Dr Anita Collins

Elective session

The Flexible Brain: How music learning builds cognitive diversity and capacity for social connection

Our brains are designed to detect difference, but not always to welcome it. Without the right experiences, unfamiliar ideas, people, and environments can trigger discomfort or even threat responses. The good news is that the brain is adaptable.

This workshop explores how music learning rewires the brain to approach difference with curiosity rather than fear. Through the complex demands of learning music, listening deeply, coordinating with others, managing mistakes, and navigating uncertainty, learners develop cognitive flexibility, empathy, and emotional regulation. In effect, they practise being productively uncomfortable.

Drawing on neuromusical research, we will examine how music learning strengthens the neural systems that support social cohesion and perspective taking. Participants will leave with practical strategies, including designing structured challenge, normalising error as learning, using ensemble processes to build belonging, and creating environments where difference is experienced as growth rather than threat.

Presenter

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Dr Anita Collins

Dr Anita Collins

Music in Me Summit presenter

Dr. Anita Collins is a neuromusical educator and leading authority on how learning music strengthens cognitive development and drives measurable improvements in learning performance. She translates the latest neuroscience into practical insights that show how music learning enhances multiple areas of brain development, including literacy, self regulation, academic achievement, and long term cognitive growth.

Anita is the author of The Music Advantage and the founder of Bigger Better Brains, a global initiative that helps educators, parents, and system leaders understand the cognitive benefits of music learning. Her work focuses on research translation that supports systems change at every level, helping schools, education systems, and countries design and sustain high quality music learning programs that reliably improve student outcomes.

Her work is recognised across Australia, the US, the UK, Canada, and Ireland. Known for her clear and engaging communication across television, writing, and speaking, including her TED Ed lesson, TEDx talk, and her role in ABC’s Don’t Stop the Music, Anita works internationally through consulting, coaching, presentations, and collaborative partnerships to equip educators and organisations with evidence based tools that strengthen learning and performance.

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About Bigger Better Brains

The vision of Bigger Better Brains is to equip music educators around the world with the knowledge and materials to advocate for music education in an entirely new way.​

​We now know that learning music is a powerful tool for brain development. But how do we help our communities to understand this complex science? We do what we do best – we educate; first ourselves and then our communities.