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Background: Choir singing is an activity that engages individuals all over the world with a broad demographic representation. Both qualitative and quantitative studies have examined the benefits of the activity but very few have examined the effects when someone loses access to it and stops singing.

Objectives: Examining the governmental and organisational responses precipitated by the COVID-19 pandemic, we asked what happens when a choir singer loses all of their routines associated with regular participation in choir singing.

Materials and Methods: One national choir organization in Sweden (n = 3163) and one in Norway (n = 1881) were approached with a short survey. This comprised questions relating to the issue “what do you as a choir singer misses the most?” Each participant was asked to rate the importance of a number of elements that pertain to the experience of choir singing.

Results: The social aspect of singing emerged as having the strongest weight in terms of perceived loss that is, it was the element that the participants missed the most. Professional singers report that they miss the aesthetic experiences, flow, and all the physical aspects (physical training, voice training, and breathing training) to a greater degree as compared to reports from the amateurs. The importance of aesthetic experiences and physical components appeared to rise with increasing number of years that an individual had engaged with choir singing.

Conclusion: In the Scandinavian setting, the social aspect has a stronger weight than the other components and this seemed to be more significant in Norway compared to Sweden.

The purpose of the study is to explore a new research methodology that will improve our understanding of "flow" through indicators of physiological and qualitative state. We examine indicators of ‘flow’ experienced by musicians of a youth string quartet, two women (25, 29), and two men (23, 24). Electrocardiogram (ECG) equipment was used to record heart rate variability (HRV) data throughout the four movements in one and the same quartet performed during two concerts. Individual physiological indicators of flow were supplemented by assessments of group ‘state flow’ (means from  standardized questionnaires) and a group interview in which the musicians provided qualitative data. A matrix was constructed for the characterization of different kinds of demands in the written music in each one of the four movements for each one of the musicians. HRV derived from ECG data showed non-significant trends for group state flow across the eight musical episodes. Individual-level analysis showed that compared to the other players the first violin player had the highest mean heart rate and the lowest increase in High Frequency power (HF) in HRV during this particular movement, particularly during the second concert. The qualitative data illustrated how an interplay of synchronised social interactions between this player and their colleagues during the musical performance was associated with a feeling of group state flow and served to support the first violinist. The case illustrates that the proposed mixed methodology drawing on physiological and qualitative data, has the potential to provide meaningful information about experiences of a flow state, both at individual and group level. Applications in future research are possible.

Both singing and playing instruments in a group have been described in narratives as activities that increase cohesiveness. It has been speculated that music making is at the core of cultural activities in the history of humans. Music, dance and religious rituals including visual arts may have arisen because it was necessary to create strong and reliable bonds in a group, and such activities were effective for achieving this goal. This may even have increased chances of survival in life-threatening environments and this may still be true.  According to our study of the Swedish Twin Registry, there is a clear relationship between total number of music practice hours in life (particularly ensemble practice) and ability to handle emotions. In monozygotic twins who are within-pair discordant with regard to piano-playing (one twin has practiced piano extensively and the other not) it has been shown that the size of the corpus callosum, the bridge between the right and the left hemispheres, is larger in the playing twin. Since corpus callosum is important not only for coordination of muscles in the right and left halves of the body but also for emotional skill this is of particular importance – music training may stimulate parts of the brain that govern emotion handling. During performance, strong group interactions can occur both within a music ensemble and between the ensemble and the audience. In our group we have an ongoing project MUSETHICA that examines biological, psychological and social processes when one ensemble plays the same piece in front of different audiences. Accordingly, the audience reaction is studied by means of visual analogue scales, group flow in the ensemble by means of a standardized questionnaire (flow synchronization scale) and heart rate variability on line (for the assessment of sympathetic and parasympathetic balance) during the concerts in all the members of the ensemble. Qualitative interview data focusing on perceived performance quality, group flow and support are collected. Results from a feasibility study will be presented. A string quartet whose young members are going through the advanced training program MUSETHICA for chamber music is performing the same quartet (Haydn opus 76 number 2, D minor) on two occasions the same day with two different audiences of school children aged 13-15. Despite the small size of the study sample the analyses of heart rate variability show that there was a borderline significant variability across the different movements on the two occasions with regard to parasympathetic (high frequency power) and sympathetic (heart rate) activity – with evidence of low sympathetic and high parasympathetic activity during the second occasion during the playing of movement 2. The children showed more uniform reactions on the second occasion according to VAS ratings. The feasibility study shows that it is practically possible to study these complex interactions and that the joint methodology has the potential of showing interesting processes related to group playing. 

Purpose: Interest in the health relevance of music has been growing rapidly, yet few studies have addressed the protective role of music for music professionals themselves. In the current study, we investigated music professionals’ (music teachers, music therapists, musicians and academics) health, particularly their uses of music as a resource for their psychological health.

Design: An online survey (N = 504) for music professionals was conducted across four Nordic countries. Participants responded to questions on music as a resource for psychological health and assessed their general levels of health and health behaviors. Their self-reported health was compared to similar prior data from the general Danish population (N = 14,022).

Findings: Music professionals demonstrated high levels of self-reported health and health behaviors and approved of the idea of music as a resource for their psychological health. The most important psychological function of music for them was that music provided affective experiences. Music also provided feelings of belonging and supported mood regulation, but did not really offer relaxation or help to concentrate. Music teachers and therapists reported significantly higher use of music as a personal resource for psychological health than musicians and academics.

Value: The results provide new insights into music playing a dual role – professional and personal resource – for different types of music professionals. The findings have relevance for how to address music in the training of musicians and create grounds for dialogue about the role of music for music professionals in comparison to laymen.

BACKGROUND: There has been insufficient study about how academic working life of researchers can be supported. 

OBJECTIVE: We examine the use of a nature and art-related activity retreat designed for researchers. The purpose was to evaluate if and how researchers perceived different workshop experiences set in nature as meaningful and important with regards to their self-care. 

METHODS: A mixed group of six researchers from Sweden, Finland, and the United States met for a three-day retreat consisting of self-selected nature and art-related activities. From data constituted from participant reflections, a focus group interview, a three months follow-up questionnaire, and an analysis of the workshops undertaken; three major themes were identified: “Sharing and connection”, “Embodiment” and “Nature”.

RESULTS: Analysis of the workshop-style exercises did not show significant variance in reported meaningfulness and usefulness related to the activity itself. However, there was a strong correlation between perceived value and shared experience where the sharing of the natural space was felt to put humanity in perspective. 

CONCLUSION: Organizing and systematizing health preventive retreats for researchers in academia may be an important part of the sustainabile academic community in which the researcher needs to be better taken care of in a more embodied way. Although this study was conducted prior to COVID-19, such retreats and potentially also on-line versions) could be useful for managing through the pandemic and afterwards, in our new “normal”.

Out of our bodies means out of our minds. The way we perceive and make sense of the world is a function not only of our brain's cognitive function but also of our sensory and motor functions as well. The term embodiment is used to describe the ways in which cognition has its basis in the physical body, and the definition is built up from a theoretical focus according to Niedenthal et al (2005) on the brain´s modality-specific systems that are constituted by, first, the sensory systems, which regulates perception of a current situation, and second, the motor systems, which make action possible, and finally the introspective systems, which govern cognitive operations and conscious experiences of emotion. The Arts incorporate these three systems, and currently there is a growing interest in how different artistic activities i.e. music and dance can enhance empathy and compassion in working environments, where wellbeing and successful leadership can grow. From systematic reviews, we know that we need more specific organisational interventions targeting psychosocial factors building on psychosomatic theory and more likely, these interventions should be grounded in the physical body (embodied) and linked to compassion to be able to better protect emotional exhaustion. So, how could we develop compassion embodied skills in our work places, in a more practical manner, and where does the art come in?