Recent research shows that group singing is providing positive effects for women experiencing moderate to severe post-natal depression. Findings suggest that mothers attending groups with their babies, singing various songs, rhymes and chants from around the world, (and composing or creating their own!) experience accelerated recovery in the first six weeks of receiving support for low mood.
Love of music is the backbone of JoyProvision. We utilize sound and music in creating and delivering our courses and programmes. Why wouldn’t we? Humans have made connections, meaning and shared collective knowledge and wisdom through rhythm and song for over 50,000 years.
As the industrialization of entertainment progressed, a lot of us stopped making music after we left school. We left it to the ‘professionals’. Sure, there’s whistling while you work, or singing in the shower – but until the X Factor, Indie music, Creative Commons and other distribution methods, we had left it to the celebs and corporations to sing for us.
But since the Glee revival, Rock Choirs, and other musical collectives sang their way back into the limelight, once more we can all have a go at singing and performing together! (Jazz Hands here!). From Power Ballad nights at clubs, to recording your own tracks on your phone, song-making is available and the joy of creating and singing together is ours again.
Best of all, for women struggling with how they feel about life post partum, there’s a joyous alternative to antidepressants and cognitive behavioural therapy. Thanks to the innovative research of Rosie Perkins and Dr Daisy Fancourt at the Royal College of Music’s Centre Of Performance Science, with University College London, it looks like we are on song again for creativity in the mix. Group singing at the core of life - new mothers singing alongside others with their children at the start of their journey together. Make some noise people - for positivity and joy in musical approaches to maternal mental health.
Helpful Resources
Search for a local ‘Mother and Baby Choir’, or ‘Mother and Baby Singing Group’
Jo Jingles Nationwide Music, Singing And Movement Classes (recommended by Mumsnet)
**Check suitability with their staff if you are feeling very low before attending. Check with your GP **
NHS Choices – Post Natal Depression
PANDAS - PANDAS Foundation UK
Research
Interview – Dr Daisy Fancourt:
Sing Now!