We all know that music makes us feel great. Listening to our favorite tunes can relax us, make us want to dance, evoke pleasurable states of mind, spark our emotions, intensify social bonding, and bring back fond memories. A 2021scholarly REVIEW of literature on the effects of music confirms that what we perceive as good music significantly contributes to psychological well-being. Music exerts various physiological effects on the human body, mediated via the autonomic nervous system (ANS). It can induce changes in heart rate, respiratory rate, blood pressure, electrodermal skin conductivity, muscle tension, and peripheral temperature (Blood and Zatorre, 2001; Ferreri et al., 2019; Salimpoor et al., 2011). Chills evoked by highly pleasurable music are physiological markers of intense ANS activation (Mori and Iwanaga, 2017). Listening to music we love can increase cerebral blood flow, stimulating the brain's reward centers and releasing dopamine, the ultimate feel-good hormone. One STUDY even found that music stimulates opioid release, carrying with it the potential for pain relief.

But what about the feel-good impact of creating music? The physiological, cognitive and emotional impacts mentioned above are even more impressive when one takes part in music-making, themselves. I'm not talking about the job satisfaction you might feel from being a member of the Metropolitan Opera, the Berlin Symphony, or Taylor Swift’s touring band. Just being part of a local community choir, drumming group, or a Friday night line dancing class—where the boot stomps and hand claps are all part of what sounds great to your ears—can make your heart burst with joy.

Music performance requires meticulous motor control where timing, sequence and spatial organization are needed to play an instrument and follow the designs of musical rhythm. My teammate and colleague at Room 217 finds intense joy, satisfaction, and delight playing in local symphonies and orchestras, both professionally and on an amateur level and despite long rehearsal hours and utterly grueling demands, it’s sheer, unparalleled fun for her. Intense work schedules and life responsibilities, don’t stand in the way of an opportunity to play instruments, forge friendships, and have the best Friday night imaginable. It comes down to her and her flute, piccolo or saxophone, and her orchestra mates all being part of something larger, better and connected through making music.

From time immemorial, music has brought people together in ceremonial and spiritual places, for enjoyment, concerts, and performances. This has always required people to come together for the creation and appreciation of music. Before recordings, the only way to experience music was live and usually involved connecting with others. Our primal response to music is one of safety and comfort, from an evolutionary perspective, contributing to our survival. Perhaps it still does. We are experiencing an epidemic of social isolation and loneliness. The era of COVID-19 certainly didn’t help, but it did condone the habit of people retreating into their own spaces after a long day of work, alone with the company of our devices. Even in those dark days of isolation, music served as a tool for connection during the lockdowns of the pandemic as it gave people fanbases and communities to be a part of through social media. Music could unite people even when coming together was forbidden. I’m hoping, however, that the distant call of the drum, with its compelling rhythms, calls people back to come together in music once again.

Being part of a collective is always a soul-affirming experience, but when the effort at hand is music, there is an even more sophisticated level of connection. The acts of keeping a beat and singing in harmony require listening, synchronizing, and interacting subtly and deeply with others. RESEARCH indicates that there is a neurohormonal reaction created with interpersonal synchrony that releases endorphins, another feel-good hormone. This element of purposeful cooperation increases trust and allyship, fundamental factors in the evolutionary success of humankind and the development of social stability.

Oxytocin, the "love drug" that our brains release, is found at higher levels in singers, both professional and amateur. This bonding neuropeptide likely contributes to the bonding experience; no wonder we sing lullabies to our babies at night.

Returning to my days of learning to be a yoga teacher, I was told that singing opened the throat chakra, known as the Vishuddha, the fifth chakra in the body. When we sing, we strengthen our efforts to communicate our feelings, emotions, and thoughts with confidence. Our vocal cords vibrate in our throat when we sing, and these sound vibrations are thought to clear blockages in the throat chakra, easing the way to smoother self-expression. Our voice is an instrument of self-expression and creativity, and an open throat chakra is conducive to reducing stress.



Music has the potential to strengthen bonds in our society, helping us feel connected to our community and all of humanity. As the childhood song aptly tells us, "The more we get together, the happier we'll be." Joining your local choir, guitar or ukulele club, drumming circle, or recorder club could make you happier, create connections, ease your loneliness, give you the excuse for a fun night out, and leave you more fulfilled than you could ever imagine.