Vocal Arts alumna studies relationship between rhythm skills and language development

USC Thornton Vocal Arts alumna Dr. Reyna Gordon (’01) has been awarded a National Institutes of Health (NIH) National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD) grant to study the relationship between rhythm skills and language development. Gordon, a Research Assistant Professor in the Department of Otolaryngology and at the Vanderbilt Kennedy Center, has conducted research around music education, childhood development, musicality and language and founded the university’s Music Cognition Lab. She notes that her study is the first of its kind to draw a clear link between musical rhythm and grammar.