For about two decades I have researched and published on how the brain integrates sound and movement, through the ancient tool of RHYTHM.
My studies on auditory and music development in infancy, sensorimotor (sound-movement) integration in typical adults as well as deaf and blind adults, and musical brain disorders (beat deafness vs tone deafness), have led me to develop a unique, integrative framework on Optimal Brain Growth and Healing, in which I teach about the fundamental importance of sound, movement and rhythm.
With this, what was once a source of academic study in the science lab became my framework, and specialized programs, for working with organizations in the arts, education, and health & healing. Here’s why it’s important to me to share this framework with the organizations that serve our children, families and communities:
Brain growth relies on sound and movement much more than is typically recognized.
This is true for the fields of music arts, education, and healthcare/ healing. Even within the field of music education, it is not always understood why movement is so important to the musical brain—for example, that moving our bodies affects our perception of the sounds.
Whether and how musicians move their bodies while they play music, matters. Children’s and adults’ movement is critical for their learning to play and appreciate music.
For D/deaf individuals, who have limited or no access to auditory input, many still rely on the preserved features of sound that are available to them—including, but not limited to, vibrotactile information (thus, the importance of “sound and movement” does not exclude those with hearing differences). And for children with sensory processing differences, when sensory input is overwhelming, the solutions for regulating the nervous system are found in appropriate and expert-guided body movement.
My work with organizations helps them to understand (and to share) the evidence from brain science that supports not only the implementation of music arts in schools, health centers and communities, but the methods and approaches that recognize the importance of rhythmic movement.
The key to Optimal Brain Growth through sound and movement is found in brain-body integration (also called “sensorimotor integration”).
In my work I often refer to brain-body integration in order to describe optimal learning in children: sensory information comes into the brain (for example, the child hears a sound), the brain sends the body into action in response to the input (the child produces a sound), and then the body’s output is evaluated by the brain (was the child’s sound in tune, or in time?).
It’s a closed feedback loop, and in the field of music neuroscience this mechanism is referred to as sensorimotor integration. It means that the brain maps the sound onto the body’s movement, and vice versa—they are not separate experiences, but rather are integrated into a ‘multisensory’ experience for brain and body.
Here is the best part: there is a brain circuit specifically dedicated to sensorimotor integration of sound and movement. That circuit is called the auditory dorsal stream, and is also frequently referred to in music neuroscience research as a “rhythm network”—why? Because the key to integrating sound and movement is timing—that is, rhythm. Which brings me to my last major point here…
Rhythm is our primary (and most primal) tool for promoting brain-body integration. Rhythm activates the brain circuit for sensorimotor integration, and has implications for brain growth, and for healing.
When we perceive a rhythmic input—such as hearing the beat of music, or observing others around us moving in time together—the rhythm network is engaged. This occurs even without are awareness, which is why feeling the beat is so irresistible—it can be hard NOT to move to the beat, especially when you’re watching your favorite group perform, or when you’re surrounded by others on the dance floor.
The rhythm network is functioning from infancy, which is why it is so irresistible even for babies to move to the beat of music!
Besides feeling good, there is a growing field of research on how rhythm supports brain development from infancy throughout adulthood, and recovery, such as in neurodevelopmental disorders and neurodegenerative diseases.
In all of my work with organizations in the arts, education and health/healing, I teach my framework of Optimal Brain Growth and Healing. And the foundation of my programming for those organizations is always brain-body integration, especially through Sound, Movement and Rhythm.
It turns out, the ancient and pervasive tool of RHYTHM holds the key to so much of our learning, growth, and healing.