Music strengthens resilience in times of coronavirus
An international research project involving the Max Planck Institute for Empirical Aesthetics in Frankfurt has investigated whether exposure to music is an effective strategy for socio-emotionally coping with a lockdown.
Demographically representative samples were collected in six countries on three continents during the first lockdown from April to May 2020: Over 5,000 people from Germany, France, the UK, India, Italy and the USA answered questions in an online study about their use of music during the crisis. More than half of the respondents stated that they used music to cope with emotional and social stress factors.
Melanie Wald-Fuhrmann, Director at the Max Planck Institute for Empirical Aesthetics, comments on the results that it is not the music itself that serves as a coping aid, but the music-related behavior, i.e. the way in which people have changed the way they deal with music during the crisis.
According to the study, people with stronger negative emotions due to the pandemic primarily use music to regulate depression, anxiety and stress. This strategy is used particularly when listening to music. People with a predominantly positive mood use music primarily as a substitute for social interaction. The new genre of "corona music" is of particular importance. This involves specific musical reactions to the coronavirus crisis.
Original publication:
Fink, L.K., Warrenburg, L. A., Howlin, C., Randall, W. M., Hansen, N. C., & Wald-Fuhrmann, M. (2021). Viral Tunes: changes in musical behaviors and interest in coronamusic predict socio-emotional coping during COVID-19 lockdown. Humanities and Social Sciences Communications 8:180. https://doi.org/10.1057/s41599-021-00858-y
