Children Take a Journey Through the Musical Brain—Riding on the Rhythms of Go-Go

A new children's musical production premieres in Washington DC on December 19, 2020, at 3 pm EST. Finding Rhythm: A journey through the musical brain is a children's musical that fuses brain science with an original score inspired by DC's Go-Go music. A Growing Brains Production with an all-star cast, Finding Rhythm gets children to listen, move their bodies, and sing in call and response, while the whole family learns how rhythm grows children's brains!

Why do families need rhythm right now?

We find ourselves living in a time of massive disconnection, upheaval in education, and the pervasive struggle for many adults to meet children's needs—all in contrast with abundant evidence of children's natural proclivity for ecological learning, social justice, and human connection. 

During this time, we find ourselves asking: What are the forces of human nature that drive us towards connection, that allow—rather than prohibit—effortless learning? What are the forces that embody empathy and the biological roots of cooperation, running deep not only in humans but also across all living beings? 

We highlight one central force of nature that has shaped the course of human development—and the vehicle for that development—over hundreds of thousands of years. That force is rhythm. The vehicle is the brain. 

The brain evolved for rhythm

The human brain evolved to perceive rhythm and to synchronize bodies together in time—because doing so enabled effective cooperation. From individual cells working together, to children using rhythm and rhyme as an aid to their brains' natural state of learning, to groups and communities surviving hardship or oppression and achieving transformation—organisms and cultures have evolved and persevered because they found growth, connection, and healing through rhythm. 

Why go-go music?

The epitome of rhythmic skill, of course, is human music and dance. In Washington DC, that music is go-go music: a music that is unwaveringly rooted in African traditions of community, call and response, and oral history; a music that conveys those traditions through the rhythms of Africa and Latin America which were carried to this country by force via the transatlantic slave trade. In DC, go-go evolved in response to systemic oppression, as a forum for a shared Black experience, and in defiance of the ongoing efforts to mute that experience. Go-go music is emblematic of the communal, participatory act of musical creation and communication, and of the power of sophisticated rhythms to build connection and cooperation. 

Children discover the source of their power

In honoring go-go’s traditions and rhythms from a scientific perspective, we discover that those same rhythms have the power to shape the brains of children as they listen and sing, dance and drum. Research in music neuroscience shows that exposure to and practice of complex rhythms promotes brain growth beginning in infancy, and that synchronizing body movement increases empathy, helping and cooperation throughout life. This is not the Mozart effect—it's the go-go effect. And rhythm is not merely a metaphor: it is the method. 

This is not the Mozart effect—it's the go-go effect. And rhythm is not merely a metaphor: it is the method. 

What is the goal for our children? It is to support their natural proclivities for learning, justice and cooperation. It is the child who realizes the source of their power. Through the rhythms of go-go, a brain is transformed, connection is forged—and a young person discovers that they are a powerful child. 

The Story of Finding Rhythm

In the beginning, there was a rhythm. Mother Dance shows us how this rhythm grew in Africa, and helps us move together and remember where we come from. Father Rhythm teaches us how the rhythm traveled through Latin America to DC to become go-go music: he tells children where to look to find their own rhythm, and to find true connection. Along with their friend, the curious Scientist, we learn that rhythm grows the brain! When we allow children to find rhythm and grow their own brains, they discover the source of their power.

Sign up for the FREE show on December 19, 2020 at 3 pm EST.

Musical Cast

• Sylvia Soumah as Mother Dance, Vocals, Dance

• Dante Pope as Father Rhythm, Vocals, Percussion

• Jessica Phillips-Silver as Scientist/Narrator, Vocals

• Rochelle Rice, Vocals

• Amadou Kouyate, Kora

• Uasuf Gueye, Balafon

• Kinard Cherry, Bass

Partners

• Blue House Productions, Engineering

• In partnership with Dance Place

• This Project is Supported by the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities

About Growing Brains

Growing Brains: A brain-based approach to raising children and communities, was founded in 2014 by Dr. Jessica Phillips-Silver, to provide a unique, integrative framework of child development based on evidence from brain science and wisdom from musical arts and healing. Growing Brains has worked with centers for art, education, and health in D.C., including the Kennedy Center, Strathmore, Washington Performing Arts, National Symphony Orchestra, Children's National Medical Center, University of Maryland's School of Public Health, Communities for Just Schools Fund, Sen Sound, Sitar Arts Center, Arts on the Horizon, Arts For The Aging, Martha's Table, Bloombars, Baba Ras D, and Dance Place. Through these partnerships, Growing Brains helps support children's Optimal Brain Growth and healing in communities across the District of Columbia. 

Today, Dame Evelyn Glennie reminded why it is so important to LISTEN--and to teach our children to.

56 minutes and 17 seconds ago, I got off of a call with one of my role models in music and life, and I will never be the same.

She is a the world’s premier solo percussionist, Grammy winner… and she is deaf. Her name is Dame Evelyn Glennie.

Before getting on the call with her, I needed to do a small meditation to calm my beating heart and racing brain. It is not every day that you get to see and speak with a living role model, and I will just say that she is as elegant as she is brilliant. (I also sat in quiet after the call, to process everything I heard from her and to receive it into my brain, heart and BONES).

We talked about many issues around music, the brain and body… and how we can teach people through our work that music is for everyone.

Evelyn is a master who knows the power of music. What is so special about her, though, is that her lack of hearing has given her a power to listen on a much deeper level: through her body, and through what she calls the “instrument” of the space around her.

People with hearing often don’t understand how rich the world can sometimes be without hearing. Evelyn shared that when people ask her how she hears music, she answers, “I live music”. She said that the note she hears is never just a “C”—but that she lives with the particular sound of a particular bar on a particular marimba in a particular moment… and that note is never the same. Listening takes time and experience, and she lives through that experience.

She also said that what she hears depends on he environment around her, what she is wearing, how she is feeling, what she is physically doing.

Do you hear that? Sound is a lived experience that changes dynamically, based on so many factors that are internal and external.

Another way of saying that is: what you hear is not independent of YOU. What you hear is shaped by you. When you listen, you are interacting with the sound. (My research on how music—especially rhythm—is not just for our ears, but is a stimulus for and a product of our auditory, motor and vestibular systems, is completely consistent with this. And now you see one more reason this amazing woman is my role model!)

Evelyn wants people to know that music is not something separate from them. It is about listening. For all of us.

So, for those of us who want to learn how to listen more—and for teach our children how to—what should we do? There is SO MUCH to take from her words, but I wanted to draw out 3 points that strike me as very important both as a listener, and as a mother:

The first is this: tune in. Notice what you hear. Remember that the sound you hear is shaped in part by YOU. Yes, sound is a physical construct that may begin outside of you… but what reaches inside of you? THAT is much more personal. Hear—or feel—the sound that comes in. See what you can get from it by listening a little more deeply.

Second: what you hear is not what I hear. Recognize that listening is not a passive process, but an active one. Notice when others hear something different than you, and acknowledge that it is shaped by their listening. For example, when a child or loved one tells you they heard something different than you, how do you respond? Do you allow them to have their own lived experience? Do you allow your listening to change dynamically, and be adaptive? Listening is active, and it will never be exactly the same. And that is beautiful.

Here is the third thing, for now: let your child learn that listening is a lived experience. Children are naturally attuned to their senses. Adults can sometimes unintentionally (or intentionally) get in the way, for example by asking children to pay attention to what WE think they should be paying attention to, instead of what is capturing their brain in the moment. Let them explore. Let them listen. Let them touch, and feel, and play, and IMPROVISE. Children are NEVER wrong for wanting to do those things. Their brains are growing from their lived experience.

And you know what? The child that learns to listen deeply, might just help you connect to the sound of the music, in way you never imagined.

My deepest gratitude to Dame Evelyn Glennie.

©JPS Research & Education, LLC

3 questions that parents and therapists ask about rhythm for Optimal Brain Growth

This week I was asked to be featured on the amazing Skills On The Hill Pediatric Therapy website, and this is meaningful to me for a very important and personal reason.

For 20 years I have studied how music shapes the brain from infancy, how we “feel the beat” inside, and how musical abilities are preserved even in Deafness, Blindness and Congenital Amusia… all because of the special powers of rhythm. But it was only when I had my son, who was diagnosed at age 3 with Sensory Processing Disorder, that I realized the extent to which the special powers of rhythm to heal can affect atypical childhood brain development—and why. (Want a hint? It’s much more than the sounds that we hear, and really depends on the beat that we FEEL).

So if you are a parent just learning about the Growing Brains approach to Optimal Brain Growth, or an educator or therapist who is looking for evidence that rhythm can support sensorimotor integration (including vestibular!) during child development, this article is for you. (While you’re here, look around the Growing Brains website and make sure you watch my FREE video series on music for your child’s brain, called Finding Rhythm, Building Connection: it’s all about concrete ways that music can support you and your child from pregnancy through the preschool years and beyond!)

Now, let’s talk about that beautiful 6-letter word: RHYTHM.

There are so many reasons that I have been inspired to dedicate my life’s work to understanding the role of rhythm in brain development, healing, and connection. Here, I want to focus on answering the following 3 questions that parents, educators and therapists may have, based as always on evidence from music neuroscience, and wisdom from the arts and healing: 1) How does the brain process rhythm in music? 2) How does rhythm support other, non-musical skills in my child? 3) How can rhythm help my child find a deeper level of connection with family and the larger community?

Let’s dive in!

1. How does the brain process rhythm in music? The brain processes rhythm by combining what we HEAR with what we FEEL. Imagine that your favorite dance song comes on—what do you do? You listen to the sounds, and you (probably) immediately start to move to the beat, right? That’s because rhythm connects sound and movement, which means integrating many regions of the brain — in particular, auditory, vestibular and motor regions. My research showed that when babies and adults “feel the beat” in music by moving in time, they rely on vestibular information from head & body movement to shape how they “hear” the rhythm. In other words, when we MOVE our bodies (and our babies’ bodies) to music, it helps us understand the rhythm structure. For these reasons, I call rhythm an auditory-vestibulomotor phenomenon—which means that it integrates the brain and body. This is crucial for optimal brain functioning. In fact, when there is a disruption of sensorimotor integration, it can result in a musical disorder like Beat Deafness (the inability to feel the beat and synchronize body movement in time to music).

So the main thing I want you to understand about how the brain processes music is that what we hear and what we feel are inextricably connected. Rhythm is a tool for “sensorimotor integration”: it helps the brain integrate the information that comes in through the senses with motor output—our movements. This is VERY important in child development, which is why effective pedagogies and therapeutic interventions for children recognize the need to incorporate movement and sensory refinement into learning. Here’s how I like to think about the role of movement through rhythm in terms of child development: movement is not just important for exercise—movement actually shapes the information that comes into the brain, and shapes what the child learns.

2. How does rhythm support other, non-musical skills in my child? By combining sensory information with motor information, rhythm promotes a good sense of TIMING. This sense of timing helps with motor planning and execution, meaning that we can control not only what body movements we make, but when we make them. Music and dance demand very high levels of precision in timing, so they strengthen perception and motor control. But the effects are not limited to music and dance—timing is important in many types of coordinated movement, including sports and other activities requiring motor control. Another, perhaps less well-known, role of timing information is that it underlies skills in language and reading. In fact, impaired timing related to sensorimotor integration can predict speech deficits and developmental dyslexia. So, rhythm is important not just because it makes us move, but because it makes us move with precise timing.

In addition to the benefits of good timing that are important for music and language, we can also think about what I call self-mastery: the ability of the child to have self-control in how they tune in to their senses (as in listening), move their body, and respond to their environment (including the people around them). The more a child develops their sense of timing, the more refined their perception is, and the more skillful their movements are. We see this when a child plays an instrument, sings in tune, dances in time, controls their volume of speech, chooses purposeful and appropriate movements, listens mindfully, and understands other people’s communication and movements. The key to self-mastery is that the child CHOOSES how they focus their attention, and how they act—they are in control. This is a source of empowerment for the child, and the child that is empowered through self-mastery is less likely to act out, and more likely to cooperate from a sense of autonomy and pride. (Doesn’t that all sound good?)

3. How can rhythm help my child find a deeper level of connection with family and the larger community? Rhythm is, above all, a tool for connection. When we move together in time — to the beat — we experience synchronization which is a form of “temporal connection”. That, in turn, facilitates in “affective connection” — meaning emotional synchrony, a shared state of emotion. Think back to that favorite song that gets you moving to the beat: what are your fondest memories of it? Chances are, you remember a time when moving, singing or dancing together made you feel connected—to the musicians, to the people you swayed with, to your family or your community if the song represented the place where you belong.

This is why the human brain evolved over hundreds of thousands of years to process rhythm: because rhythm connects us. When we come together in time and in emotion, we break down barriers; we enter into a shared state of being. We can connect and identify despite differences, even without words. We experience a deeper well of empathy. And, we are more likely to cooperate and help others—remember those babies that felt the beat of the rhythm through their body movement? Subsequent research showed that toddlers who moved with a stranger while listening to a rhythm were more likely to help them if they had moved in sync with the stranger, as opposed to out-of-sync with them. When we move together in time, we share emotion, and we want to cooperate—even from infancy.

Now, how has all of this affected my understanding of my son? His condition, Sensory Processing Disorder, is known to affect how his brain takes in information from the senses, how he plans and executes movements, and how he regulates emotion. There are many potential reasons for this, but one of the most important that has been observed by therapists comes down to the very important role of the vestibular system in sensorimotor integration. (Imagine my excitement at learning this, as someone who was already fascinated by the role of the vestibular system in the musical brain!) And therapeutic strategies for the disorder are often focused on finding proper vestibular stimulation, in ways that will mediate their perception and behavior.

So, in addition to his regular occupational therapy, I have utilized rhythm as a tool to support brain growth in the ways that are optimal for HIM. This means: encouraging rhythmic music and movement to help him integrate brain and body; supporting his sense of self-mastery in the environments that feel safe for him; and observing his ability to feel connected to others, and to demonstrate his own skills in empathy and cooperation even in his preschool years.

So for parents, educators and therapists who are looking to support Optimal Brain Growth, you’re going to have a hard time finding a tool that works better than rhythm! Rhythm integrates the brain and body, underlies skills in language and literacy, promotes self-mastery AND empathy for others… all that, while letting us groove to the beat. What’s better than that?

***For more information on how you can support your child, or how your organization can support Optimal Brain Growth for children, book a free consultation with Dr. Jessica!

Book here your free session here: https://growingbrainswithdrjessica.as.me/

References:
Phillips-Silver & Trainor (2005). Feeling the beat: Movement influences infants’ rhythm perception. Science, 308:5727.

Phillips-Silver, J. & Trainor, L. J. (2007). Hearing what the body feels: Auditory encoding of rhythmic movement. Cognition, 105, 533-546.

Phillips-Silver, J. & Trainor, L. J. (2008). Vestibular influence on auditory metrical interpretation. Brain and Cognition, 67, 94-102.

Phillips-Silver, J., Van Meter, J. W., & Rauschecker, J. P. (2020). Auditory-Vestibulomotor Temporal Processing and Crossmodal Plasticity for Musical Rhythm in the Early Blind. BioRxiv, doi: 10.1101/2020.03.23.987727

Phillips-Silver, J., Toiviainen, P., Gosselin, N., Piché, O., Nozaradan, S., Palmer, C., & Peretz, I. (2011). Born to dance but beat deaf: A new form of congenital amusia. Neuropsychologia, 49, 961-969.

Sowinski, J., & Dalla Bella, S. (2013). Poor synchronization to the beat may result from deficient auditory-motor mapping. Neuropsychologia, 51:10, 1952-1963.

Lagrois, M.E., Palmer, C., & Peretz, I. (2019). Poor synchronization to musical beat generalizes to speech. Brain Science, 9:7, 157.

Huss, M., Verney, J.P., Fosker, T., Mead, N., & Goswami, U. (2011). Music, Rhythm, Rise-time Perception and Developmental Dyslexia. Cortex, 47(6), 674-689.

Phillips-Silver, J., & Keller, P. E. (2012). Searching for roots of entrainment and joint action in early human interactions. Frontiers in Neuroscience, Special Issue: Brain and Art. doi: 10.3389/fnhum.2012.00026.

Cirelli, L.K., Einarson, K.M., & Trainor, L. (2014). Interpersonal synchrony increases prosocial behavior in infants. Developmental Science, 17(6): 1003-1011.