Why We Sing: A Celebration of Song

“Why are we compelled to pursue such an apparently useless activity” as singing, asks music therapist Hollander (Chicken Coops for the Soul) in this melodious study. She notes that protohumans’ laryngeal valve primarily served to “support the arm muscles for knuckle-walking or climbing,” but when early hominids began walking upright, the mechanism “became lighter and more flexible,” enabling the subtle manipulation required to sing. Surveying the many benefits and purposes of song, Hollander points out research indicating that primary schoolers better retained information on topics “ranging from the ancient Greeks to the weather” when it was sung to them. Singing can boost health, she contends, citing studies showing the activity enhances short-term memory in dementia patients. Exploring how singing fosters a sense of belonging, the author discusses a study that found subjects who sang together bonded more quickly than those who crafted or wrote fiction in groups. Singing can also energize political protest, which Hollander illustrates by discussing how pop singer Marta Kubišová galvanized a 1989 anticommunist rally in Czechoslovakia with a rendition of a song that had been banned for 20 years. The plentiful research affirms singing’s myriad and sometimes surprising upsides, and Hollander’s personal reflections on how singing allowed her to bond with her intellectually disabled daughter is touching. This stirring celebration of song hits all the right notes. (Sept.)