WolfBrown Issues New Report on Music, Child Development and Well-Being

WolfBrown and the Bernard van Leer Foundation have released a new report entitled Making a Joyful Noise: The Potential Role of Music Making in the Well-Being of Young Families.

This report provides a literature and landscape review that highlights ways that music enables opportunities for supporting child development, child-caregiver bonds and overall family well-being in an inclusive and human way. The research demonstrates the ways in which music initiatives can be designed as interventions/innovations that are low cost, sustainable and culturally responsive. Music can be a tool that can strengthen engagement in areas from public health to community planning and this report provides clear action steps for organizations and governments interested in investing in music.

In reflecting on the significance of this report, Dennie Palmer Wolf of WolfBrown described the report as "a call to action, urging organizations and governments to invest in the well-being of young families using what we know about the joyous, affiliative, and communicative powers of music. We hope it sparks a global conversation about how the human capacities for song, dance, and performance can power effective, culturally-responsive, and sustainable interventions in health care, learning, as well as more inclusive cultures and public spaces that welcome all."

You can read the full publication here.