Regions that control the movements we need to produce sounds and articulation also light up. “We also see involvement of the emotion networks of the brain,” adds Wilson.

When we sing, however, both sides of the brain spark into life. When we speak, the hemisphere of the brain dealing with language lights up, as we might expect. “There is a singing network in the brain quite broadly distributed,” Wilson says. She led a study which looked at how the brain reacts when we sing by giving volunteers of varying vocal ability MRI scans as they warbled.

When we sing, large parts of our brain “light up” with activity, says Sarah Wilson, a clinical neuropsychologist and head of the School of Psychological Sciences at the University of Melbourne. Italians belted arias from their balconies, famous musicians performed mini concerts from their living rooms and choirs took their sessions online to become virtual virtuosos. Perhaps that’s why, as most of the world went into lockdown to contain the Covid-19 pandemic, there were countless examples of people turning to song as solace. How happy music can make you do bad things.But it wasn’t just something abstract and ethereal happening, there are scientific reasons for why singing feels good. There was something about the solidarity and togetherness of that moment that personifies a lot about the power of song. As her voice soared, one of her fellow nurses filmed her, put it online and it went viral. Nurse Lori Marie Key was asked if she would sing Amazing Grace for her colleagues during the morning briefing. Their surgical floor had been converted into a department for coronavirus patients and spirits were low. During a morning shift change at St Marcy Mercy Livonia Hospital in Detroit, Michigan, the medical staff were feeling weary.

Comin out strong chords future