For the past two decades, there has been serious academic interest in the power of music, and of choral singing in particular, to benefit your mind and body – so much so that the University of Leeds offers an MA in Music and Wellbeing, exploring in more depth the relationship between engaging with music and the positive effects on health and happiness. Dr Freya Bailes, who leads the MA, explains that “Singing with others contributes to positive mood, is engaging, promotes relationships with others, is experienced as meaningful, and can afford a strong sense of accomplishment.”
A significant body of evidence from institutions as august as the University of Oxford points to the positive health and wellbeing benefits associated with group singing, and Opera North summed these up in an article published in 2023:
Singing builds a sense of community – Recent research has shown that the sense of self-other merging we experience by synchronizing our voices with others is a great way to fast-track social bonding.
Singing boosts your confidence – singing in a group can help boost your confidence and fire up your self-esteem – and the more you do it, the more confident you’ll feel. Good posture is also a key factor in hitting the high notes, so you’ll find you’re naturally standing taller by the end.
Singing makes you feel better – it releases endorphins, serotonin and dopamine – the ‘happy’ chemicals that boost your mood and make you feel good about yourself.
Singing helps you beat stress and relax – breathing properly and with more awareness is good for releasing anxiety and helping us transition to a state of rest and relaxation.
Singing helps improve memory – Singing can help improve mental alertness, memory and concentration as it involves focusing on multiple things at once, engaging many areas of the brain in the process.
Singing enhances lung function – The way singing requires you to breathe makes you use your lungs to their full capacity, increasing your lung capacity as well as engaging the muscles around the ribcage.
Our members agree! When we interviewed some of our members at the start of our last season, Mary eloquently explained why choral singing is so important to her:
“I love the abandonment of an evening with the choir, whether it’s a performance or just rehearsing. You’re completely taken up with this experience, with people all around you, singing alongside. It’s wonderful, I love it.”
Elisabeth agreed:
“It’s mostly just the sound of it – [singing] sounds so much better when you’re able to be a part of [a group] – it just sounds wonderful.”
We’ll be starting rehearsals for our next concert in September. It’ll include beautiful music themed around Remembrance – Duruflé’s Requiem and works by Howells, Tavener, MacMillan and Harris. “It’s lovely to look at the new repertoire”, said Mary. “Some bits are familiar but there’s always some new stuff.” Sometimes there’s something a little bit difficult – but “You’ve always got people around who are very supportive”, she explains.
If you’d like to join us in September, why not get in touch? For more information please contact us by emailing Jessica at secretary@fcchoir.co.uk or by filling in the contact form on the Join Us page.