Enhanced Learning
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How the brain learns and what this means for music pedagogy.
Embodiment is at the heart of being musical. Music pedagogy that fosters active engagement and interaction between the brain, the body, and the world, primes the brain for developing deep, musical cognition. |
Dr Robyn Staveley
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Using Tools
In the music classroom, tools are objects that make children more skilful and give them greater capacities in being musical.
By handling objects, students are not only learning the beat and the timbre of the instrument, but because they are playing it many ways, they are also learning about its weight, feel, and the effort needed to play it in different ways.
In the music classroom, tools are objects that make children more skilful and give them greater capacities in being musical.
By handling objects, students are not only learning the beat and the timbre of the instrument, but because they are playing it many ways, they are also learning about its weight, feel, and the effort needed to play it in different ways.
Clapping Games – why they switch on so many neurons
- Clapping games are not just fun, but neuro-rich. Here are some of the things that will be happening in the brain while playing these games.
- Many different parts of the brain are involved to synchronise all the processes that enable skilled, fluid performance. The visual cortex will be deeply involved in judging movements of the other person so that each can synchronise their movement patterns. The premotor cortex will be activating motor plans, and the basal ganglia will check to see if past experiences match current action, or whether it has to develop new ones.
- The cerebellum sequences and adjusts movements based on sensory information from “inside senses”, such as the proprioceptive and haptic senses, and primary senses (sight, touch, taste, smell, vision).
- The amygdala and other brain regions will be regulating heart rate, respiration and other bodily functions, and also activating the hypothalamus to inspire the player to get better at doing it and sustaining the effort.
- Messages from the motor cortex will be sent down the spinal cord to activate and inhibit muscles in precise and synchronised ways, developing skilled, quick and efficient muscle memory.
- Because clapping games are usually accompanied by much joy and laughter, the brain releases special neurotransmitters that allow messages between neurons to travel faster, more efficiently and make strong neural pathways. Neurotransmitters such as dopamine, which is released when we are alert, happy and not stressed, are good for learning as they enable us to feel rewarded and motivated.
- Clapping games develop musical social cognition. Mirror neurons and peripersonal neurons regulate social understanding through reading facial expressions, developing awareness of appropriate distances between players, and understanding how to socially coordinate movement with others. This is called joint action, and an essential aspect of being musically attuned to others. These skills are vital for successful ensemble and choral work.
- These are but a few of the processes occurring in the brain while doing the hand clapping game. Information gathered through the body in action builds complex, interacting networks that shape cognition about musical concepts and skills.