Singing in Harmony: Cognitive Complexities and Social Significance

I’m writing this while visiting my grandmother for the first time since becoming a music therapist, so naturally the only luggage I flew with was my guitar. She lives in the same Vermont town where she taught kindergarten and piano lessons in the 1970’s, though she recently moved for the first time in nearly 60 years, down the street to an assisted living community. Her health has declined rapidly in the last couple months—the woman who used to be the most popular person in town, hollering melodically to everyone who strolled past the flowerbeds she tended in the town park, now doesn’t have the social battery for a phone call. So I had no idea what to expect when I pulled out my guitar, minutes after arriving. 

I’ve seen many isolated, elderly clients seem to blossom during music therapy sessions, but was still shocked by the immediacy and fullness of her transformation. She began singing along instinctively, breathing deeply in blissful, contented revelation. She paused halfway through the first song to exclaim, “it’s been so long since I’ve sung in harmony!” 

What could it be about singing in harmony that so inspired her in that moment? The more I think about it, the more insightful her comment sounds. Singing different notes than your fellow singers requires a complex blend of cognitive skills. We have to balance internal focus (planning and evaluating the notes we sing without the crutch of copying others), and external focus (listening to make sure we stay in tune and on time with others). To sing in harmony with me, my grandmother had to be present socially in a two-way partnership, distinct from contexts where one person is entertaining another, or the companionship of passively experiencing something together. She could feel we were connecting in a way that was viscerally more successful than the conversations she’s come to expect recently, where moments of joyful understanding are solitary sparks in an otherwise disorienting darkness. 

I’ll always be grateful for the way music reconnected us. It was a channel where we could be on the same wavelength, sharing the same language, the same curiosity to explore within the safe confines of a particular set of lyrics and seven notes in the major key. The blend of internal and external focus that harmony urgently demands created a state of being fully present both in ourselves and with one another. Singing in harmony is only one way to achieve this, and I invite you to look out for moments when you recognize this particular sort of collaborative fulfillment in your own relationships. Perhaps it’s telling a story together, or helping someone with a puzzle. Whatever it may come, enjoy the liveliness it brings!