3 ways group singing connects people to the nonclinical factors that are key to health and wellbeing
April marked the end of The Art & Science of Singing Together, the speaker series SingWell has been thrilled to host with Choral Canada over the past six months. This series brought together SingWell researchers and group singing leaders and participants to explore the profound impacts singing with others can have on wellbeing and communication.
As we look back on these conversations, one of the themes that stands out is the often unexpected ways group singing has improved people’s health and quality of life. Most of us aren’t used to thinking of singing as a healthcare intervention. And for people living with lung disease, Parkinson’s, aphasia, hearing loss, or other challenges that impact communication function, singing isn’t yet a standard item on the menu of therapeutic interventions.
SingWell is working to change that, guided by research from within and beyond our network that has demonstrated the positive biopsychosocial impacts of singing with others. Here, we want to share some words directly from group singing participants who took part in our speaker series on how group singing has improved their health and wellbeing –– a testament to the potential group singing holds to strengthen social prescribing practices in Canada.
Depression, anxiety, internalized stigma and diminished self-esteem often accompany persistent health conditions and communication disorders. But when people come together in song and use their voice, they often experience improvements in these areas, as Julia and Christiane describe:
“It’s a lifeline that brings confidence, purpose, and a sense of belonging… When we sing, it’s as if all our worries fade away. It’s where we find peace, stand as one, and leave our troubles behind.”
– JULIA (member of the SingAble community inclusion choir)
“I learned that I can do so much more than I thought. I had given up on so many things in life … I think that at one point when I was very, very depressed and all that, I went to see my doctor and I finally asked for help because I was in that dark place. And I asked other people online, ‘Is anybody on anti-depressants?’ We were eight online at the time, and four of us were using those. So you know, when you get diagnosed, you don’t anticipate all that. And now I find that I have made so much progress. I’m living again. I’m living again … It makes you feel like you took a little bit of control over something that you don’t control –– the disease –– but you’re helping yourself and you’re doing stuff that is positive for it.”– CHRISTIANE (member of the Respire Choeur choir for lung health)
Research has shown that synchronized movement, like dance or song, can rapidly foster a sense of unity, trust, cooperation and connection among strangers. Group singing participants describe not only the deep bonding that takes place within the group, but also how participation can prompt connection beyond group sessions, like going for lunch with a fellow participant before a session or simply getting out of the house and being around other people.
“Music has a way of bringing us closer, breaking down barriers, and reminding us that we all have a voice worth hearing … When we sing, we are a team. We help each other … I call it my SingAble family because that’s what it feels like.”
– JULIA
“Finding this choir made my life easier. I talk more, I get out more, I don’t isolate myself.”
– BRIAN (member of choir for people living with aphasia)
“A side benefit of the choir is that it gave me ‘me time’ on the subway. Down and back on the way to [TMU], I people-watched, I daydreamed, and near the end of the course I used the time to write a song of tribute to the choir leaders… and to the participants. We sang it at the final party. We had a blast doing it. We had become a very close-knit group.”
– BARBARA (member of choir for people with hearing loss)
The activity of group singing has a network of complex social, emotional, physiological and biological processes underpinning it –– offering multiple pathways to get at challenges, which can complement the work being done through other established practices. And for many, the fun, accessible nature of group singing makes them feel more motivated and able to participate. For example, cognitive exercises can be incorporated into song, making them feel more like play than homework; people living in remote areas can participate in group singing over Zoom.
“The social communication, that enjoyment, boosting someone’s confidence –– those are all directly impacting how well someone can communicate. So although communication is the number one thing I’m working on as a speech-language pathologist, I feel like finding that hope, finding that connection and enjoyment of life together is what fosters that.”
– NICOLE GALLEGOS (Speech-Language Pathologist)
One aspect that fascinated me was around one song with a rhythm I just couldn’t seem to get. I asked if I could stand behind the singers and Sina said yes, so I did. And I moved to the rhythm. It was complicated for me, but dancing seemed to make it okay. Maybe it was because I could feel the rhythm more than hear it. Maybe it’s because I dance easily. Whatever it was, the option to dance helped significantly for me.
– BARBARA
“It’s nice because it enables anybody to do it, whatever stage of the disease you’re at. There’s some people that sing with the oxygen tube in their nose … It’s too bad for me that it’s a two hour go to, two hour come back drive, because I would do it more often for sure. But I’m so grateful that I can do it, that we’re in a stage of life where Zoom is very available and we can share and do things like that. So even when I’m not feeling that good, when it’s cold outside, when there’s snow, we’re still there, they’re still there every Friday.”
– CHRISTIANE
The experiences of these group singing participants demonstrate what Canada’s growing social prescribing movement continues to make clear: While it can be helpful to study social, emotional, physiological and biological processes separately, these aspects of personhood are never separate in people’s day-to-day lives.
Group singing demonstrates how positive outcomes across these domains go hand-in-hand –– outcomes that, as SingWell research partner Dr. Gunter Kreutz noted in our speaker series session on lung health, speak for themselves:
“I was equipped with a bunch of studies showing the benefits of singing for health into a doctor’s office –– a head doctor –– and I said, ‘I think a singing group would be a good idea.’ And before I could present all my evidence, she said ‘It’s a good idea. We should go ahead and do it.'”
– DR. GUNTER KREUTZ, distinguished musicologist at Carl von Ossietzky University and SingWell Research Theme leader on Breathing Disorders
Ⓒ 2020-2025, The SingWell Project