Ever wonder why you press play on your favorite song when you’re feeling blue? Why singing to your baby soothes them? Why those teenage tunes capture your attention years or even decades later? Music and song are deeply intertwined with our health, and Music City is home to physician-scientists who seek to answer these questions.
The Vanderbilt Music Cognition Lab, which studies the relationships between music and health, will partner with the Nashville Symphony for a free panel event at the Schermerhorn Symphony Center titled “Music and Mind: Healing, Social Connection and the Power of Song,” set for Monday, May 18 at 7 p.m.
Featured panelists include:
- Miriam Lense, PhD, Associate Professor of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery and Director of the Music Cognition Lab
- Andy Woolridge, MD, Assistant Professor of Medicine in the Division of General Internal Medicine and Public Health, and Program Director for Arts and Humanities in Healthcare
- Kyshona, local musician and music therapist Kyshona
- Renée Fleming, world-renowned soprano and World Health Organization (WHO) Goodwill Ambassador for Music and Health
The event aims to bring together leading voices from medicine, research and the arts to examine how music can foster wellness, strengthen community and support healing across all stages of life. Through a series of brief presentations and panel discussion, feature speakers will share insights on music and social connection, songwriting as a tool for healing and the role of live music experiences in enhancing well-being. The program will also include live musical performances that offer reflection and showcase the restorative power of song.
“The Music Cognition Lab is a leader in the discovery and application of musicality in health, and we’re thrilled to partner with the Nashville Symphony on this event,” said Kelly Corcoran, a classical orchestra conductor and one of the lab’s social scientists. “Music and song are part of the soul of Music City and are core to our health and well-being. Vanderbilt Health’s experts in this field are the perfect liaisons between research, medicine, music and community.”
Reserve your seats at the Nashville Symphony event page:
