We are Born to Sing: the benefits of singing with Natasha Hendry and Yoon Irons

There are many things that make this time of year special, one of which is music - whether that is carols or corny Christmas songs, they can prompt memories and get us together to sing as a community in ways that we simply don’t at any other time of year. But there is strong evidence to suggest that singing has physiological, psychological and social benefits and we should not just relegate community singing to Christmas.  Today I am speaking to two psychologists who believe that schools can and should be a place where singing is embraced everyday - Dr Yoon Irons and Natasha Hendry.   Links from this week’s episode: Sing Up: https://www.singup.org/ You are the Music by Victoria Williamson Why we sing by Julia Hollander Singing by Yoon Irons and Grenville Hancox Links to Natasha’s research can be found here: Hendry, Natasha (2023), ‘Fitting in and sticking out: An exploratory study of the Whiteness of the school music curriculum and its effects on Global Majority musicians’, Journal of Popular Music Education, 7:1, pp. 25–45, https://doi.org/10.1386/jpme_00107_1 Hendry, N., Lynam, D. S., & Lafarge, C. (2022). Singing for wellbeing: formulating a model for community group singing interventions. Qualitative Health Research, 32(8-9), 1399-1414. https://doi.org/10.1177/10497323221104718