Behaviour problems in schools continue to increase, results for ... starts. This has been amplified by advances in music technology, making music more portable.
Singing as Resilience: The Missing Link in Education? Joanne Ruksenas
Abstract Music, particularly singing, has been used as an engaging and effective teaching and learning tool for thousands of years. The introduction of standardised testing and implementation of the national curriculum have seen the education focus narrow on literacy and numeracy. Rather than education putting children first, it seems that we are in now in competition with other schools, states, and countries to determine which is ‘the best’. This has seen the study of music, seen as non-essential, marginalised. This appears to be a global phenomenon. Behaviour problems in schools continue to increase, results for standardised test results are not improving, but the education focus continues to narrow. This paper discusses the unique role of singing on the development of resilience, which is an umbrella term that describes the ability to successfully navigate life events. Music fills a unique role in development and needs to stand on equal terms with literacy and numeracy for optimal academic and personal development.
Introduction Music is being marginalised in our schools. Standardised testing and the rollout of the national curriculum have seen music bundled into a composite subject, “The Arts”. This incorporates five previously separate subject areas: music, art, drama, media and dance. Because this is a composite subject, there is no guarantee that the teacher will be a music specialist . The suggested time allocated to the Arts for P-2 is 38-40 hours per year in total (Queensland Studies Authority, 2011). It should come as no surprise that some generalist and music specialist teachers express concern that classrooms, particularly in the early years, are losing their traditionally musically rich foundation.
This is not isolated to Australia. Austerity measures have seen a tightening of budgets around the globe. Music, described by Stephen Pinker as “cheesecake for the ears” is an easy target because it is seen by many as an educational luxury (Pinker, 1997). There is a long history of research on the non-musical benefits of music from within music and from the fields of neuroscience, cognition, and psychology which show that active engagement in music provides overarching benefits that impact on neural, cognitive, social, and emotional development. Together, these indicate that engagement in music has an integral role to play in child development (Bond, 2012; Levitin & Tirovolas, 2009; Rauscher & Hinton, 2011). Resilience Resilience is an umbrella term that is often described in the literature as “the ability to bounce back” (Masten et al., 1995; Ungar, 2009; Werner, 1995), but recent research indicates that a better definition is the ability to successfully navigate life events (Masten, 2001, 2011). The main difference is that the first definition implies that an individual has to suffer an adverse event to become resilient. The more modern definition incorporates recent research which found that resilient people have the ability to decide how they will respond. They can choose which path to follow and how they will respond, limiting, or eliminating the effects of the negative event (Zolli & Healy, 2012). 196
Resilience is measured by comparing two components: protective factors and risk factors. Protective factors include attachment, self-regulation, and taking initiative, attributes that allow individuals to feel that they belong to a community, but still allow them to maintain a sense of independence and self-efficacy. This allows them to act effectively as a group member and as an individual. Risk factors describe contrary attributes including insecure attachment, impulsivity, and passivity, or indifference which limit an individual’s engagement and their choices (Guerra, Graham, & Tolan, 2011; Naglieri, Goldstein, & LeBuffe, 2010). A child exhibiting attributes of low resilience may have difficulties engaging with their classmates once they enter school, be bullied, bully others, or choose not to participate at all. This has the potential to disrupt the entire class and consumes limited school resources, as children are removed from classes for behavioural or learning support. This isolates the child, which is stressful. Stress has a negative impact on short-term memory, magnifying existing learning problems. The most effective solutions are found within the classroom and the wider school community (Cicchetti & Toth, 1998; Farrington, Coid, Blumstein, & Farrington, 2003; Rowe & Stewart, 2011). The Role of Music People have a natural affinity for music which does not depend on formal music training (Juslin & Västfjäll, 2008; Suzuki, 1969). Music is all around us. From music festivals to muzak and everything in between, you can ask anyone what their favourite song or group is, and they will have a ready answer (Kerchner, 2009). Consider how effectively music is used to manipulate us in advertising, to twist our emotions in a movie soundtrack, or provide a cue that our favourite TV show is about to start and it is time to take a seat on the lounge before the show starts. This has been amplified by advances in music technology, making music more portable and available than ever (Mithen, 2009). Students who are disengaged know the melodies and lyrics of their current favourites, shared with friends, or played on the ubiquitous iPod or similar device. These tunes help them define who they are and where they fit in the world, regardless of any problems they are experiencing (Miranda & Claes, 2009) . This is not to suggest that being passive music consumers is enough. Passive listening is not an effective learning tool (Pietschnig, Voracek, & Formann, 2010). Learning only occurs when we pay attention, when we are actively engaged (Corbetta, Miezin, Dobmeyer, Shulman, & Petersen, 1990; Rensink, 1997; Schultz, 2009). Rather, this suggests that we are primed for music, much in the same way we are primed for language. Why Singing is Important Music is a truly holistic subject that activates multiple regions across both hemispheres of the brain simultaneously. The simple act of a child vocalising a nursery rhyme activates the areas for music, language, mathematics, and emotion. When children move as they sing, performing actions, dancing, or even swaying, they learn how their body moves in space and how to coordinate smooth movements (Trehub, 2001; Trehub & Hannon, 2006). This pattern of activation encourages the development of the corpus callosum, the bundle of fibres that joins the left and right hemispheres (Funnell, Corballis, & Gazzaniga, 2003). There are numerous studies indicating that corpus callosum is larger in trained musicians than in the general population (Altenmüller, 2008; Pantev & Herholz, 2011; Schlaug, 2001). Communication between the hemispheres via this tract is like cars travelling down a road. A single lane is fine if there are only a few cars, but more lanes allows more traffic to use the 197
same route at the same time, making the system more efficient and allowing more information to flow smoothly and be processed more efficiently. The corpus callosum is implicated in the development of short-term memory, which the literature agrees allows between 1-7 discrete pieces of information to be held and manipulated by the brain (Cowan, 2001). The formation of the corpus callosum can spell the difference between success and failure. This region develops with age. Its importance can be understood when we consider that a simple comparison like ½ = 2/4, required in year 4 mathematics, or a four syllable spelling word like vegetation, taken from the grade 4 list. Each contains four separate pieces of information that need to be manipulated and compared, a four-lane highway. The capacity of short-term memory at this age is between 3 and 4 items. A child with a three lane neural highway faces road blocks and stoppages that will clear once that fourth lane is developed. But if this is not handled well, the child can be labelled and run the risk of missing key information and never catching up (Halford, Bain, Maybery, & Andrews, 1998; Halford, Phillips, & Wilson, 2008). The advantages of singing multiply when other people become involved. When a parent or carer sings to a child the child watches and listens, bonding, while developing communication skills (Soley & Hannon, 2010; Trehub et al., 1997). When singing is shared in a wellstructured music lesson, it elevates the lesson beyond simple learning to a lesson about belonging, acceptance, and confidence building (Dingle, Brander, Ballantyne, & Baker, 2012; Sacks, 2006). It is very difficult for children to break away from labels and for them to be seen as an effective class member, especially if they have delays in literacy and numeracy. Delays in these areas have a flow on effect to other academic areas because most of education is visually based. Depending on the severity of the problem, they can be removed from class to attend learning support or be positioned in a special education unit. While these interventions are designed to help the child, they can make them feel quite isolated, ashamed and stressed, particularly when they become aware of what is happening as they become older (Ruksenas, 2012). Music is the only school subject where the primary learning modality is the auditory system. Students learn by listening and listening to learn. Allowing children to express themselves through singing gives children who struggle with other academic subjects a chance to express themselves without reading and writing, which are the cornerstones of education (Overy, 2003). While this may seem to be a contradictory argument, the simple act of being seen as an effective person by other students and teachers is a powerful tool for acceptance, and reducing bullying. Allowing children to feel safe and effective sets a chain of neural events in motion, triggering the release of the “happy hormones”, dopamine and serotonin, which reduce stress and support healthy brain development (Krishnan & Nestler, 2008; Schultz, 2009). This benefits all learning areas and social interactions, and helps children to develop as resilient individuals who are able to rise above and navigate negative life events. Singing is also a socially just learning tool. The singer is the instrument; there is no additional outlay for instruments or equipment, removing barriers to participation (DeLorenzo, 2003). If a child can sing the correct response, you can be certain that the learning is internalised. This allows for quick and efficient formative assessment, which encourages and supports learning. Perhaps most importantly, when an individual is taught to sing, they are provided with an access point to music via a skill that lasts a lifetime, because singing is a skill that cannot be taken away, lost, or stolen.
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Conclusion It is strange logic that promotes such a narrow education focus, when there is a weight of evidence from many fields indicating that we must support the growth of the whole child. We are primed for music. It is an essential part of our cognitive system. Learning music, particularly singing, activates many areas of the brain simultaneously. This helps supports learning across all areas, including literacy and numeracy, reduces stress, and provides students with opportunities for successes outside visually based subjects. Singing is not a magic bullet. The benefits of music are felt with persistence and commitment. Parents and educators argue that their children are never going to be famous, so studying music is a pointless exercise, as though fame is the only role music has to play. They are not likely to become authors or mathematicians either, but the need to study literacy and numeracy is never scrutinised in this way. Continuing to narrow the education focus on literacy and numeracy at the expense of other subjects in the hope that children can be hammered into compliance is clearly not working. Ensuring that children receive an education that supports the development of the whole child provides the best opportunity for them to thrive. A curriculum that promotes the development of resilience goes a long way to providing this. Music, particularly through singing affords opportunities to develop resilience that are not offered by other subjects. The act of singing is the most direct and socially just point of access, maximising opportunities for success and nurturing the effective development of the whole child. References Altenmüller, E. (2008). Neurology of musical performance. Clinical Medicine, 8(4), 410-413. doi: 10.1038/nrn843 Bond, V. L. (2012). Music's Representation in Early Childhood Education Journals: A Literature Review. Update: Applications of Research in Music Education, 31. doi: 10.1177/8755123312458292 Cicchetti, D., & Toth, S. L. (1998). The development of depression in children and adolescents. [review]. American Psychologist, 53(2), 221-241. Corbetta, M., Miezin, F. M., Dobmeyer, S., Shulman, G. L., & Petersen, S. E. (1990). Attentional modulation of neural processing of shape, color, and velocity in humans. [10.1126/science.2360050]. Science, 248, 1556-1559. Cowan, N. (2001). The magical number 4 in short-term memory: A reconsideration of mental storage capacity. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 24(01), 87-114. doi: doi:null DeLorenzo, L. C. (2003). Teaching music as democratic process. Music Educators Journal, 90(2), 35-40. Dingle, G. A., Brander, C., Ballantyne, J., & Baker, F. A. (2012). ‘To be heard’: The social and mental health benefits of choir singing for disadvantaged adults. Psychology of Music. doi: 10.1177/0305735611430081 Farrington, D. P., Coid, J. W., Blumstein, A., & Farrington, D. (2003). Early Prevention of Adult Antisocial Behaviour Retrieved from http://Griffith.eblib.com.au/patron/FullRecord.aspx?p=202049 Funnell, M. G., Corballis, P. M., & Gazzaniga, M. S. (2003). Temporal discrimination in the split brain. Brain and Cognition, 53(2), 218-222. doi: 10.1016/s0278-2626(03)00113-1 Guerra, N. G., Graham, S., & Tolan, P. H. (2011). Raising healthy children: Translating child development research into practice. Child Development, 82(1), 7-16. doi: 10.1111/j.14678624.2010.01537.x 199
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Joanne Ruksenas PhD Candidate, Griffith University Queensland Conservatorium of Music and School of Public Health Joanne is a PhD candidate at the Queensland Conservatorium of Music and School of Public Health at Griffith University. Her research examines the effect of active engagement in music lessons on the development of resilience in preschool children. She is a recent graduate from the University of Queensland with degrees in psychology and neurosciences, and a graduate diploma in education with teaching areas in music, special education, and science. She is very interested in how, what, and why people learn. She works as a studio and classroom music teacher and has worked as a music specialist in special education.
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