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Psychologist urges: sing for your health by Bill Bowder

CHORAL singing is good for health, a Swedish psychologist has reported, after conducting research into the long tradition of choral music in Sweden.

The psychologist, Dr Maria Sandren, from the University of Stockholm, will be presenting her findings at a seminar in Canterbury Christ Church University’s new centre in Folkestone on 29 April.


Sweden is a good place to study the effects of choral singing because one in five Swedes sing in a choir, she said. “Results indicated that choral singing had strong effects on the well-being, in that positive emotions increased significantly, and, in turn, negative emotions radically subsided. Choral singers, particularly women, are happier, more alert and relaxed after a rehearsal.”


Much less was known, however, about how the content of songs affected the singers’ health, Professor Stephen Clift, the director of the research centre that organised the seminar, said last week. But there was anecdotal evidence: at a recent performance at the university of Verdi’s Gloria and Rutter’s Requiem “a number of singers referred to the religious character of the music and the impact it had on them.”