Music Is Important for Your Health

The other day I sat in Betelkyrkan in the heart of central Örebro.

It was the venerable Betelkören , founded in 1868 and one of the country’s oldest church choirs, that together with the somewhat younger choir Capella Nova performed Martin Åsander’s mass “I evig tid” (In Eternal Time) under the direction of Kersti Esselwall Smårs.

Kersti and I were classmates at Örebro School of Music once upon a time and we share both music and faith. It is always wonderful to both talk and make music with Kersti. I am so glad that she now leads a couple of the choirs at Betelkyrkan.

The string quartet Just Us, augmented with grand piano, flute and double bass, played both with the choir and in instrumental sections. It was refined and sounded beautiful, especially since Erik Harrström was the sound engineer — a man with a feel for the combination of technology and music that made the concert enjoyable for sensitive ears.

Hearts That Synchronise

Music and especially choir singing contributes to better health. There are many studies on this.

One of the most fascinating comes from researcher Björn Vickhoff at the Sahlgrenska Academy in Gothenburg. He has shown that when people sing in a choir their heart rhythms synchronise .

Pulses rise and fall in the same rhythm. This is because singing controls breathing, and breathing in turn activates the vagus nerve which slows the heart.

The effect resembles that achieved by breathing exercises in yoga.

But it doesn’t stop there. Choir singing releases oxytocin, the body’s own calm-and-connection hormone. It dampens anxiety and worry and strengthens the sense of belonging. The stress hormone cortisol decreases. The immune system is strengthened.

Research at Uppsala University (Grape, Wikström, Ekman & Theorell, 2010) shows that choir singing can increase testosterone, which positively affects cellular regeneration, and reduce fibrinogen in the blood, lowering the risk of blood clots.

Choir singing is medicine. Without side effects. Without a prescription. Without cost.

A Singing Mother and a Children’s Choir

So many times throughout my own life I have seen how the power of music gives people a better life.

For me it started early. A singing mother who was also involved in starting “Unga röster” (Young Voices) in Stora Mellösa. A children’s choir where I both sang and later played drums.

Choir Singing Can Also Be Life-Threatening!

I especially remember that time when we were going to sing at the Sunday school closing ceremony at the summer retreat Hästhagen down by Lake Hjälmaren.

Dad Flore was driving around as usual picking up children who were to join us in our minibus. This time we were going slowly with the side door open.

Yes, it was of course illegal but it was fun!

Until we arrived at the church.

Because when Dad was slowing the bus down I thought I could jump out and sort of run alongside the bus for the last stretch.

It was a disaster!

I realised the bus was going a bit fast and that I wouldn’t be able to run that quickly straight away, so I grabbed the seatbelt from the driver’s seat. It was loose since no one wore seatbelts back then.

I jumped out and was going to start running. But it was impossible. Not even Carl Lewis could have run at that speed.

So I ended up hanging and swinging, clinging desperately to the seatbelt. Dad noticed nothing.

The children were shouting with delight in the bus, perhaps a bit louder now that I was flailing like a rag doll outside the vehicle. But Dad didn’t pick up on this.

I became a bit scared because I could feel I wouldn’t be able to hold on to the seatbelt until we arrived. One moment I was completely free out on the street, the next I was completely under the bus. Back and forth I went.

I realised at that moment that I had to try to let go when I was on the outside of the bus so I wouldn’t be run over.

Slowly the seatbelt slipped from my hands and there was no stopping it now. I planned my release over a few milliseconds and then let the seatbelt slide from my hands.

Bump!

My own father ran over me! Oh how it hurt.

But fortunately I had almost escaped so it was only my right calf that ended up under the bus. Of course Dad was devastated when he realised what the bus had run over.

At that Sunday school party I had to play the bass drum with my left foot. My right calf had swollen up and couldn’t be used, but the leg held. No major damage done, then.

Rock Poet with a Thousand Voices

I have been conducting choirs since 1987, but already in the early 1980s I was with Ingemar Olsson on his tours and helped with the preparation of the concert “Rockpoet med tusen röster” (Rock Poet with a Thousand Voices) around the country.

They were often large productions with many young people in the choirs and sometimes local musicians, where my role was to teach them to back Ingemar’s songs. I was young and it was of course exciting and such fun!

My years with Ingemar have actually shaped large parts of my whole life.

Why This Matters

In a time when we talk a lot about mental health, screen time and young people’s wellbeing, there is one thing that research is unusually united on: music makes us healthier. Choir singing in particular.

Betelkören has been singing for 158 years. My hope is that it continues for at least as long, or why not until the end of time?

You need a choir to sing in. Science says so and I say so. In Örebro there are many different choirs at different levels, and if you want to try what it is like to sing under my direction, you are welcome to get in touch.

The choir Gott och Blandat (Good and Mixed), which I have been leading since 2012, sings in multiple parts for female voices. But whatever choir you choose, make sure to choose one that suits you.

Let your voice become part of something greater.

Let your heart beat in time with others as you grow as a choir singer and as a person.