Quavers Music Scotland

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Follow @goodneuroscience to understand your brain. Learning a musical instrument doesn’t just shape sound, it reshapes the brain. Studies show that children who engage in music training build stronger neural circuits for memory, attention and emotional regulation. These cognitive improvements ripple into academic life, with one meta-analysis revealing up to a 17% boost in math and reading scores among music-trained students. MRI research shows increased gray matter in areas tied to planning, coordination and self-control after just 15 months of practice. Music also strengthens executive function, helping children focus better, manage frustration and persist through challenges. Even short weekly sessions can lead to long-term gains in learning and emotional resilience. Music becomes more than a hobby, it becomes a tool for brain development. Sources: Music training and child development: a review of recent findings from a longitudinal study https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29508399/ Short-Term Music Training Enhances Verbal Intelligence and Executive Function https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3449320/ Disclaimer: Content is for informational purposes only. Please consult with a medical professional before applying any material contained. Follow @goodneuroscience to optimize your brain health. #neuroscience #brainhealth #neurobiology #kidsbrains

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Follow @goodneuroscience to understand your brain. Children’s rhythm skills are closely tied to how they learn to read. Research shows that preschoolers who can clap or tap in time with a beat often score higher on early language and pre-reading measures. Brain recordings reveal why: kids with stronger rhythm skills have sharper neural responses to speech sounds, which helps them break words into syllables and sounds. In 2024, a team of researchers went further, giving elementary school children a rhythm-training game for six weeks. The kids who played it showed measurable improvements in reading fluency compared to controls. Scientists believe this happens because reading itself is rhythmic: the brain must keep time with the flow of speech, predict the next sound, and segment language into meaning. Rhythm games and musical play may give children’s brains a boost that helps reading come more naturally. Sources: Born to Speak and Sing: Musical Predictors of Language Development in Pre-schoolers https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2019.00948 Digital rhythm training improves reading fluency in children https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38193394/ Rhythm, reading, and sound processing in the brain in preschool children https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8242059/ Disclaimer: This content is for informational purposes only and does not constitute medical advice. Please consult a healthcare professional before making any changes to your health or wellness routine Follow @goodneuroscience to optimize your brain health. #neuroscience #brainhealth #neurobiology #readingskills #childbraindevelopment

Welcome!
Thanks for dropping by, here’s a little about me…
I have been a full time music leader for 18 years and live on a Dutch Barge (built the same year as the Titanic!) on the Forth and Clyde canal, in beautiful Auchinstarry, Scotland. I grew up in a family where there was singing or playing of instruments somewhere in the house every day, I consider this a great privilege and has given me access to music, as a source of personal solace and also has led me to make my career in leading and sharing music and song.
Over the years I have worked with a wide variety of groups: Mainstream and ASN nurseries and school groups, community groups, ASN adults, adults with sensory impairments, autism units, children with motor impairments, private instrumental groups (violin, recorder). More recently I have completed my training as a Singing Mamas Community Leader.
Through this training I have felt a shift in my thinking. My life’s work has been to grow music and singing opportunities for individuals, but I realised that music has the potential to be healing for society as a whole and although in the past it was part of the daily fabric of life, it is no longer normalised to sing and play. These days there seems to be an invisible line drawn between the “musical” who are allowed to participate and the “non-musical” who aren’t. For more of us to access the benefits that group musical participation brings (reduction in stress, release of endorphins, sense of belonging, memory and concentration, increase in immunoglobin A), we need to change this narrative. One way is to increase the amount of music happening at home and help parents to feel more confident in their abilities to make music and sing with their children. While there are lots of groups that are child-focussed (including some of my own community groups), the Singing Mamas model really appeals to me as it gifts songs that are beautiful for developing ears to listen to, but gift women with an emotional toolkit to navigate the ups and downs of parenthood and life in general. There is the added benefit of bringing together women to create supportive communities who “get it”.

The new term is off to a great start at Quavers!
There are still some places for pre-schoolers and P1 if this is something your child would like to try 🎵

https://www.eventbrite.com/o/singing-mamas-glasgow-114749012471