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Category: Project

Description: This OSF project contains the source and supplementary materials for the book "The Power of Music: an exploration of the evidence" (https://bit.ly/3ZIJSpJ). This book was written to provide an update to The power of music: A research synthesis of the impact of actively making music on the intellectual, social and personal development of children and young people. As the evidence was collated, it became clear that much more research had been undertaken since the original book was produced and that that research was focused on a much wider age range with particular expansion in work with older age groups. It was therefore decided to expand the book to include research across the lifespan covering a wider range of issues, particularly those relating to health and wellbeing as these have become more important in the research agenda in recent years. The title referring to an exploration of the research was selected to make it possible to take account of all kinds of research from large scale population studies to single case studies, correlation studies, experiments and evaluations of interventions with a focus on both listening to and actively making and creating music. Some interventions that have several different outcomes are mentioned in more than one chapter. As there has been much controversy recently as to whether music can have any impact, particularly on cognition, it was felt important to include examples of individual research projects for the reader to be able to draw their own conclusions about the impact of music rather than relying on a summary, although an overview is provided at the end of each chapter. This means that the book is not always an easy read. Some of the research is extremely complex and takes time to understand. It is hoped that despite this it will enable the reader to make an informed decision about the power of music in a range of areas across the lifespan.