Music, dance and rhythm to improve learning

The effect on the developing brain of musical and rhythmic practice is probably, among recent advances in neuroscience, the one with potentially the most far-reaching pedagogical implications. Today, practising music at school can no longer be considered "just" as an artistic discipline, but as a means of improving students' learning and, consequently, their academic, professional and social future. However, teachers - particularly those in the first grades of primary school in socially disadvantaged areas of the city, where the stakes for primordial learning are high - do not necessarily possess this basic knowledge, which has been widely publicized in recent years, so they are not themselves convinced of the usefulness of integrating it into their practice.

It is against this backdrop that teams from NeurodysPACA and the Institut de Neurosciences des Systèmes (amU/Inserm) have been working together for several years on the Musadys® project. This wide-ranging initiative to support the teaching teams of several schools in and around Marseilles recently resulted in support for the "Marseille en Grand" action.

Integrating music into daily teaching practice

The aim is to build a multimedia teaching kit, made up of written, audio and audiovisual documents, enabling all teachers, whatever their previous level of musical knowledge, to acquire both the theoretical foundations and the pedagogical attitudes suited to systematically integrating musical elements into their daily practice. Finally, as is often the case in this type of quest for innovative tools, methods initially designed to combat a particular difficulty or disorder have turned out to be useful for the whole class, including pupils with learning difficulties.

Eight schools in Marseille are benefiting from the programme 

In 2023-2024, at the request of their respective management teams, eight schools in Marseille have benefited from the presence of specialized support including musicians trained in the Musadys® method, as well as a set of tools built in line with current scientific knowledge on the effect of music and rhythm on the development of children's cognitive functions, all under the supervision of a team of expert psychologists and researchers in the field.

In addition, a specialized structure (Anthropos - Cultures Associées) has been tasked with evaluating the action through the implementation of various tools, the preliminary results of which fully confirm the expected benefits of the action, notably in terms of access to knowledge, but also in fostering the quality of interpersonal links and combating the isolation of the most troubled pupils.