Does singing help with wellbeing?

I’m bound to say “Of course it does!!” but don’t just take my word for it!

My choirs have expanded over lockdown. I now have my community choir (The Online Liberty Singers, soon to revert to being The West Bridgford Liberty Singers again from September), The Liberty Belles (my smaller ladies choir) The ICU Liberty Singers who continue to meet online and will always rehearse this way (apart from one very exciting meet up project which we CAN”T WAIT for!) The Skincredible Liberty Singers from the British Association of Dermatologists and the British Dermatological Nursing Group and the NHSBT Liberty Singers from the NHS Blood and Transplant Service. That’s a lot of singers…. over 200 people feeling the benefit of singing together.

I ask regularly for feedback not just about what we are singing, but how it’s making them all FEEL. The wellbeing aspect of running a choir is right up there with the song choices. I want people to feel better, happier, more confident, empowered, joyful and together.

Today’s nugget of joy was the answer to this question from the NHSBT Liberty Singers… we’ve been singing for #wellbeingwednesday for 3 months now….

Can’t argue with results like that! Or comments like these….

The sense of community it brings. You’re never ever alone if you sing in a choir! It’s also fun, and I love listening to our lockdown mixes – ICU Liberty Singer

Love being part of a group especially seeing people I don’t know and hearing about them on the Whats App chat. Love love the warm ups which always get me smiling. Enjoyed feeling energised after each session. I managed to get to all but the last two and they would always brighten my day and put me in a good mood. I’ve even laughed at myself a lot during some songs when I’ve found that either too low or high. Loved the way you run the sessions Kari. It’s all just been a brilliant experience … bring on September 😁🙌🏻🥳 – NHSBT Liberty Singer

Taking some time out for myself to do something I enjoy (not great at it, but then there’s no one to listen to me, lol – that also makes it less stressful) – Skincredible Liberty Singer

As we move slowly towards getting back to face to face singing for my local choirs, I can’t wait to feel this joy and energy in the room just like we used to.