SING FOR JOY

How to sing for joy

Start your day by belting out a tune, why don’t you? It’s free, it’s fun, and you don’t even have to be good at it to reap wellbeing benefits for mind and body4 . Grab a hairbrush and let’s go!

WORDS GEMMA ASKHAM

Wherever your singing stage of choice – living room, car, or reluctant workplace renditions of Happy Birthday – health experts want to hear your vocal range more o en. ‘Singing is a brilliant holistic health tool that’s o en overlooked; an “ unsung ” hero, if you will,’ says vocal coach and composer Emma Trow, who runs a beginner-friendly choir on Goldster, a digital platform of learning classes to bene t mind and body. ‘The group experience of singing instantly connects you to others’ – a unity you’ll know from rowdy sing-a-longs on football terraces and wedding dance oors. ‘But even singing in the shower is a wonderful, cathartic way to release stress and bring calm and joy – something that’s particularly needed when the world feels heavy.’ Yes, your school choir teacher really was onto something when they told you o for miming at the back.

Tune into benefits

If you’re wondering how singing cando so much good – even when it involves your slightly questionable version of Adele’s Someone Like You – the key is to think beyond the mouth. Singing is what Professor Sarah Wilson, a music neuroscientist at the University ofMelbourne in Australia, calls a ‘whole-brain activity1’. Imagine you hear a song. First, to identify the track, your brain’s sound-processing system switches on. Maybe you last heard it at a beach bar on holiday – now your visual system res up, mentally whisking you back there. Head nodding? That’s your motor system connected; the boss of your body’s dance moves. By the time you start singing, you’ve already activated your brain’s language department (to form the words), the memory and planning system (so you’re poised for the next note) and your emotional network, especially if the song is a favourite. If you get chills or goosebumps mid-croon, that’s a physical sign that a shot of mood-elevating dopamine has been released. Together, all these processes are like taking your grey matter for a gym session, which is what links singing to improved concentration, memory recall and speaking skills, reduced depression, lowered stress, and a renewed zest for life. Talk about hitting the right note.

Did I hear ‘encore’?

Actually, yes, because singing boosts physical health, too. Take illness prevention. One study measured the immune system activity of a choir and found that levels of an antibody called immunoglobulin A increased by 150% during rehearsals and 240% when performing2 – proof that you really could sing a cold away.

Secondly, the unique breathwork involved in singing – where you take a really deep breath and slowly

“It is a joy to see the positive impact that singing can have on individuals. Both series of Our Dementia Choir show that music truly has a transformative effect on people, especially those living with dementia”

Vicky McClure

Our Dementia Choir is available to watch on BBC iPlayer

YOUR VOCAL CORD CARE PLAN

Emma Trow, vocal coach at Goldster Choir

KEEP UP HYDRATION

‘The only way to hydrate the voice is by drinking water, but it takes four hours to benefit your vocal cords. If you’re singing at 7pm, take small sips regularly from at least 3pm.’ Recommended: Keep a water bottle next to you at all times as a prompt.

EAT FIRST

‘Some singers swear by certain foods, but the biggest e ect of eating is to give your vocal system a “workout”. The movements involved in eating open and close the vocal cords, tilt and untilt the thyroid cartilage and massage the tongue and jaw. This helps shape your singing noises, including vibrato and twang.’

BE IN-TUNE TO TEMPERATURE

‘Warm or room temperature drinks keep the mucus that naturally coats your cords and larynx loose, which means the larynx is more mobile to reach high and low notes.’ Recommended: Try drinking herbal teas such as peppermint or fennel.

YOU CAN SING!

Musician James Sills on how to overcome common barriers

“Singing really is worth making a song and dance about”

release it during long lyrics – tones lungs and increases oxygen ow around the body. In fact, singing is so good for lung health that ENO Breathe (eno.org/breathe) – an online workshop developed by English National Opera and Imperial College Healthcare – helps long-Covid su erers to re-train their breathing using singing techniques.

Sing your own tune

Science done, it’s practice time. The British Academy of Sound Therapy surveyed 7,500 people and found that listening to music for 14 minutes – and singing along for ve – was all that’s needed to upli your mood. As with exercise, experts agree that the more you sing, the more you ex your singing brain network, and the better the physiological results – particularly if you sing with others3, which releases oxytocin, the warm-andfuzzy bonding chemical. A study in Psychology of Music found that the special social bond between choir members was even more meaningful than that between teammates in sport.

To nd a singing group, Big Big Sing (bigbigsing.org) and British Choirs on the Net (choirs. org.uk) list thousands across the UK, while Tuneless Choir (tunelesschoir.com) is a great starting point if you don’t want your (lack of) vocal talent to face Simon Cowell-esque critique. Tuneless Choir’s online arm – Virtually Tuneless – meets weekly over Zoom. Singers follow on-screen lyrics and sing while muted to banish blushes. Digital classes such as Singeo and 30-Day Singer will also ground you in the basics, such as breath control or how to pronounce vowels.

So, next time you nd yourself silently nodding along to a tune, consider unleashing your lungs. For many wellbeing bene ts4, singing really is worth making a song and dance about it.

I’ve been told I can’t sing

If our voice is criticised, we feel personally criticised – but in most cases, someone saying, for example, ‘You’re tone deaf’ simply means “out of practice”. Actual tone deafness, or “amusia”, is a condition where sound-processing di culties mean that music will sound like a jumble to su erers. If you can derive pleasure from listening to music, you can sing in tune. Choose songs that are ‘singable’. Pick songs with a small range of notes – songs you sang at school, nursery rhymes, folk music.

I don’t have any confidence

I see people transform within a few rehearsals. When an unsure singer reconnects to their voice and gains confidence, they will hold themselves better, stand taller and smile more.

I only sing after a few drinks

Incorporate singing into your everyday life, whether singing at home with your children, at a concert or joining a choir. Instead of being scared, reframe singing as a skill to develop, refine and, most of all, enjoy.

• James Sills is an author and founder of The Sofa Singers (thesofasingers.com), a twiceweekly online singing event that welcomes all voices. See james-sills.com.