Sing for your brain!

A couple of years ago I was fortunate enough to become friends with a voice teacher, Lauren Berman. But not just any voice teacher — one who has a PhD in vocal performance, has studied vocal yoga, and is interested in all things anatomy and neurology that are related to singing. Our conversations are immensely fun!

We started trading lessons (movement for voice) over a year ago, and I am thoroughly enjoying singing, both for the joy and for the increased body knowledge that I am gaining about breathing, the throat, the vocal cords, etc. Even more importantly, my brain LOVES it when I sing — I feel amazing after every session.

This past week we had our first virtual trade since everything shut down for COVID, and we naturally fell into a discussion of neurology. I started thinking about all of the cranial nerves (12 in each side of the brain) and how many of them are stimulated by singing, or vocalizing of other kinds. There are a lot! Of the twelve, six are active while singing (CN V, VII, VIII, IX, X, XII). They are responsible for controlling and sensing the musculature of the face, jaw and tongue; lifting the soft palate; controlling the larynx and pharynx; and receiving auditory information. I cannot immediately think of another single activity that involves so many of the cranial nerves at once (please let me know if I’m overlooking one — I do realize I’m biased). :)

If you have ever once enjoyed singing, regardless of your skills, consider bringing this activity back into your life on a more regular basis. It provides a tremendous amount of neurological activity, aside from the joy that it can bring to you (and maybe even others around you)!