How can participation in musical activities be therapeutic? Experts argue that music is at the very centre of what it means to be human. Stephen Malloch and Colwyn Trevarthen, who have respectively researched psychology, movement and music, and child psychology, argue music comes from how human bodies, from birth, explore their environment using habitual patterns of action — a kind of “communicative musicality.”
On a physiological level, the connections between different brain areas are still developing in young children, yet these areas all become involved simultaneously when a child is performing a musical activity. This means that music might help sustain and regulate emotional well-being by engaging all these brain areas, and thus help to make sense of otherwise incomprehensible situations.
During lockdown, interaction with peers is constrained for most children, and even more so for younger ones who don’t have access to social media and cannot reap the psychological benefits of digitally mediated communication with their friends.
Some research suggests that some caregivers have been turning to music while being isolated in COVID-19 shutdowns. For example, a study of caregivers of children aged between three and six years old in Brazil found that about 60 per cent of caregivers were listening to music to relax or feel excited during social distancing.
But if this does not happen, how can caregivers benefit from music or facilitate children’s engagement with music? They could start by simply sharing their favourite playlists with children or choosing music they think could support a positive mood. They can strategically help evoke positive emotions that may help families keep an optimistic outlook through our pandemic winter.
There is a great variety of ways in which both parents and children can engage with recorded music: dancing or tapping, singing along, making up another melodic line or even creating a funny parody.
Importance of connections
Finally, to restore the lost sense of belonging and community connection, which is crucial to maintaining psychological health, parents can encourage children’s participation in virtual music groups.
This type of collective music-making has been found to promote self-expression, help manage emotions and bring a comforting sense of belonging. For children who have memories of attending school and activities before the pandemic, it can also help remind them of who they were before the pandemic.
Music can help children adapt to difficult situations by binding families together.
Most importantly, music can help revive the belief that everything will eventually be well, despite this seemingly never-ending series of lockdowns that many of us feel are damaging the spirits of adults and children alike.
Author Bio: Ala Krivov is a PhD Student, Musicology at Western University