Why We Sing

A memoir celebrating the power of song to lift our mood and restore our sense of connection to other people and the world.

Singing makes you feel good. Everyone who sings in a community choir or just in the shower knows this, and relishes the sense of liberation, connection and sheer joy that singing can bring.

In this inspiring and thought-provoking memoir, singer and community music teacher Julia Hollander celebrates our impulse to sing, from the beginning to the end of life. Drawing on her personal experience as well as the fascinating recent findings of neurological research, she shows how we are hardwired to sing. She explores how our bodies create song, and how singing helps children acquire language. She shows how singing is an integral part of faith, and how it is embedded in political activism. She shares with us her experience of running singing groups with people with dementia and disability, and how learning singing can open up a new world for teenagers.

More than ever, singing has become important to people of all backgrounds as a way of dealing with the sense of hopelessness and loneliness in our busy, digitally focused lives. Julia describes her book as a singing memoir, and Why We Sing is for anyone who loves to sing.

About the Author

Julia Hollander is a singing therapist, teacher and performer. At the age of 25, she was the first female opera director at the English National Opera, and she has staged operas all over the world including for Victoria State Opera. Julia is the author of Chicken Coops for the Soul and When the Bough Breaks. She has written for the Guardian and Telegraph newspapers and for magazines including Opera Now, The Spectator and Red.