“Music heals me, music has saved my life before”
Chantel Kreviazuk
“I’ve always been a musician,” writes astronaut Chris Hadfield in The Awesome Music Project: Songs of Hope and Happiness. “I think we all are, it’s just that only some of us learn to play instruments.”
So why did Hadfield sing a David Bowie song in space, inspiring 40 million Earthbound YouTubers to sing along? New neurological research provides the answer: music is good for us. It heals and soothes; it connects us to other people, and the divine; it improves our mental, emotional and physical health, wards off loneliness and depression, and even delays dementia. And sometimes it just makes us feel good. Now music therapy is being used to combat many mental health issues, including autism and learning difficulties. Millions of people could lead better lives if they listened to and played more music.
Contributors include:
Sarah MacLachlan, Michael Bublé, Stuart McLean, Jennifer Heil, Liona Boyd, Dave Bidini, Michael Ondaatje, Skye Wallace, George Elliott Clarke, Rick Mercer, Chris Hadfield, Fred Penner, Amanda Lang, Grant Lawrence, Vince R. Ditrich, Sebastien Bach, Madeleine Thien, Danny Michel, Erica Ehm, Jordan Eberle, Erica Wiebe, Tariq Hussain