In 2015 a research team from the Royal College of Music’s Centre for Performance Science gathered data from a concert of music by Eric Whitacre.
The team asked how singing affected the health and well-being of the musicians and the audience. They found:
• Stress hormones (cortisol and cortisone) decreased in audience members watching a concert.
• Watching a concert also led to reduced negative mood states (afraid, tense, confused, sad, anxious and stressed) and increased positive mood states (relaxed and connected).
• Singing in a low-stress situation (a rehearsal, for example) reduced levels of cortisol and cortisone and didn’t affect anxiety, but doing so in a high-street situation (like a concert) increased both stress hormone levels and anxiety.
• Overall, the act of singing reduced the cortisol-cortisone ratio, implying that regardless of how stressed people feel, singing has an inherently relaxing effect.
You can read the full study here
http://www.classicalmpr.org/story/2015/08/18/health-benefits-of-singing–and-listening-to-singing
To improve your health and wellbeing improved NOW you can watch Eric Whitacre’s LUX a virtual choir project put together in 2010.
AND come to Sing Together in Mohill on Wednesday afternoons, Ballinamore on Wednesday evening, Manorhamilton on Monday evenings or Carrick on Shannon on Thursday evenings.