Singing for Health
William Byrd’s Elizabethan Vision on the Value of Singing

• Thursday 7 June 2018, 10.00AM to 4.00pm
• £15 (Full-time students £5)
  01904 658338
  Book tickets
• National Centre for Early Music, Walmgate, YO1 9TL (map)
• Wheelchair accessible

Event details

‘Since singing is so good a thing, I wish all men would learn to sing’- WilliamByrd, 1588

Join us for a stimulating and active day, learning about the health and wellbeing benefits of singing.  We’ll explore the insights and ideas of Elizabethan composer William Byrd, whose writing on the health benefits of singing rings true today. Through performances and participation, demonstrations and discussions, find out how contemporary research supports views expressed by Byrd over 400 years ago.

For more information, visit ncem.co.uk/byrd

About the speakers/performers

• Robert Hollingworth is a Reader in Music at the University of York and will speak on the life and work of William Byrd, and conduct a selection of his vocal music, performed by The 24.
• Professor Stephen Clift, Director of the Sidney De Haan Research Centre for Arts and Health, Canterbury Christ Church University, will provide an overview of current scientific understanding of the health benefits of singing and how they relate to Byrd's views.
• Vivien Ellis is a Grammy nominated singer, choir leader and researcher in the field of Arts and Health, and an Associate of the Sidney De Haan Research Centre.  A regular visitor to the NCEM, Vivien will lead community singing sessions throughout the day.
• Dr Rickard Åström, a musician and researcher in Gothenburg, Sweden, will conduct a live demonstration of how heart rhythms synchronise when people sing together as a group, and explore the significance of this phenomenon for social bonding and wellbeing.
• Dr John Dickinson and Dr Steve Meadows are from the School of Sport and Exercise Sciences, University of Kent and will demonstrate how lung function can be assessed, and discuss the effects of regular singing on patterns of breathing for people with respiratory illness.