It is dark in this beat-up bar, with bartenders buzzing around busily as the restless standing-room-only crowd shouts demands for the night’s band to appear. The group makes its entrance, waving and pointing at friends, laughing at the happily uproarious response, and launching into the first song of its set.
At least, that’s what was supposed to happen this past Saturday night, when my vocal band was scheduled to perform at a popular music venue. But coronavirus has shuttered the bar—and dashed any hopes for a typical concert experience, there or anywhere else—for the foreseeable future.
Of all the losses a person can experience during the pandemic, music is, of course, not the worst. But for me, singing has been a saving grace ever since I performed the oddly mature song “The Rose” in a second-grade showcase. When I’m depressed, music is one of my medicines. And performing it provides a high unlike any I’ve ever experienced.
Research backs this up. Using music to soothe the soul is a strategy that’s supported by science, with studies showing that listening to songs can reduce your heart rate, blood pressure, and anxiety, and distract your body from pain. Singing can release oxytocin, also known as “the cuddle hormone,” and dopamine, which helps control the brain’s reward and pleasure centers.
“Research shows that music helps us cope, allowing us to express and understand our feelings and explore what that feels like,” says Carly Caprioli, a licensed creative arts therapist and board-certified music therapist in the child life and creative arts therapies at Northwell Health Cohen Children’s Medical Center. “Especially now, with all the trauma that everyone is experiencing, music is something that allows us to become aware of our emotional responses, feel those emotions entirely, and then support us as we work through it.”
“There are physiological responses as well,” she says. “When we listen to a piece of music, sometimes our respiratory rate matches the rhythm of the music, and that could assist in promoting relaxation or pain management.”
Humans have looked to music for solace, diversion, and therapeutic relief for centuries, with historians noting its use in ancient Egypt and Greece and during the bubonic plague that struck Europe from 1348 to 1350. As author Remi Chiu writes in his 2017 book, Plague and Music in the Renaissance, pious and fearful people in Milan stayed away from church, opting instead to sing through open windows and doors—their harmonies serving as a reminder that order can come from chaos, and that better days might lie ahead.
“Music is such an easily accessible and consistent resource; it is available no matter where you are or when in time you are,” Caprioli says. “It is a way for people to express themselves completely and maintain a sense of normalcy. Music is a part of the human experience. It’s a way for us all to come together as a community and connect, even if we can’t be face to face.”
Even for children, music has been used as a means of understanding and coping. Music therapy research supports that children experience significant benefits from music, Caprioli says. It has been shown to stimulate children’s senses, improve their cognitive functioning, teach them important lessons, and help them make sense of challenging situations.
“How did they learn how long to wash their hands during the pandemic? By singing ‘Happy Birthday’ twice through,” she says. “If there is a particular song or lyrical phrase/mantra a child uses to help calm themselves down or learn a new skill, the child will be able to associate the feeling/skill to that particular song. It gives them the opportunity to develop a new coping strategy, which will help them in the future.”
Caprioli is such a proponent of music as therapy that she and a colleague created a weekly group singalong in the Medical Center’s 5,000-square-foot, glass-topped atrium. Every Friday at noon, hospital staff, including nurses, doctors, physical therapists, security officers, and environmental service workers gather—in a socially distanced circle—to perform renditions of songs such as: “Don’t Stop,” by Fleetwood Mac; “Lean on Me,” by Bill Withers; “Hero,” by Mariah Carey; and “You’ve Got a Friend,” by James Taylor.
“Even if it’s just five or 10 minutes of someone’s day, it’s giving that individual a break, or an opportunity to sing and relieve any stress or tension,” Caprioli says.
The hospital’s ritual is just one example of how people around the world are turning to music as a refuge and a tool to help them cope, communicate, and create community during these uncertain times. They’re leaning out of windows to sing to their neighbors, holding virtual concerts, parodying popular songs, and singing and dancing during protests.
My band put together a parody video of “Wait for It,” from the “Hamilton” soundtrack, with lyrics focusing on the funny and not-so-funny sides of a socially isolated existence. We couldn’t sing in the same room (doing so in a group is seen as one of the most effective ways of spreading the virus), so we each recorded our parts at home. Having the opportunity to sing aloud, and to hear my voice joined with those of my bandmates, proved to be very meaningful and fun at a time when fun was in short supply.
We’re now planning a socially distanced, outdoor show for my neighbors, who will be sitting 6 feet apart and likely wearing masks. It may not be quite as raucous a show as the one we’d planned in that bar, but I’m grateful I can still make music. It has the power to pull me out of a sweatpants-clad funk, distract me from a day’s terrible news (or pay tribute to it), and connect me to people I’m not allowed to hug right now.
