Editorial

The topic “Music, Health, and Wellbeing” has come of age. The exponential growth of research output across so many disciplines notwithstanding, it must be noted that the topic has only become standard fare at scientific conferences related to music within the last decade. Medical or health aspects concerning musical activities are no longer considered within the domain of music therapy only. One previous volume may be noted as representing this transition, namely Music, Health, and Wellbeing (MacDonald, Kreutz, & Mitchell, 2012). However, scientific progress is nowadays reflected much more strongly in journals reporting recent original work than in edited volumes. A Special Issue such as the present one, therefore, provides a wonderful opportunity to combine both the need to address a new field of enquiry in some depth and to reflect the ongoing flow of empirical work in this new domain.

In the first article of this Special Issue, Jennifer Bugos and Simran Kochar report on a group of healthy individuals who are often overlooked in research on the cognitive effects of music training: older adults with only marginal musical experience. The paper focuses on a set of cognitive processes called executive functions, which, on the one hand, are believed to develop only in later stages of young adulthood and, on the other hand, are subject to premature decline in older adulthood. The authors observed enhanced verbal fluency and processing speed capacities in response to short-term intense piano training. These findings highlight not only the appropriateness of music training for older adults but also its attractiveness for long-term commitment.

Can the potential psychoactive influence of music listening be used to accommodate side effects of addiction such as craving and difficulty in emotion regulation? Genevieve Dingle and Nicholas Carter base their research into chronic smoking on the assumption that listening to preferred music may be as helpful as cognitive behavioral therapy (either delivered online or via telephone) for enabling chronic smokers to quit. The authors conducted a pilot randomized trial over six weeks, during which a considerable proportion of smokers were able to quit, irrespective of therapy. However, participants in the music intervention condition experienced greater reduction of craving strengths and also showed improvement in emotion regulation. Considering that some therapeutic strategies entail external resources in terms of therapists being available via telephone, there are clear economic implications of this work with respect to interventions for addictive behavior.

Epidemiological studies concerning health effects of choral singing are still rare. The study by Julene Johnson, Jukka Louhivuori, and Eero Siljander addresses this gap by comparing quality-of-life measures in Finnish amateur choristers to the general population, applying case-control methods. Importantly, choral singing was found to be beneficial specifically for physical wellbeing after controlling for sociodemographic variables. Future studies need to consider whether and how choral singing may or may not be superior to other leisure activities in terms of enhancing wellbeing.

Another study in this special issue, by Alexandra Linnemann, Anna Schnersch, and Urs Nater, also addresses choral singing. These authors were interested in the longer-term fluctuations of mood and stress over several sessions of rehearsals, practice days, and concerts. Within the expected complex changes of dependent measures, it became clear that choir singing had overall positive stress-modulating and mood effects. However, social contact per se was not associated with these interactions. Considering the young age of the sample under study (mean age 22.98 years), the question arises as to whether social interactions may become more important in amateur choirs that contain a wider range of age groups across younger, middle, and older adulthood.

The final study in this issue, by Claudia Spahn, Edgar Voltmer, Adina Mornell, and Manfred Nusseck, is concerned with a prevailing topic from the field of musicians’ medicine. Specifically, the authors conducted a multicenter study to address playing-related health problems in students at German music universities. Despite the relatively small sample (which was the result of substantial attrition rates over the course of the study), it appears alarming that participation in prevention courses does not seem to reduce those high levels of health problems in the population under study.

In sum, we are certain that this special issue not only represents a significant proportion of the wide range of issues concerning music, health, and wellbeing by exemplifying original empirical work, but also suggests the continued need for research on musical activities and practices as potential adjuvant therapies. Such activities do not require specific prescriptions as they are, by and large, in the hands of patients, and yet they can have positive outcomes without replacing standard therapies. In this sense, the articles, taken together, highlight a particular strength of music as a resource for wellbeing and health: it can be done and it does little harm, if used and applied with consideration and care.