Summary
Music can be understood by people who speak different languages. Music can help us learn. Music can help us cope with stressors. Music can help us manage our emotions. Music can unite us. Let music inspire you. Happy New Year 2026.
Music for Wellbeing in December
Music is sometimes called the universal language. Regardless of a person’s primary language, the vibrations in music can stir a person, elicit similar reactions in people who speak different languages. Music can unite us and unity is what we need in this world, a world for the human race.
Let’s explore music for wellbeing in December and for all of 2026.
Music for Wellbeing in December: Confessions of a Music Lover
This end of year post is a selfish missive to myself. I love music. In 2025, I have sacrificed too much time away from music. The absence of music in my life is affecting my wellbeing.
Politics has consumed my waking hours. I realize that I must find time for music because it unites me to other human beings in a way that no other activity does. And, the neuroscience demonstrates that music truly can unite us.
Love of Music and Wellbeing Linked
Deliberately, I embed music into my posts. Music fuels my spirit.
Human beings across the ages have created and performed and listened to music. We are a musical species. We share music. We experience emotions in relationship with music.
Music positively impacts child development and academic performance. Take a moment to read the articles by Lia Peralta and by Cogo-Moreira and colleagues.
Listening to music affects our mental health. In her TEDTalk, Indre Viskonstas speaks of the anticipation triggered in us as we listen to the sequence of notes preceding the high note. That anticipation is all about the dopamine surge, leading to satisfaction.
Performing music impacts our mental health. Singing requires the use of many parts of our body and of our brain. Deep breathing massages the vagus nerve and calms our nervous system. Singing employs mindfulness of being in the moment and of being immersed in a story apart from our little world of stress. And, the story may remind you of your story.
The neuroscience of singing and performing music is not a figment of my imagination. Take a gander at David Levitin’s This is Your Brain on Music. You will not be disappointed.
Take a listen to the interview by Mindy Peterson, NCTM, with Levitin about his book, I Heard There Was a Secret Chord:
Ep. 190: I Heard There Was a Secret Chord – Dr. Daniel Levitin on His New Book and the Science Behind Music as Medicine
https://mpetersonmusic.com/podcast/episode190
Our learning and our emotional wellbeing are both enhanced through music. I have nothing further to add.
Musical Selections for December Wellbeing
Here are some of my favourite songs for the end of 2025 while wishing for peace and love and collaboration and kindness in 2026.
Kings Return: Somewhere in My Memory
Home Free: Auld Lang Syne (Mandarin version)
Broadway Brass Band: Hanukkah in Santa Monica
Cultural Forces International: Carol of the Bells (Shchredyk)
Together for Palestine: Lullaby
Andrea Bocelli’s Magical Christmas: December 4, 2025
AND
Tom Jackson: The Huron Carol
The Huron Carol is a double-edged sword, imbued with the damage of colonialism on the resilience of First Nations’ Peoples. Tom Jackson of the One Arrow First Nation, born of a Cree mother and English father, performs a haunting version of the carol, in my opinion. Here’s some history about the Huron Carol, thanks to Siouxland Public Media (December 9, 2023):
The Huron Carol: The First North American Christmas Carol and its Colonial Author
Let your spirit soar on musical wings.
Happy New Year 2026. Peace to Our World.
Please give generously to your local food pantries. Your neighbours will thank you.
Disclaimer: The content of this post is not meant to substitute for a consultation with your healthcare professional team.
If you are thinking of hurting yourself or of hurting someone else, please CALL 9-1-1; CALL 9-8-8; or GO TO the nearest emergency room.
Selected References:
Annenberg School of Communication. (October 30, 2020). In Conversation with Emile Bruneau: Dehumanization. University of Pennsylvania. Accessed online on July 5, 2025, at https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9991937/
Cogo-Moreira, H., Brandão-de Ávila, C.R., Ploubidis, G.B., and de Jesus Mari, J. (March 27, 2013). Effectiveness of Music Education for the Improvement of Reading Skills and Academic Achievement in Young Poor Readers: A Pragmatic Cluster-Randomized, Controlled Clinical Trial. PLoS One, 8(3): e59984. Accessed online on December 1, 2024, at https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3609825/
Cooper-Sansone, A. (November 29, 2024). The Neuroscience of Stress + 5 Strategies to Manage It. Sense of Mind. Accessed online on December 1, 2024, at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qfvlEtO0XxU
KATU Lifestyle. (September 9, 2024). Daniel Levitin Explores Music as Medicine in “I Heard There Was a Secret Chord”. Accessed online on December 1, 2024, at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pb1P0PEz5GA
Levitin, D.J. (2007). This is Your Brain on Music. The Science of a Human Obsession.
Marchant, J. (July/August 2024). A Buried Ancient Egyptian Port Reveals the Hidden Connections Between Distant Civilizations. Smithsonian Magazine. Accessed online on November 9, 2025, at https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/hidden-ancient-egyptian-port-reveals-180984485/
McGill Newsroom Institutional Communications. (November 21, 2019). Human song is universal. McGill University. Accessed online on December 1, 2024, at https://www.mcgill.ca/newsroom/channels/news/human-song-universal-302755
Mendez, M.F. (Mar 1 2023). A Functional and Neuroanatomical Model of Dehumanization. Cogn Behav Neurol, 36(1): 42-47. Accessed online on July 5, 2025, at https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9991937/
Paturel, A. (March 21, 2024). Bolster Your Brain by Stimulating the Vagus Nerve. Cedars-Sinai.org. Accessed online on December 1, 2024, at https://www.cedars-sinai.org/blog/stimulating-the-vagus-nerve.html
Peralta, L. (April 4, 2018). Benefits of Music to the Brain. Save the Music Foundation. Accessed online on December 1, 2024, at https://www.savethemusic.org/blog/research/benefits-to-the-brain/
Pluta, A., Mazurek, J., Wojciechowski, J., Wolak, T., Soral, W., Bilewicz, M. (13 March 2023). Exposure to hate speech deteriorates neurocognitive mechanisms of the ability to understand others’ pain. Scientific Reports, 13 (article 4127). Accessed online on October 9, 2025, at https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-023-31146-1
UN Innovation Network. June 15, 2023. The Neuroscience of Peace and Conflict. Accessed online on March 9, 2025, at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZxJPHLbipNM
Viskonstas, I. (November 1, 2016). How music makes me a better neuroscientist. TEDx San Francisco. Accessed online on November 24, 2024, at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AJYRJ92g4GI
Women’s Health Tasmania. (July 6, 2023). Your Vagus Nerve and how singing can make you feel better. Womenshealthtas.org.au Accessed online on December 1, 2024, at https://www.womenshealthtas.org.au/blog/your-vagus-nerve-and-how-singing-can-make-you-feel-better
Zaki, J. (May 14, 2020). Catastrophe Compassion: Understanding and Extending Prosociality Under Crisis. Trends Cogn. Sci, 24(8): 587-589. Accessed online on November 17, 2024, at https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7221394/#:~:text=Extending%20Catastrophe%20Compassion&text=Floods%2C%20bombings%2C%20and%20earthquakes%20are,boundaries%20that%20typically%20separate%20people.
Nota Bene:
USA Government websites are being purged by the current Trump Administration to align the website content with the regime’s political agenda. Please note that any government website cited in this and other posts on this website may no longer contain evidence based or historically correct information. Thus, I am trying to avoid including any references or resources which derive from a USA government website. This is not bias; I take this action in an effort to maintain a factually sound content in my posts.
Copyright 2025 All Rights Reserved