ABSTRACT
This chapter addresses the health benefits for amateur singers and instrumentalists engaging with music over the lifespan in non-clinical contexts. Previous work suggests a more favourable risk–benefit relationship for amateurs as compared to professional performers. Choral singing (and to an extent solo singing) has been investigated to a greater extent compared to practising and performing on musical instruments. However, initial evidence suggests that engaging with music can be beneficial across these domains, including music listening. We briefly review recent findings, with some emphasis on stress and immune responses. We conclude that firm research frameworks are needed to further investigate both contributing factors and underlying mechanisms that can explain the beneficial effects of engaging with music and, thus, inform education and social systems to improve policies.
