Julia Hollander - Why We Sing

Julia Hollander is a music therapist, singing 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. Julia is the author of Chicken Coops for the Soul and When the Bough Breaks. She has written features and blogs for the Guardian and Telegraph newspapers and for a variety of magazines including Opera Now, The Spectator and Red.

This book (and singing) is so great for the mind and soul!

Jonathon Welch AM DUniv, Founding Artistic Director of Choir of Hard Knocks

I greatly enjoyed this book which brings a range of new and fresh insights into why we sing and indeed, how singing is hardwired into our very essence as human beings. It is a refreshing read that I recommend to all who are interested in our voice and how we use it.

Brett Weymark OAM, Artistic & Music Director, Sydney Philharmonia Choirs

This book is a must for people who sing and for people who dont but should.

Peggy Seeger, folk singer

It made me want to go and sing from the rooftops, and never give up on my singing lessons. It is a wonderful, passionate call for the world to stop shouting and start singing.

Meg Bignell, author of The Angry Womens Choir

Julia Hollanders Why We Sing is full of fascinating facts and is a wonderful read. The amount of research is truly impressive and this book should be on all of our shelves. To sing is to be happy and it feeds the soul. Thanks Julia.

Peter Coleman-Wright AO, Co-Artistic Director of Pacific Opera

This is the book Ive been waiting my life for! The WHY behind why we sing will blow minds, motivate musicians, and inspire those yet to share their voices with the world.

Allison Davies, music therapist and founder of the Brain Care Caf

Hollander has gathered a wealth of scientific research and aligned it with her own personal experience to produce a truly illuminating, joyful and resonant book about why we sing.

Dame Sarah Connolly CBE, FRCM, HonRAM, ARCM, DipRCM (piano)

All my life, from as early as I can remember, I have been drawn to the sound of singing and aware of a powerful, urgent need to share the experience. I never understood why, until I read this book.

Lesley Garrett, CBE FRAM

What I find so appealing about this book is that Julia is able to tell us something we intrinsically already knowthat singing is a primal, universal expression of being human and that it benefits all humanity to singwhile also offering so many, many details that we didnt know.

Roderick Williams OBE

Also by Julia Hollander:

When the Bough Breaks (2010)

Chicken Coops for the Soul (2011)

Scan the QR code and download a playlist recorded by Julia and her daughters at the kitchen table, to accompany the book.

First published in Australia and New Zealand by Allen & Unwin in 2023

First published in the United Kingdom in 2023 by Atlantic Books, an imprint of Atlantic Books Ltd.

Copyright Julia Hollander 2023

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system, without prior permission in writing from the publisher. The Australian Copyright Act 1968 (the Act) allows a maximum of one chapter or 10 per cent of this book, whichever is the greater, to be photocopied by any educational institution for its educational purposes provided that the educational institution (or body that administers it) has given a remuneration notice to the Copyright Agency (Australia) under the Act.

The author and publisher are grateful for permission to reproduce copyright song lyrics as follows: Three Lions by David Baddiel and Frank Skinner, music by Ian Broudie. Copyright 1996 Avalon Management Group Ltd. and B-Unique Music Ltd. All Rights for Avalon Management Group Ltd. administered by BMG Rights Management (UK) Ltd. All Rights for B-Unique Music Ltd. administered by Kobalt Music Group Ltd. All Rights Reserved. Used by Permission. Reprinted by Permission of Hal Leonard Europe Ltd; Daddy, What Did You Do In the Strike? by Ewan MacColl, published by Harmony Music Ltd, Roundhouse, 212 Regents Park Road Entrance, London nw1 8aw; Singing for Our Lives by Holly Near, published by Hereford Music, PO Box 236, Ukiah ca 95482; Reclaim the Night by Peggy Seeger, published by Harmony Music Ltd, as above; Carry Greenham Home by Peggy Seeger, also published by Harmony Music Ltd; Both Sides Now by Joni Mitchell, published by Westminster Music Ltd, Suite 2.07, Plaza 535 Kings Road, London sw10 0sz. International copyright secured. All rights reserved.

Some names have been changed in order to protect peoples privacy.

Every effort has been made to trace or contact all copyright holders. The publishers will be pleased to make good any omissions or rectify any mistakes brought to their attention at the earliest opportunity.

Allen & Unwin

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ISBN 978 1 76087 968 6

eISBN 978 1 76118 612 7

Cover design: Alissa Dinallo

To my students,

for all I have learnt from you

People say that what were all seeking is a meaning for life. I dont think thats what were really seeking. I think that what were seeking is an experience of being alive, so that our life experiences on the purely physical plane will have resonances with our own innermost being and reality, so that we actually feel the rapture of being alive.

Joseph Campbell

Do you recall the spring of 2020? The first Covid lockdown, and with it the silence. Following the same trajectory as the virus, from China through the Middle East and across the continent of Europe, it descended on my street a couple of weeks before Easter. That first morning, I lay in bed thinking what a relief it was not to hear the usual orchestra of grinders and drills and engines; even the ring-road traffic, my citys perpetual backing track, was gone. In their place, as if from nowhere, a magnificent chorus of garden birds were singing their little hearts out. Granted, it was the time of year when most creatures are getting their mojos back after the trials of winter, but this felt so much more spectacular than usual. Was it just because I was taking time to pay attention, or had the local finches called in extra forces? I remember lying there entranced by their sweet polyphony: the filigree patterns of their voices demonstrating such range and such joy.