Research Tells Us

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Mothers are Musical Mentors

"Maternal singing may provide benefits for the singer as well as the listener...the privacy of the interaction may make it possible for a mother to say or sing what she could not express in other contexts...releasing of pent up feelings may increase mother's feelings of closeness...soothing singing likely calms mother as well as infants-playful singing likely rouses them both. In this way, maternal singing can regulate maternal as well as infant emotions."

"Deliberate planned performances are unlikely to have emotional richness of spontaneous performances, which are motivated by sensitivity to infant's changing needs."

"Recorded materials designed to attract the adults who buy them are no match for maternal performances...recordings lack the familiar voice and emotive qualities that are so engaging to the listening infant and they are not tailored to the preferences of individual infants...parent-centered programs can connect parents with other parents, encourage playful interactions and provide a repertoire of enjoyable musical activities."

"...every known culture has songs for infants and that singing to infant appears to be a normal part of everyday caretaking activities...it seems mothers perform in a distinctive way when their baby is the audience-songs are higher, slower...the most salient feature is the loving tone." (Trehub and Trainor)

"...suggesting mothers sing to their babies the way they do in order to communicate with them emotionally...the way mothers sing to them does indeed matter to babies...the more loving the singer’s tone of voice, the longer infants chose to listen to her song...they chose to listen longer to the higher pitched versions...listening to lullabies, the infants tended to look down at their hands, listening to play songs, they tended to focus their attention outward...mothers not only produce emotional singing for babies, but babies respond to the messages their mothers send them through song." (Trainor)

"...research has helped us understand how mothers produce emotional singing that is exquisitely tuned to the needs of their babies and how infants respond to this singing, forming closer bonds to their mothers...along with touching and rocking, singing helps caregivers co-regulate infants' states, and likely contributes to infants' increasing ability to regulate their own states." (Trainor)