Reflections and Resources

Learn about approaches using genetics to study human musicality and its connection with health! 

What do Parents, Babies, and Toddlers Do Together During Musical Interactions? Researchers observe and code parents and children during play to learn about the impacts of musical experiences on parent-child interactions. See if you can notice behaviors related to movements, facial expressions, attention, and vocalizations as you watch the video and learn more!https://serenademusicclass.org/video-learning-parent-infant-musical-int…; 

In the InCHORRRuS (Infant-directed (ID) Communication Highlights and Organizes Repetition and Redundancy through Rhythmic Structure) framework, increased rhythmicity in ID speech and the beat-based metrically structured rhythmicity in ID song naturally organize the multimodally redundant and repetitive cues in the caregiver's communicative signals, supercharging their saliency by increasing their predictability. Rhythmicity naturally modulates infant attention, guiding it to those communicatively rich times and scaffolding caregiver-infant coordination.

ABSTRACT Parents use music, especially singing, to interact with their young children, supporting parent-child bonding and social communication. Little is known about the parental attributes that support musical interactions with their infants. In this exploratory study, we analyzed self-report data from 43 caregiver/infant dyads at up to four time points (9, 12, 15, and 18 months) to assess parent social motivation and musical training as predictors of the home music environment overall, parental singing, and parental beliefs in the benefits of music.

Loving Kindness involves unconditional kindness or warmth toward ourselves and toward others. We are often able to recognize loving kindness for others; it it just as important to practice it toward ourselves. Loving Kindness phrases can serve as anchors for our awareness, providing a focus for what we need to hear or recognize in that moment. Listen to the Loving Kindness Song

Academy of Country Music Tempo Magazine, Spring 2022 issue: Vanderbilt’s Music Cognition Lab Co-Director, Dr. Miriam Lense, highlights the research and valuable programs her team is working on to help uncover the benefits of using music for healing.