What is it about?
I studied musical parenting, specifically the ways in which caregivers' singing with their five-year-old children helped them to teach resilience skills such as emotional regulation, communication, social interaction, and perseverance. Findings showed that the children independently used music similarly to their parents and that, for them, music became a "go-to" resource for developing resilience skills.
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Photo by Jason Rosewell on Unsplash
Why is it important?
We are at a time in human history when we need to develop stronger resilience skills to help us navigate the social upheaval caused by the pandemic and by the political climate. We are in an unprecedented tipping point that will require all of us to strengthen inner resources and social and emotional connections to one another. This study shows that music was a major resource for the participant families to help them cultivate both inner and social resilience.
Perspectives
I have been interested in resilience for many years having been in situations that required my own development of strong inner resources. My affinity for music and musical training have supported me throughout my life. I wanted to discover if anyone else had this experience and, especially, how deliberate musical parenting might positively affect children's social, emotional, and cognitive outcomes. If music is so important to human development, we need to understand it better and its role in human life.
Elissa Johnson-Green
University of Massachusetts Lowell
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Keep singing out: Families’ use of popular music as a resource for raising resilient children, Journal of Popular Music Education, March 2022, Intellect,
DOI: 10.1386/jpme_00074_1.
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