WAAM’s Music Impact Research Center (MIRC) funds, researches, aggregates, and disseminates data measuring music’s influence through rigorous, scientific means. 

 

We have formed a community of domain experts to develop and guide priorities. The team is responsible for curating leading third-party research, as well as producing original content to illustrate and substantiate the tangible link between music and key success metrics. Our analysis is publicly available; it is also shared with our grantees and factors into the evaluation of program delivery. 

 

Interested in the minds behind this effort? Meet our research team!

FEATURED CASE STUDY

Metrics Linking Guitars Over Guns to Broader Social Emotional Learning (SEL)

Improving Capacities and Experiences

The We Are All Music Foundation, in partnership with Hello Insight, recently undertook a case study of one of our Power of Music Grantees – Guitars Over Guns – to showcase how their music mentoring program has helped bring about some striking improvements across key metrics showing progress towards Social and Emotional Learning (SEL).

Photo credit: Isaac Rodriguez

For CORE SEL, 58% of participants showed improvement in this umbrella category.

Core SEL is further broken down into the follow sub-categories:

Contribution

Measures a young person’s desire to engage with and contribute to family, community, and society

of participants reported improvement

Self-Management

Measures the ability of a young person to regulate their emotions and behavior, take positive risks, and persist through life’s challenges

of participants reported improvement

Positive Identity

Measures a young person's internal sense of who they are and confidence to explore the multiple facets of their identities

of participants reported improvement

Academic Self-Efficacy

Measures a young person's motivation and perceived mastery over their own learning, school performance, and potential to attain academic success

of participants reported improvement

Social Skills

Measures the ability of a young person to take others’ perspectives into account, and to develop a sense of caring and empathy

of participants reported improvement

WELCOME TO THE MUSIC IMPACT RESEARCH CENTER

FEATURED ARTICLES

Benefits of Listening To Music

This summary highlights the various ways in which music benefits our physical, mental, and emotional health. It mentions that music has been a part of human culture for over 40,000 years and that it plays a vital role in creating social cohesion and connectedness.
Read More »

The Power of Music to Reduce Stress

The article covers biological ways music relieves stress in the brain, links to a Health Psychology Review article that summarizes a systemic research summary done in 2020. It also outline meditation techniques, music therapy uses, ways music listening can relieve pain, improve focus and ground you. It also notes different music genres and demonstrates how music can foster community and togetherness.
Read More »

Music Education and Social Emotional Learning

Music educators are in a prime position to help students become socially and emotionally competent while at the same time develop excellent musicianship. For every child to be successful in the music classroom, teachers need to be aware of the whole student.
Read More »