I’d like to teach the world to sing

July 15, 2013

“Since ancient times people have invested significant time and effort to create music. Today people spend enormous amounts of time and money to engage with music in all sorts of ways. Music is always around us. It makes our lives complete. Everyone can express one’s emotion with music and everyone is born with one instrument: a voice to sing. So why does music, and especially singing, hold such potentially enormous intrinsic value? And since singing is an innate ability, how does it affect us?

The simple explanation is that music and singing brings a unique pleasure to humans. Of course, that still leaves the question of why. And for that, neuroscience is starting to provide some answers.

Singing is primitive and tribal. Before written language emerged, critical stories were passed on with the oral tradition of song. The Hebrew Torah and the Greek myths of the Iliad and the Odyssey, were all sung long before they were first written down. When we sing, we tap into something that is not only one of the most ancient of human practices, but we also tap into the activity that modern neuroscience is showing to be profoundly healthy.”‘

Tania de Jong AM, Founder and Chair

Click here to read Tania’s full article, or here to read more about the positive benefits of singing.