Music for Healthy Living reports that White Rose College of Arts & Humanities have funded three new collaborative PhD projects designed to perfectly balance research and practice, commencing in September 2023.
‘Singing in balance: tuning and supporting socio-musical dynamics in group singing’ comprises interlinked doctoral projects supervised by a network of academic and partner organisations: Prof. Renee Timmers (University of Sheffield) with Mir Jansen (Arts in Health, Sheffield Teaching Hospitals); Dr Freya Bailes (University of Leeds) with Kate Wareham (Choir with No Name); Prof. Helena Daffern (University of York) with Emma Baylin (Shared Harmonies).
According to Music for Healthy Lives: Recent research has demonstrated that musical experience can have a positive impact on the overall health throughout one’s lifespan. This research has influenced the publication of the All Party Parliamentary Group publication of the Arts and Wellbeing strategy in 2017. Music promotes a sense of belonging, can regulate emotions and engage the brain, increasing social, mental and even physical resilience that can increase the likelihood of living healthy lives. The Music for Healthy Lives Research and Practice Network is committed to providing further evidence to support the existing knowledge in this area, to promote and connect music practitioners to healthcare providers; and to increase cooperation and collaboration between the members of the network.
Their objectives are:
- To connect music and health practitioners to share knowledge and practice
- To unify strengths to amplify the impact of our collective research and practice
- To develop music and wellbeing provision and match this to the health needs of the population
- To identify shared goals and challenges
- To develop meaningful research questions grounded in practice
- To provide opportunities for Continuing Professional Development
We're so grateful and excited to be included in this PHD funding. Put simply, this work means we will be able to take our research a step further, ensure our delivery is what it needs to be and, further examine the impact of our choirs and outreaach singing workshops.
If you want to learn more the Choir with No Name's impact click the link here.