I recently joined a choir – a friendly and inclusive community choir, with no humiliating auditions thankfully! This week, we’ve been performing together at various concerts and I’ve been struck by the boost it’s given me. So, of course I’ve been looking into the physiology and psychology of it!
I love this article by Jacques Launay at the University of Oxford – here are some of main insights:
Body and mind – findings
➡ Singing particularly benefits breathing, posture and muscle tension
➡ Listening to, and participating, in music can be effective in pain relief
➡ Music can help sustain a healthy immune system
➡ Learning new songs is cognitively stimulating and helps their memory
➡ Satisfaction of performing together activates the brain’s reward system
Healing rituals have been common across cultures since time began, for good reason it seems.
Psychology – findings
🔆 Singing improves our sense of happiness and wellbeing
🔆 People feel more positive after actively singing than listening to music
🔆 Being part of a cohesive group is a basic human need
🔆 A good social network, for example, can have more health benefits than giving up smoking.
The growth of community choirs suggests that we are returning to the origins of communal musical behaviour.
Did you know an incredible 2.8m Britons are now members of a choir – are you?
Fulfilling work 