MUSIC & MIND

"This book inspires us all to immerse ourselves in the vast potential of music and other creative arts to heal our wounds, sharpen our minds, enliven our bodies, and restore our broken connections.” —Bessel van der Kolk, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Body Keeps the Score

World-renowned soprano and arts/health advocate Renée Fleming curates a collection of essays from leading scientists, artists, creative arts therapists, educators, and healthcare providers about the powerful impacts of music and the arts on health and the human experience

Chapters include:

• Ann Patchett, “How to Fall in Love with Opera”       
• Yo-Yo Ma, “Nature, Culture, and Healing”
• Aniruddh D. Patel, “Musicality, Evolution, and Animal Responses to Music”
• Richard Powers, “The Parting Glass"
• Daniel J. Levitin, “What Does It Mean to be Musical?”       
• Anna Deavere Smith, “Healing Arts”       
• Rosanne Cash, “Rabbit Hole”       
• Rhiannon Giddens, “How Music Shows Us What It Means to Be Human”
  
• Robert Zatorre, “Musical Enjoyment and the Reward Circuits of the Brain”
  
• Concetta Tomaino, “Music and Memory”
  

A compelling and growing body of research has shown music and arts therapies to be effective tools for addressing a widening array of conditions, from providing pain relief andalleviating anxiety and depression to regaining speech after stroke or traumatic brain injury,  and improving mobility for people with disorders that include Parkinson’s disease and MS.

In Music and Mind Renée Fleming draws upon her own experience as an advocate to showcase the breadth of this booming field, inviting leading experts to share their discoveries. In addition to describing therapeutic benefits, the book explores evolution, brain function, childhood development, and technology as applied to arts and health.

Much of this area of study is relatively new, made possible by recent advances in brain imaging, and supported by theNational Institutes of Health, major hospitals, and universities. This work is sparking an explosion of public interest in the arts and health sector.

Fleming has presented on this material in over fifty cities across North America, Europe, and Asia, collaborating with leading researchers, policy-makers, and practitioners. With essays from notable musicians, writers, and artists, as well as leading neuroscientists, Music and Mind is a groundbreaking book, the perfect introduction and overview of this exciting new field.

Renée Fleming is one of the most highly acclaimed singers of our time, performing on the stages of the world’s greatest opera houses and concert halls. Honored with the US National Medal of Arts and five Grammy® awards, most recently this year for Best Classical Vocal Solo Album, she has sung for momentous occasions from the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony to the Super Bowl. A leading advocate for research at the intersection of arts and health, Fleming launched the first ongoing collaboration between the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and the US National Institutes of Health. She has presented her program Music and Mind in more than 50 cities around the world, earning Research!America’s Isadore Rosenfeld Award for Impact on Public Opinion. Other honors include the 2023 Crystal Award at the World Economic Forum in Davos and the Fulbright Lifetime Achievement Medal.

Contributors: Alexandra Rieger, Aniruddh D. Patel, Anjan Chatterjee, Ann Patchett, Anna Deavere Smith, Antonio Damasio, Assal Habibi, Beatriz Ilari, Ben Folds, Christopher Bailey, Concetta M. Tomaino, Coryse St. Hillaire-Clarke, Courtney Platt, David B. Leventhal, Deborah F. Rutter, Daniel J. Levitin, Elizabeth Diller, Emmeline Edwards, esperanza spalding, Francis Collins, Francisco J. Núñez, Hanna Damasio, Indre Viskontas, Jacquelyn Kulinski, J. Todd Frazier, Jefri Franks, Joanna Patterson-Cross, Joanne Loewy, Joke Bradt, Julene K. Johnson, Juliet L. King, Kenneth Elpus, Marisol Norris, Mark Morris, Michael H. Thaut, Miriam Lense, Nina Kraus, Rebecca Kleinberger, Rhiannon Giddens, Richard Powers, Robert Zatorre, Rosanne Cash, Ruth Katz, Sara Beck, Sarah Johnson, Sheri L. Robb, Stacie Aamon Yeldell, Stanford L. Thompson, Susan Magsamen, Tod Machover, Tom Sweitzer, Yo-Yo Ma, Zakir Hussain