The power of music is extraordinary.
In virtually every aspect of our lives, its potential to change how we see, feel and perceive the world around us seems limitless. It has the ability to move people, entire populations, continents.
In hospitals, this power can be harnessed for healing and recovery. Studies have found that music therapy reduces pain perception, lowers stress, and increases patient engagement during rehabilitation.
A report by the Royal College of Music found that playing the drums reduces depression and anxiety, and the European Respiratory Society found that playing wind instruments helps respiratory muscles and breathing.
Both Royal Brompton Hospital and Harefield Hospital have for decades held a ‘singing for breathing’ programme for patients to help their recovery from a wide range of lung conditions.
It is more than just a physical workout however. Music’s impact on the brain has been described as like ‘fireworks’ going off, compared to other activities which light up more specific cerebral areas.
When we listen to or perform music, multiple regions of the brain ignite in harmony, creating a unique blend of cognitive, emotional, and physical responses.
The journey begins in the auditory cortex, where sound waves are decoded into pitch, rhythm, and tone. This is the starting point for our recognition of melodies and harmonies. Music’s emotional power comes from the limbic system, which processes feelings and memories. When a song moves us, the brain releases dopamine, the same neurotransmitter triggered by food or social bonding. It can also cause the release of serotonin, endorphins and oxytocin.
Even if we are sitting still, the motor cortex and cerebellum activate as we anticipate rhythms – which is why music makes us want to tap our feet or dance. Another part of the brain predicts musical patterns and recalls familiar tunes. This is why music can evoke nostalgia and unexpected chord changes feel exciting.
That’s the scientific evidence. But what about more personal proof? For this, you really have to see music being played live in a hospital.
At Royal Brompton, there is a regular programme of music co-ordinated by the arts team, in partnership with the Live Music Now initiative. Hundreds of musicians sign up to take part in this nationally, to play their instrument of choice in front of patients in hospitals all over the UK.
And it can be any instrument. I listened to the young player of an African string instrument known as a ‘kora’, a kind of cross between a harp and a guitar, with a sound to match – gentle, melodic, nylon strings plucked over a steady, drone-like rhythm of bass strings.
Like many instruments, it is entrancing up close and, in the incongruous surroundings of a hospital ward, its calming effect is only heightened.
Played to the young man in a cardiac room, who has been having heart surgery since he was a schoolchild, there is a visible reaction by both the patient and his mother.
“I have been very stressed in the last few days with a very high heart rate, and the music has definitely calmed me and helped me. Being in a room on my own in the last two days has been hard, just looking at the four walls...the music has really been great!”
The kora player himself also gets a huge amount out of the way his music brings so much relief to the patient.
“For me to come to the hospital where people are going through such difficult conditions it feels like a privilege – it is important for me to play my music to them,” he says.
Other musicians have noted this too. One guitarist successful in his own right as a musician and producer but who also takes part in the Live Music Now programme, said:
“I get to really bring some of what keeps me so vibrant and alive. I get to bring this joy to people who are going through some difficult times and it’s a way to bring a smile to their face at a time when they feel they can’t find it in themselves. That was the reason I became a musician. So to be able to do that in such a clear way is a true honour and privilege.”
Personal comments from those hearing their music bear this out too. Comments from patients, captured by the programme, include:
“I can’t tell you what a difference you coming into the ward has been and singing and playing.”
“I never believed this would happen in a hospital and already my mood has completely brightened up and you have made my day.”
“Just come back for some checks after an operation. The harp is so beautiful and making me feel so calm. Music is such a great help to us all in life, thank you!”
Perhaps we should not be so surprised. Half of the current Royal Brompton building was after all funded from the bequest of a lady called Cordelia Read.
She left all of her estate to the Brompton in 1871 and the place she chose to leave her last will and testament was the drawer of a square piano.