Short-Term Orchestral Music Training Modulates Hyperactivity and Inhibitory Control in School-Age Children: A Longitudinal Behavioural Study

Development strategy of early childhood music education industry: An IFS-AHP-SWOT analysis based on dynamic social network

Early childhood music education has garnered recognition for its unique contribution to cognitive, emotional, and social development in children. Nevertheless, the industry grapples with numerous challenges, including a struggle to adapt traditional educational paradigms to new curriculum reforms, and an excessive emphasis on skill training at the expense of nurturing a love for music and aesthetics in children. To navigate these challenges and explore growth strategies for the early childhood music education industry, we initiated a comprehensive approach that involved distributing surveys to practitioners and parents and engaging experts for insightful discussions. Consequently, we proposed an analytical method based on dynamic social networks in conjunction with Intuitionistic Fuzzy Sets (IFS), Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP), and Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats (SWOT) analysis, collectively referred to as IFS-AHP-SWOT. This integrated methodology synergizes the capabilities of dynamic social networks, IFS, AHP, and SWOT analysis to offer a nuanced perspective on industry development strategies. The findings underscore that institutions within the early childhood music education industry need to adopt a development strategy that leverages their strengths and opportunities to foster sustainable growth. Ultimately, this research aims to provide critical decision-making support for industry practitioners, policymakers, and researchers, contributing significantly to the ongoing discourse on strategic development in the early childhood music education industry.

The adolescent HIV executive function and drumming (AHEAD) study, a feasibility trial of a group drumming intervention amongst adolescents with HIV

AHEAD feasibility trial assessed the feasibility and acceptability of an 8-session group drumming programme aiming to improve executive function, depression and anxiety symptoms, and perceived social support in adolescents living with HIV in a rural low-income South African setting. Sixty-eight 12- to 19-year-old adolescents participated. They were individually randomised. The intervention arm (n = 34) received weekly hour-long group drumming sessions. Controls (n = 34) received no intervention. Feasibility and acceptability were assessed using rates of: enrolment; retention; attendance; logistical problems; adolescent-reported acceptability. Secondary measures included: five Oxford Cognitive Screen-Executive Function (OCS-EF) tasks; two Rapid Assessment of Cognitive and Emotional Regulation (RACER) tasks; the Self-Reporting Questionnaire-20 (SRQ-20) measuring depression and anxiety symptoms; the Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support (MSPSS). All feasibility criteria were within green progression limits. Enrolment, retention, and acceptability were high. There was a positive effect on adolescent depressed mood with signal for a working memory effect. There were no significant effects on executive function or socio-emotional scales. Qualitative findings suggested socio-emotional benefits including: group belonging; decreased internalised stigma; improved mood; decreased anxiety. Group drumming is a feasible and acceptable intervention amongst adolescents living with HIV in rural South Africa. A full-scale trial is recommended.

Quality standards and recommendations for research in music and neuroplasticity

Research on how music influences brain plasticity has gained momentum in recent years. Considering, however, the nonuniform methodological standards implemented, the findings end up being nonreplicable and less generalizable. To address the need for a standardized baseline of research quality, we gathered all the studies in the music and neuroplasticity field in 2019 and appraised their methodological rigor systematically and critically. The aim was to provide a preliminary and, at the minimum, acceptable quality threshold-and, ipso facto, suggested recommendations-whereupon further discussion and development may take place. Quality appraisal was performed on 89 articles by three independent raters, following a standardized scoring system. The raters' scoring was cross-referenced following an inter-rater reliability measure, and further studied by performing multiple ratings comparisons and matrix analyses. The results for methodological quality were at a quite good level (quantitative articles: mean = 0.737, SD = 0.084; qualitative articles: mean = 0.677, SD = 0.144), following a moderate but statistically significant level of agreement between the raters (W = 0.44, χ² = 117.249, p = 0.020). We conclude that the standards for implementation and reporting are of high quality; however, certain improvements are needed to reach the stringent levels presumed for such an influential interdisciplinary scientific field.

Learning to play a musical instrument in the middle school is associated with superior audiovisual working memory and fluid intelligence: A cross-sectional behavioral study

Music training, in all its forms, is known to have an impact on behavior both in childhood and even in aging. In the delicate life period of transition from childhood to adulthood, music training might have a special role for behavioral and cognitive maturation. Among the several kinds of music training programs implemented in the educational communities, we focused on instrumental training incorporated in the public middle school curriculum in Italy that includes both individual, group and collective (orchestral) lessons several times a week. At three middle schools, we tested 285 preadolescent children (aged 10–14 years) with a test and questionnaire battery including adaptive tests for visuo-spatial working memory skills (with the Jack and Jill test), fluid intelligence (with a matrix reasoning test) and music-related perceptual and memory abilities (with listening tests). Of these children, 163 belonged to a music curriculum within the school and 122 to a standard curriculum. Significant differences between students of the music and standard curricula were found in both perceptual and cognitive domains, even when controlling for pre-existing individual differences in musical sophistication. The music children attending the third and last grade of middle school had better performance and showed the largest advantage compared to the control group on both audiovisual working memory and fluid intelligence. Furthermore, some gender differences were found for several tests and across groups in favor of females. The present results indicate that learning to play a musical instrument as part of the middle school curriculum represents a resource for preadolescent education. Even though the current evidence is not sufficient to establish the causality of the found effects, it can still guide future research evaluation with longitudinal data.

The early adolescent brain on music: Analysis of functional dynamics reveals engagement of orbitofrontal cortex reward system

Music listening plays a pivotal role for children and adolescents, yet it remains unclear how music modulates brain activity at the level of functional networks in this young population. Analysing the dynamics of brain networks occurring and dissolving over time in response to music can provide a better understanding of the neural underpinning of music listening. We collected functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) data from 17 preadolescents aged 10-11 years while listening to two similar music pieces separated by periods without music. We subsequently tracked the occurrence of functional brain networks over the recording time using a recent method that detects recurrent patterns of phase-locking in the fMRI signals: the leading eigenvector dynamics analysis (LEiDA). The probabilities of occurrence and switching profiles of different functional networks were compared between periods of music and no music. Our results showed significantly increased occurrence of a specific functional network during the two music pieces compared to no music, involving the medial orbitofrontal and ventromedial prefrontal cortices-a brain subsystem associated to reward processing. Moreover, the higher the musical reward sensitivity of the preadolescents, the more this network was preceded by a pattern involving the insula. Our findings highlight the involvement of a brain subsystem associated with hedonic and emotional processing during music listening in the early adolescent brain. These results offer novel insight into the neural underpinnings of musical reward in early adolescence, improving our understanding of the important role and the potential benefits of music at this delicate age.

Difference in Executive Functions Development Level between Two Groups: Preschool Children Who Took Extra Music Classes in Art Schools and Children Who Took Only General Music and Dance Classes Offered by Preschools

Previous studies have shown that there is a positive correlation between attending music classes regularly and the development of executive functions. This paper discusses the results of a pilot study dedicated to determining the difference in the level of development of the components of executive functions (inhibitory control, cognitive flexibility, and working memory), between 5–6-year-old children taking extra music classes, and children who participated only in general music and dance education in kindergarten. A total of 94 senior preschoolers from Moscow kindergartens took part in the study. Children were selected into an “extra music lessons” group and a “general preschool music and dance lessons” group based on the results of a questionnaire on supplementary education, which was filled in by parents prior to the research starting. The respondents from the “extra music and dance lessons” group attended music classes in art schools at least two times a week, both in individual and group formats. The current study revealed that children attending regular extra music classes had a higher level of inhibitory control, audio–verbal working memory, cognitive flexibility, and general coordination of the development of all executive functions. The obtained results support the value of regular extra music classes at preschool age. Moreover, this pilot study allows us to articulate the recommendations for further research in this direction.

Planting the Seeds: Orchestral Music Education as a Context for Fostering Growth Mindsets

Growth mindset is an important aspect of children's socioemotional development and is subject to change due to environmental influence. Orchestral music education may function as a fertile context in which to promote growth mindset; however, this education is not widely available to children facing economic hardship. This study examined whether participation in a program of orchestral music education was associated with higher levels of overall growth mindset and greater change in levels of musical growth mindset among children placed at risk by poverty. After at least 2 years of orchestral participation, students reported significantly higher levels of overall growth mindset than their peers; participating students also reported statistically significant increases in musical growth mindset regardless of the number of years that they were enrolled in orchestral music education. These findings have implications for future research into specific pedagogical practices that may promote growth mindset in the context of orchestral music education and more generally for future studies of the extra-musical benefits of high-quality music education.

Music-based intervention to reduce aggressive behavior in children and adolescents: A meta-analysis

BACKGROUND

We aimed to evaluate the effect of music-based intervention on the aggressive behavior in children and adolescents, and made a comparison of music medicine and music therapy.

METHODS

We searched PubMed (MEDLINE), Ovid-Embase, and the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL) to identify relevant studies. Standardized mean differences (SMDs) were estimated with random-effect model.

RESULTS

We included 10 studies and found a significant decrease of aggressive behavior (SMD = -0.99; 95% CI = -1.42 to -0.56) and a significant increase of self-control (SMD = 0.56; 95% CI: 0.19 to 0.93) in the music-based intervention group compared with the control group. The aggressive behavior was significantly decreased in the music therapy group compared with the control group (SMD = -1.79; 95% CI = -3.23 to -0.35); while, no difference was observed between music medicine group and control group. Sub-group analyses exhibited a more efficacious in reducing aggressive behavior in the children received ≥2 sessions per week, the children with a mean age > 10 years, the children whose behavior were reported by teachers, and the children with aggressive behavior before intervention. Sensitivity analyses yielded similar results.

CONCLUSION

Music-based intervention seemed to be more efficacious for reducing aggression and increasing self-control in children and adolescents, especially music therapy.

The Effect of Music Intervention on Attention in Children: Experimental Evidence

Although music has been utilized as a therapeutic tool for children with cognitive impairments, how it improves children’s cognitive function remains poorly understood. As a first step toward understanding music’s effectiveness and as a means of assessing cognitive function improvement, we focused on attention, which plays an important role in cognitive development, and examined the effect of a music intervention on children’s attention. Thirty-five children, aged 6 to 9 years, participated in this study, with data from 29 of the children being included in the analysis. A single 30-minute interactive music intervention was compared with a single 30-minute interactive video game intervention accompanied by computer-generated background music using a within-subjects repeated-measures design. Each intervention was implemented individually. Participants completed a standardized attention assessment, the Test of Everyday Attention for Children, before and after both interventions to assess changes in their attentional skills. The results indicated significant improvement in attention control/switching following the music intervention after controlling for the children’s intellectual abilities, while no such changes were observed following the video game intervention. This study provides the first evidence that music interventions may be more effective than video game interventions to improve attention control in children, and furthers our understanding of the importance of music interventions for children with attention control problems.