On Jan. 30, the five-time Grammy Award winner, arts/health advocate and author Renée Fleming visited the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus to explore the power of music as it relates to health and the brain in her presentation “Music and Mind” – based on her book of the same name.
This was the CU Center for Bioethics and Humanities’ second time hosting Fleming as part of the Arts and Humanities in Healthcare Program directed by Katie Rhine, PhD, MA. They were joined by collaborators from the CU Boulder CU Presents, the CU Boulder College of Music and the CU Denver College of Arts and Music. While visiting CU, Fleming also performed at CU Boulder’s Mackey Auditorium Concert Hall.
Fleming, who was appointed a World Health Organization Goodwill Ambassador for Arts and Health in 2023, has presented on “Music and Mind” in over 60 cities across North America, Europe and Asia, collaborating with leading local researchers and practitioners in the arts and health.
Cutting edge of neuroarts research
Citing a shared moral imperative for increasing positive social connection, Fleming began the event by leading the audience in a three-part singing exercise. By singing together, she said, “we are aligning our brain waves and synching our heart rates in a shared artistic experience. We're increasing oxytocin, the bonding hormone, lessening cortisol, the stress hormone, and stimulating the vagus nerve.”
The vagus nerve is a critical element of the parasympathetic nervous system that controls involuntary bodily functions by carrying signals between the brain, heart and digestive system, which impact relaxation and energy. These findings come from the new field of neuroarts, which offers increasing amounts of scientific evidence on how engaging with the arts and music benefits health.
“We are aligning our brain waves and synching our heart rates in a shared artistic experience. We're increasing oxytocin, the bonding hormone, lessening cortisol, the stress hormone, and stimulating the vagus nerve.”
– Renée Fleming, after leading the audience in a singing exercise
While the study of neuroarts is relatively new, the power of music to increase positive social connection is not. Fleming stated that archeological artifacts dating back more than 200,000 years prove that music likely predated speech and that her vocal apparatus, the larynx, is exactly the same as it would have been in Neanderthals.
“I would love to hear that opera ,” she mused. While our ancestors, tribal by nature “chanted, danced and drummed (their) way to collaboration and survival,” Fleming outlined the pillars of current research in neuroarts on childhood development, mental health, chronic pain and aging. For example, children who study a musical instrument develop language and reading abilities faster, with improved comprehension, memory and focus.
Music as medicine
Fleming was joined on the stage by local experts Achim Klug, PhD, an auditory neuroscientist from CU Anschutz; Mark Rabideau, DMA, a Grammy Award-winning music producer and associate dean for faculty and student affairs at the CU Denver College of Arts & Media; and Angela Wibben, MM, MT-BC, a music therapist at UCHealth.
Each panelist briefly outlined their own experiences observing the power of music as medicine. Rabideau discussed his personal journey and the power of creative arts to create positive change in the world; Klum shared emerging research on music improving auditory processing in the aging brain; and Wibben reflected on the profound power of music as therapy for her patients.
They all attributed their excitement about participating in the program to bringing people together and the importance of music’s ability to unify and unite. While all three panelists hail from different areas of expertise, they came together for one reason: the interconnected nature of music, people and our well-being.
Making connections
Making connections between two seemingly unconnected concepts was not lost on the audience. From the Symphony of the Rockies to CU Denver students from the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences, attendees came ready to hear about the relationship between music and different areas of healthcare – from chronic illness to mental health.
When we asked attendees what they wanted to see in the future, the overwhelming response was "more.” Dean Lucinda Bliss, MFA, of the CU Denver College of Arts and Media explained that events like these are, “doing what students want to do” and is an example of much-needed interdisciplinary dialogue. Matthew Witt, director of the CU Anschutz Orchestra, was so inspired that he is making changes to what musical pieces the orchestra will be performing, to mimic different areas of stress management.
Richard Krugman, MD, former vice chancellor for health affairs and dean at the University of Colorado School of Medicine, believes in carrying on what was taught to him by his mentor, pediatrician and arts advocate, C. Henry Kempe – that clinicians should attend creative arts events to enhance health sciences learning and practice.
Beyond the “Music and Mind” discussion being a “wonderful opportunity,” Krugman said “art is medicine, and what CU Anschutz is about.” Julie Swaney, M/Div and former director of spiritual care at UCHealth, said the “more CU Anschutz can do, the better” with having opportunities available to make connections between health and the humanities.
There will be at least one more opportunity to connect music and medicine this spring. Rhine, director of the Arts and Humanities in Healthcare Program, concluded the event by announcing that panelist Mark Rabideau will return for another collaboration exploring bipolar disorder though a jazz music performance on May 5 as part of his current project, “Portrait of an Unquiet Mind.”
Photo at top: Panelists at the discussion are, from left, Mark Rabideau, DMA; Angela Wibben, MM, MT-BC; Achim Klug, PhD; and Renée Fleming.
