In the News

The work of the Vanderbilt Music Cognition Lab was featured many times during the "Music as Medicine" workshop, sponsored by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) and jointly organized by NIH, the NEA, the Renée Fleming Foundation, and the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, which took place December 14–15, 2023. The event aimed to highlight accomplishments from the last 6 years in advancing scientific research on music and health, develop a blueprint for the next phase of research, and further build the research community.

Music and singing are some of the most common forms of social interaction and play during early childhood. Caregivers all over the world sing to their infants to engage or soothe them. Seemingly simple acts, like singing to and engaging in musical games with young children, can profoundly impact children, caregivers, and their relationship with each other.

It’s a special feeling to hold your baby and look at them as they look back at you. You and your baby might do this as you rock in a rocking chair, make silly faces, or sing a nursery rhyme.