Joint symposium on the science of music, the brain and early education a success

The symposium Music, the brain and early education—what science tells us took place on 22 May 2024 at the Collège de France, as part of the Action for Education project, a Collège de France initiative aimed at using research to improve the French education system.

The gathering was organized in partnership with the Vareille Foundation.

Dr. Stanislas Dehaene and Dr. Emmanuel Bigand, researchers and experts in cognitive psychology and neuroscience, designed the program and chaired this exciting daylong event. The presentations showed how studying music in early childhood influences development and cognitive capacities. The discussions focused on the links between music and areas such as language and math, and assessing the impact of playing music on children’s skills.

Nina Kraus, Assal Habibi, Robert Zatorre and other internationally known researchers presented their most recent work. The symposium focused in particular on our experimental program, A violin can change the world, which concretely shows that music benefits students from underprivileged communities.

View the entire program on the website of the Collège de France.