Dear Reader Today I break from my normal summary of music psychology papers to share a personal musical blog. I was recently contacted by Reel Connections, a Community Interest Company that uses film, music and the creative arts to connect people, groups and communities across Norfolk and the South East of the UK. They asked me to take part in a Music On My Mind Podcast, available on their website. As part of the podcast preparations they said… It would be good to have a list of 10 songs that have been a part of your life. Maybe some that inspired you as a young person and then some that…

The news is full of stories on how children in lockdown have been missing out on vital education in sports and arts. The education ‘catch-up’ tsar Sir Kevan Collins states that whilst children have shown incredible resilience and fortitude during the pandemic, subjects like art and music are ‘ … critical areas which have been missed in their development.” Sir Kevan is hopefully aware of the long established and replicated empirical relationship between music and children’s wellbeing. To name but a few of these pathways to wellbeing, studies have show that musical activity: Improves mood due to activation of emotion, memory and reward areas of the brain such as the…