07970008856 or 07742359292
EDU Franchise Contact Us
Musical StoryBox
Book a Class
Children and grown-ups exploring a StoryBox class set out with fabrics and props

Fact sheet

The research behind every claim on our website

Sources last checked: 21 October 2026

The short version

  • Every fact on our website about music and early childhood comes from published research or official guidance.
  • Below is each claim, what the research found, and a link to the original study or source.
  • Where a study is small or early, we say so. No study has tested Musical StoryBox classes themselves.
  • Spotted something we should check? Email info@musicalstorybox.com and we’ll look into it.

1. Calmer, happier babies

From Why music matters.

  1. Singing keeps babies calm for twice as long as talking Also on our home page

    In a Montréal lab study, babies under a year listened to recordings until they started to get upset. With a song they stayed content for about 9 minutes; with baby-talk, just over 4.

    • Corbeil M, Trehub SE, Peretz I (2016). Singing delays the onset of infant distress. Infancy, 21(3), 373–391. doi.org/10.1111/infa.12114

  2. Familiar songs soothe best

    After a short, mildly upsetting moment, 8 and 10-month-olds settled better when a parent sang than when they talked, and a song they already knew brought the biggest benefit and the most smiles.

    • Cirelli LK, Trehub SE (2020). Familiar songs reduce infant distress. Developmental Psychology, 56(5), 861–868. doi.org/10.1037/dev0000917

  3. Lullabies soothe, even in an unknown language

    144 American babies heard eight lullabies from faraway cultures, in languages they didn’t know. Compared with other unfamiliar songs, such as dance, love and healing songs, their heart rates slowed and their pupils dilated less, both signs of relaxing.

    • Bainbridge CM, Bertolo M, Youngers J, et al. (2021). Infants relax in response to unfamiliar foreign lullabies. Nature Human Behaviour, 5(2), 256–264. doi.org/10.1038/s41562-020-00963-z

2. Closer bonds, kinder little people

From Why music matters.

  1. Moving in time with someone makes babies keener to help them

    14-month-olds who were bounced in time with a grown-up were about twice as likely to help her, without being asked, when she “dropped” things (25.8% vs 13.1% of chances) as babies bounced out of time.

    • Cirelli LK, Einarson KM, Trainor LJ (2014). Interpersonal synchrony increases prosocial behavior in infants. Developmental Science, 17(6), 1003–1011. doi.org/10.1111/desc.12193

  2. Babies notice who sings ‘their’ song

    Five-month-olds whose parents sang them a new song at home paid more attention to a stranger singing that same song. Babies who learned it from a musical toy showed no such interest.

  3. Making music together builds teamwork

    After a game with singing, dancing and instruments, pairs of 4-year-olds helped and cooperated more than pairs who played the same game without music, and talked to each other almost twice as much while working together on a marble game.

3. Little listeners, big self-control

From Why music matters.

  1. Music games can help build self-control

    Listening, waiting and stopping on cue are all part of self-regulation, which grows fast between three and five. Reviews pooling studies of music sessions for children find small gains, with the clearest effect on stopping yourself. Many of the studies are small, so this is promising rather than proven.

  2. 6 months later, the benefits of rhythm games were still there

    In an Australian trial with 213 preschoolers, eight weeks of rhythm-and-movement games improved self-regulation, and the benefits were still there six months later, after the children had started school.

    • Bentley LA, Eager R, Savage S, Nielson C, White SLJ, Williams KE (2023). A translational application of music for preschool cognitive development: RCT evidence for improved executive function, self-regulation, and school readiness. Developmental Science, 26(5), e13358. doi.org/10.1111/desc.13358

  3. Rhythm games beat sport on a self-control test

    In a German study with blinded testers, 5 and 6-year-olds who did 20 weeks of short rhythm sessions improved more on a “stay still like a statue” test than children who did a sports programme.

    • Frischen U, Schwarzer G, Degé F (2019). Comparing the effects of rhythm-based music training and pitch-based music training on executive functions in preschoolers. Frontiers in Integrative Neuroscience, 13, 41. doi.org/10.3389/fnint.2019.00041

4. Ready for words and reading

From Why music matters.

  1. 300,000 words of “book language” by age five, from one book a day Also on our home page

    Picture books use a wider range of words than everyday chat. Counting the words in popular children’s books, researchers worked out that one book a day adds up to nearly 300,000 words heard by five.

    • Montag JL, Jones MN, Smith LB (2015). The words children hear: picture books and the statistics for language learning. Psychological Science, 26(9), 1489–1496. doi.org/10.1177/0956797615594361
    • Logan JAR, Justice LM, Yumuş M, Chaparro-Moreno LJ (2019). When children are not read to at home: the million word gap. Journal of Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics, 40(5), 383–386. doi.org/10.1097/DBP.0000000000000657

  2. Songs may help newborns spot words

    In a study of 28 newborns, babies’ brains picked out “words” in a stream of made-up syllables only when it was sung, not spoken. Those brain responses helped predict vocabulary at 18 months. It’s a small study, but a lovely one.

    • François C, Teixidó M, Takerkart S, Agut T, Bosch L, Rodríguez-Fornells A (2017). Enhanced neonatal brain responses to sung streams predict vocabulary outcomes by age 18 months. Scientific Reports, 7, 12451. doi.org/10.1038/s41598-017-12798-2

  3. Nursery rhymes today, reading tomorrow

    In a UK study that followed 64 children, those who knew more nursery rhymes at three read and spelled better at six, even allowing for background and IQ. Rhymes seem to tune children in to the sounds inside words.

    • Bryant PE, Bradley L, Maclean M, Crossland J (1989). Nursery rhymes, phonological skills and reading. Journal of Child Language, 16(2), 407–428. doi.org/10.1017/S0305000900010485

5. Born ready for music

From Why music matters.

  1. Babies pay more attention to live music Also on our home page

    At a baby opera, babies watching live looked at the stage about 72% of the time, against 54% for babies watching an identical recording. Their heart rates even rose and fell together.

    • Kragness HE, Eitel MJ, Anantharajan F, Gaudette-Leblanc A, Berezowska B, Cirelli LK (2023). An itsy bitsy audience: live performance facilitates infants’ attention and heart rate synchronization. Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts, 19(5), 1124–1133. doi.org/10.1037/aca0000597

  2. Little ears are wide open

    Six-month-olds noticed changes in complex Balkan folk rhythms that most Western adults miss. By their first birthday they had tuned in to their own culture’s music, but about two weeks of listening at home brought the openness back.

  3. Joining in beats background music

    Babies who sang, moved and played percussion with a parent in weekly classes from 6 months used more early gestures, like waving and pointing, by their first birthday (as reported by their parents) than babies whose class just had classical CDs playing in the background.

    • Gerry D, Unrau A, Trainor LJ (2012). Active music classes in infancy enhance musical, communicative and social development. Developmental Science, 15(3), 398–407. doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-7687.2012.01142.x

6. Good for grown-ups too

From Why music matters.

  1. Singing groups can ease postnatal depression symptoms

    In a UK trial, mums with more severe postnatal depression symptoms who joined a 10-week baby singing group improved faster than those receiving usual care. In a larger 2025 trial, mums in the singing group still had fewer symptoms than mums in other mother-and-baby groups six months after the course ended. If you are struggling, please also talk to your GP or health visitor.

    • Fancourt D, Perkins R (2018). Effect of singing interventions on symptoms of postnatal depression: three-arm randomised controlled trial. British Journal of Psychiatry, 212(2), 119–121. doi.org/10.1192/bjp.2017.29
    • Bind R, et al. (2025). Clinical effectiveness, implementation effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of a community singing intervention for postnatal depressive symptoms, SHAPER-PND: randomised controlled trial. British Journal of Psychiatry. doi.org/10.1192/bjp.2025.10377

  2. Singing brings you closer

    In a small UK study of 43 mums, mums felt closer to their babies and in a better mood after a singing session than after a play session, and their stress-hormone levels fell more.

    • Fancourt D, Perkins R (2018). The effects of mother–infant singing on emotional closeness, affect, anxiety, and stress hormones. Music & Science, 1. doi.org/10.1177/2059204317745746

  3. Babies tune in to a happy voice

    Babies are drawn to a happy voice, sung or spoken. Parents naturally sing higher and slower to their babies, and dads do it too.

    • Corbeil M, Trehub SE, Peretz I (2013). Speech vs. singing: infants choose happier sounds. Frontiers in Psychology, 4, 372. doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2013.00372
    • Trehub SE, Unyk AM, Kamenetsky SB, Hill DS, Trainor LJ, Henderson JL, Saraza M (1997). Mothers’ and fathers’ singing to infants. Developmental Psychology, 33(3), 500–507. doi.org/10.1037/0012-1649.33.3.500

7. The claims we won’t make

The myths we bust on Why music matters, and the research behind what we say instead.

  1. Myth: “Playing Mozart makes babies cleverer.”

    The famous “Mozart effect” came from a 1993 study of 36 university students, whose scores on spatial puzzles rose for 10 to 15 minutes. Big reviews found tiny effects, and other music people enjoyed worked just as well. What does help is joining in: singing, moving and playing together.

    • Rauscher FH, Shaw GL, Ky KN (1993). Music and spatial task performance. Nature, 365, 611. doi.org/10.1038/365611a0
    • Chabris CF (1999). Prelude or requiem for the “Mozart effect”? Nature, 400, 826–827. doi.org/10.1038/23608
    • Pietschnig J, Voracek M, Formann AK (2010). Mozart effect–Shmozart effect: a meta-analysis. Intelligence, 38(3), 314–323. doi.org/10.1016/j.intell.2010.03.001
    • Nantais KM, Schellenberg EG (1999). The Mozart effect: an artifact of preference. Psychological Science, 10(4), 370–373. doi.org/10.1111/1467-9280.00170
    • Schellenberg EG, Hallam S (2005). Music listening and cognitive abilities in 10- and 11-year-olds: the Blur effect. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 1060, 202–209. doi.org/10.1196/annals.1360.013
    • Gerry D, Unrau A, Trainor LJ (2012). Active music classes in infancy enhance musical, communicative and social development. Developmental Science, 15(3), 398–407. doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-7687.2012.01142.x

  2. Myth: “Singing releases the ‘love hormone’.”

    You will often read that singing floods you and your baby with oxytocin. Two small hospital studies with premature babies have measured it: mums’ oxytocin rose about as much when they talked as when they sang, and babies’ oxytocin rose clearly only when mum talked. Studies in adult singers are mixed. What research does show is that singing calms babies and helps mums feel closer.

    • Filippa M, Monaci MG, Spagnuolo C, Di Benedetto M, Serravalle P, Grandjean D (2023). Oxytocin levels increase and anxiety decreases in mothers who sing and talk to their premature infants during a painful procedure. Children, 10(2), 334. doi.org/10.3390/children10020334
    • Filippa M, Monaci MG, Spagnuolo C, Serravalle P, Daniele R, Grandjean D (2021). Maternal speech decreases pain scores and increases oxytocin levels in preterm infants during painful procedures. Scientific Reports, 11, 17301. doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-96840-4
    • Schladt TM, Nordmann GC, Emilius R, Kudielka BM, de Jong TR, Neumann ID (2017). Choir versus solo singing: effects on mood, and salivary oxytocin and cortisol concentrations. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 11, 430. doi.org/10.3389/fnhum.2017.00430
    • Kreutz G (2014). Does singing facilitate social bonding? Music and Medicine, 6(2), 51–60. mmd.iammonline.com/index.php/musmed/article/view/MMD-6-2-9
    • Corbeil M, Trehub SE, Peretz I (2016). Singing delays the onset of infant distress. Infancy, 21(3), 373–391. doi.org/10.1111/infa.12114
    • Fancourt D, Perkins R (2018). The effects of mother–infant singing on emotional closeness, affect, anxiety, and stress hormones. Music & Science, 1. doi.org/10.1177/2059204317745746

  3. Myth: “Babies are born able to keep the beat.”

    Newborn brains do notice a steady beat, and babies love moving to music. But keeping time comes later: the first signs appear at around two and a half, mostly when drumming with a real person rather than a machine. Until then, it’s the grown-up bouncing them in time who keeps the beat.

    • Winkler I, Háden GP, Ladinig O, Sziller I, Honing H (2009). Newborn infants detect the beat in music. PNAS, 106(7), 2468–2471. doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0809035106
    • Háden GP, Bouwer FL, Honing H, Winkler I (2024). Beat processing in newborn infants cannot be explained by statistical learning based on transition probabilities. Cognition, 243, 105670. doi.org/10.1016/j.cognition.2023.105670
    • Zentner M, Eerola T (2010). Rhythmic engagement with music in infancy. PNAS, 107(13), 5768–5773. doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1000121107
    • Kirschner S, Tomasello M (2009). Joint drumming: social context facilitates synchronization in preschool children. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 102(3), 299–314. doi.org/10.1016/j.jecp.2008.07.005
    • Yu L, Todoriki K, Myowa M (2022). From spontaneous rhythmic engagement to joint drumming: a gradual development of flexible coordination at approximately 24 months of age. Frontiers in Psychology, 13, 907834. doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.907834

8. Other facts on our site

  1. More than a million new brain connections every second

    In the first few years of life, more than a million new connections form in a child’s brain every second, and early experiences help shape them.

9. Full reference lists

Each of our science posts ends with a numbered list of every study, survey and guidance document it uses.