Europe. As a small, passionate business, we love building international relationships to help spread the power of music, and in this month of World Music Day, we’d like to tell you about these global connections.
Our complete music training packs are being used by early years and primary teachers all over the world and they’re perfect for getting all children involved. The complete music pack gives you everything you need to become an early years music expert in your setting!
Feedback from International Schools
The Nord Anglia British International School, Bratislava, Slovakia
The British International School in Bratislava (BISB) started using Boogie Mites music programmes in 2015. They chose Boogie Mites because the programme was recommended by UK contacts and they wanted an English language music programme that was accessible to all nationalities.
5 years on, we spoke to Jude Marriott (Early Years Teacher and Leader with over 10 years’ experience), who told us how they have been enjoying the programme:
“…. Boogie Mites has been the most successful music and movement programme I have used. The programme covers all areas of the EYFS, but I particularly value how it supports Communication and Language in our setting of over 30 different nationalities.
The songs and actions are easy to follow, even for the children who have no English at all. The EAL (ESL) children gain so much confidence because they are able to participate immediately, I really feel this helps contribute to how quickly they settle into our environment.
Most of our Nursery and Reception performances have involved Boogie Mite songs, too!! Parents love it!
I highly recommend Boogie Mites for any Early Years classroom, and particularly for an International setting.”
The Child Development Centre Hong Kong. Louise Thomas, programme Director.
“The Child Development Centre has been using Boogie Mites for over two years now. We use the Boogie Mites Music Programme to Support Phase 1 Letters and Sounds and have found this to be an excellent resource to support children’s early literacy development. Our issue in the past has been meeting the wide range of learners needs in a multilingual classroom. Boogie Mites has helped us to resolve this through fun and engaging music activities that directly match the Letters and Sounds learning objectives. The teacher’s notes are clear and easy to use and help with planning, especially with cross curriculum activities, in particular physical development. We genuinely feel that Boogie Mites has had a positive impact on children’s learning and bonding.”
We are happy to celebrate World Music Day by sharing this blog post, promoting the joy of music as a tool supporting worldwide early childhood development, wellness, community cohesion, breaking down the barriers of communication.
You can purchase Boogie Mites Music Programmes form our website shop – and experience the same benefits as these schools. Use this discount code SAALL10% to save 10% on any purchases from our on-line shop!
For enquiries and more information please email Sue Newman, Boogie Mites Director, sue@boogiemites.co.uk