Here, Harriet shares some more detail of how Boogie Mites Music developed:

Little did I know that research would later show that this was exactly how to progress children’s brain development through music in early years – picking out the different harmonies, the melody, repeated sequences of sounds and words, and working with the steady beat are exactly the things that ‘fine tune’ the auditory processing and neural response system in the brain, building strong foundations for literacy and maths learning at this stage.

I would record new songs in my home recording studio each week. I shamelessly exploited the talents of my young daughters and had them sing on many songs. Originally the songs were written to cover themes that our workshops would be linked to – themes that inspire young children (girls and boys) such as jungles, pirates, transport, food, animals, the weather. Each workshop had a mix of action songs, themed songs and percussion songs with the same welcome song and goodbye song at start and end each week. We developed a 45 minute format that could engage children from age 1-5 – and send them home exhausted! The songs were tried and tested, some discarded or changed according to the response of children – the children and parents would be the critics and we stuck with those that worked.

When we started compiling programmes for use in Nurseries and linking to EYFS development we started to add to the songs to fill gaps for specific development aims. For example JACK the robot was written specifically to support phoneme blending, Tap Rap for recognising rhyming words and Come On Everyone to support alliteration.

Over the years a library of 100+ Boogie Mites songs has been written. We continue to hear from our own Tutors, from parents and teachers – who sing the songs everyday – that they never get bored of them and find them as uplifting today as on the first day they heard them.

The Chichester University Research Study found that the style and mix of Boogie Mites songs played a big part in engaging the ‘target’ families to attend and practise at home. Recent studies have found that todays parents disliked traditional songs and nursery rhymes, finding them dull and irrelevant. The conclusion of the study mentions the part that the style of Boogie Mites music plays in the impact of the courses:

“parents reported that they felt more confident to use music with their children at home and as part of everyday life. Whereas previously they said they used music for recreational purposes or in the background, they commented how much of a primary role it now played in their lives. The parents’ increased confidence had a knock on effect on their child’s confidence. Boogie Mites songs have popular music styles which have been chosen to engage the adults and children making them culturally relevant to life today… Boogie Mites provides a completely different format of funky songs (such as jazz, rap, reggae, calypso, boogie woogie styles), actions, props and instruments, and it aims to get parents to take it home into everyday life. This coupled with the increased parent confidence suggests music practice will become embedded at home which could lead to greater parental engagement in other aspects of their child’s development and learning.”

At Boogie Mites we encourage singing of nursery rhymes and listening to all types of music – the more music the better! But we recognise that a big part of the power of Boogie Mites music programmes is the appeal of the music to the adults taking part. Enthused practitioners and parents taking part in the musical activities are more than half the battle for engaging young children.

It is a bonus that the complicated arrangements, catchy melodies and rhythms of Boogie Mites songs challenge the young brain to progress fine tuning of the auditory processing and neural response system – providing more of a brain gym workout than simpler songs or acapella songs, thereby, with regular practise, maximising the potential that music has for supporting brain development at this early stage.

Neuroscience

Sue Newman, Director of Boogie Mites recently interviewed Anita Collins, leading researcher of music and the brain. You can listen and read some of the interview highlights here.

Below are links to the work of several leading neuroscientists/educators in this field currently.

“The evidence suggests that children who undertake music education from early years have higher levels of cognitive capacity (especially regarding language acquisition and numerical problem solving), tend to remain in education for longer, and earn more across their lifetime. Even better news is that it can also reverse the cognitive issues relating to disadvantage.” Anita Collins, a researcher in neuroscience and music education at the University of Canberra, Sydney Herald July 2015.

Link to Anita Collins website – Bigger Better Brains.

As well as supporting language development, numerous neuroscientific studies over the last decade have provided evidence that music also benefits the parts of the brain that control social, emotional, physical, mathematical, creative and cognitive skills (IQ). The effect of music on the brain is described as “‘like fireworks going off in the brain’ No other activity had been seen to have such an effect on the whole brain. Music is a whole brain workout.”

Link to Anita Collins ‘What if every child had access to music education from birth?’( TED Talk 2015)

Dr Kraus gives a brilliant explanation of the importance of sound processing in language development and how music can impact on the development of sound processing in the brain – specifically for children in early years. Dr Nina Kraus, Neuroscientist at Northwestern University USA, investigating the neural encoding of speech and music.

Link to Breaking the wall to Neuroeducation talk 2015

The Brainvolts Project is an Auditory Neuroscience Laboratory in Canada that investigates the biology of auditory learning. Using cutting-edge technology that provides unprecedented precision in indexing brain function, they are able to push science beyond the laboratory by conducting studies in schools, community centres, and clinics. They use their findings to advocate best practice for education, health and social policy.

Link to Brainvolts project website

If you want to accelerate brain development in children – teach them music. According to initial results of a 5 year study that began in 2012. USC neuroscientists found that music accelerates brain development in young children, particularly in the area of the brain responsible for processing sounds, language development, speech perception and reading skills.

Link to Brain and Creative Institute (BCI) at USC.

“Children with dyslexia find it challenging to hear speech rhythm and speech timing, and in perceiving musical rhythm and timing. Early Years educators can take simple steps to benefit language skills and minimise the impact of dyslexia. Having a rich early repertoire of singing and musical remediation will help matching syllable beat patterns to language before they start learning to read.” Prof Usha Goswami, Professor of Cognitive Developmental Neuroscience, University of Cambridge.

Link to Journal – Music and Dyslexia – a new musical training method to improve reading and related disorders 2015.

Chichester University Evaluation of Boogie Mites Programme Outcomes

Read the executive summary

Read the full report

The differences were noted in four main areas:

1. Parental Knowledge and Involvement – Boogie Mites sessions encouraged parents to make the links between the EYFS (DfE2012) prime areas of learning and the use of music both at the session and in the home. The fact that parents were practicing and using their skills at home indicated music becoming embedded into home practice, with the attendant benefits for increased parental involvement in their child’s development across the three prime areas.
2. Parent and Child Confidence – Parents reported that they felt more confident to use music with their children at home and as part of everyday life. Whereas previously they said they used music for recreational purposes or in the background, they commented how much of a primary role it now played in their lives. The parents’ increased confidence had a knock on effect on their child’s confidence.
3. Creating a Safe Space For Participation – The facilitation of the Boogie Mites programmes by music leaders trained to work with both target and inclusive groups, was viewed very positively by all parents as they encouraged participation and allowed experimentation in a safe environment. They were the mediators between the settings/schools and home and supported the development of home practice. The positive attitudes of the facilitators encouraged and supported the parents. This provided an opportunity which promoted the group to work together supporting the transition of parents from working alone to working as a group. This transition allowed parents the chance to gain a wider support network over and above the music activities on offer (perfect for transition from pre-school to school).
4. Practitioner Confidence and Sharing Best Practice – A significant number of practitioners said the Boogie Mites training gave them confidence to implement Boogie Mites in their settings. After completing their training, there was almost an explosion of enthusiasm, eagerness and willingness to implement what they had learnt back into their setting. Not only that but they were inspired enough to share what they learnt with their rest of the colleagues in their setting.

Speaking and Listening: through music SEN pupils can

• (Begin to) develop their auditory memory skills.
• (Begin to) listen and respond to 1 and 2 step instructions
• (Begin to) develop their awareness of sound and rhythm
• Respond to instructions
• (Begin to) remember actions/a sequence of actions in a song or rhyme
• Show awareness of their body, for signing – hands, face, eyes to look at another person
• Respond to a gesture with a similar gesture; respond to music by vocalising
• Develop their use of expressive communication including using whole body movements, facial expressions and pointing.
• Listen and develop auditory memory, and discriminate between different sounds
• Co-operate with others in a shared task
• Respond to increasingly complex instructions
• Explore rhyme and (begin to) continue rhyming strings
• (Begin to) develop their awareness of sound and rhythm, extending this to awareness of syllables in words if appropriate

Social communication: through music SEN pupils can

• Participate in social routines, developing their turn-taking, eye contact and listening skills at a level appropriate to individuals
• Respond to positive communication strategies offered up by their peers
• Develop shared attention and listening skills
• (Begin to) show an awareness of themselves and others
• Show active participation e.g. responds to others by copying
• Develop social communication strategies e.g. eye contact, listening skills.

Numeracy: through music SEN pupils can

• Respond to a sequence or pattern of actions that can be repeated
• Copy a simple pattern using ‘body percussion’
• (Begin to) complete a sequence of actions that create a pattern
• Copy, continue and/or devise increasingly complex rhythms and patterns
• Understand positional language
• Count with correspondence

Gross Motor and physical development: through music SEN pupils can

• Manage body to recreate or create intended movements
• (Begin to) have some awareness of their own body
• (Begin to) imitate the movements of a partner
• Link gross motor movements to create simple routines
• Show awareness of body parts, where they move and how they move
• Develop integrated movement patterns, combining and repeating a range of different movements
• Develop their ability to move with increasing control