SING-ALONG: You’ve planned what was supposed to a be a fun family trip, but your little ones are cranky. It’s hot. They don’t want to get in the car. Packing for even just an afternoon trip is a chore. What do you do?

Perhaps engaging the family in a quick sing-along would do more than just annoy the neighbors.

It seems science and film nannies have at least one thing in common: they both believe in the power of music to make people work together.

In the article, “Making Music Dramatically Improves Young Children’s Behavior,” posted by psychologist Dr. Jeremy Dean on “PsyBlog,” he suggests just that.

“The study found that children who’d been making music were more helpful to each other and had better problem-solving skills than those who’d listened to a story,” Dean wrote. The effect was up to 30 times more with music than story time.

The conclusion comes from a study completed in the School of Psychology at the University of West London. In the study, four-year-olds were split into two groups; one group sang and played percussion, and the other quietly listening to a story. “Afterwards the children were given tests of both cooperation and helping behaviour,” Dean wrote.

The article quotes this statement by Rie Davies, then an undergraduate student who was lead author for the study: “This study highlights the need for schools and parents to understand the important role music making has in children’s lives in terms of social bonding and helping behaviours. Music making in class, particularly singing, may encourage pupils with learning differences and emotional difficulties feel less alienated in the school environment.”

Dean’s article can be found at http://www.spring.org.uk/2014/02/making-music-dramatically-improves-young-childrens-behaviour.php.

The article only talked about the impact music has when children are making it themselves, but it does not say if hearing music has a similar impact. We wouldn’t be surprised if it had a similar effect.

We think we might try an experiment of our own around the office and give coworkers commands in a sing-song voice to see if they seem happier to comply. It seems worth a shot.

Music does seem to have a way of spurring us into action. How many people listen to tunes while cleaning or exercising? It might be quicker to count the people who don’t.

Seriously, when Harry Belafonte says to “jump in the line,” who’s not going to obey?