Music & Health: How does music care for you?

To everyone resonating with music, health, and identity—

August is a month of transition — the last glow of summer and the first hint of a new season. For singers, teachers, lifelong learners, and music lovers, it’s a time to reset and prepare, to step back into the practice room, classroom, or simply into deeper listening with renewed focus.

This month, I invite you to think about something we rarely discuss openly:
What if the key to experiencing music more deeply — whether through singing, studying, or listening — isn’t only in technique or knowledge… but also in the mind?

Mental health is the unseen foundation of artistry and of life with music. As we prepare for another season of performances, studies, teaching, and discoveries, I want to open this conversation — and share music, voices, and ideas to inspire and strengthen us for the road ahead.

Let’s dive in.

🧠 MUSIC & HEALTH SPOTLIGHT

Music as Medicine for the Mind

Research shows that engaging with music — whether singing, playing, or simply listening — reduces stress hormones, boosts immune function, and improves concentration and memory.

This season, think of music as a workout not only for your voice or skills, but also for your brain and emotional well-being. Each note, each rhythm, and each melody is an investment in health.

🎼 MUSIC SPOTLIGHT

Women Who Resonate

A Curated Playlist

This month’s playlist celebrates women composers from Latin America, Spain, and Catalonia. Their music is vibrant, intimate, and powerful — works I have had the privilege to record and perform. Listening to their voices is itself an act of expanding the canon and caring for cultural health.

[🎼 Listen on Spotify → link [🎼 Listen on YouTube → link

📚 BOOK SPOTLIGHT

We Are What We Listen To

Music doesn’t just accompany our lives — it shapes who we are. In We Are What We Listen To: The Impact of Music on Individual and Social Health, I explore how sound impacts our brains, emotions, and communities.

As the academic and artistic year begins, it’s the perfect moment to ask: what are you listening to, and how is it shaping your well-being?

📘 Available in English, Spanish, and Portuguese
🎧 In print, digital, and audiobook formats

🎧 NEW PODCAST EPISODE

New Episode — Detrás del Telón / Behind the Curtains

A new podcast episode has just launched with LA Opera:

Behind the Curtains (in English)

🎙 Listen now and be part of the conversation

🇵🇸 PALESTINIAN MUSIC SPOTLIGHT

Because listening is also a way to resist

As part of Resisting Through Song: A Palestinian Voice Every Week, I share artists whose music preserves culture and identity in the face of erasure.

🎶 This week’s artist: Amal Murkus — a Palestinian singer whose voice blends traditional song with contemporary arrangements, carrying resilience and tenderness in equal measure.

🎧 Listen to Amal Murkus →La ahada yalam

🔮 LOOKING AHEAD

Barcelona Festival of Song 2026

Join Us Next Summer
The 22nd edition of the Barcelona Festival of Song will take place from July 1 to 10, 2026—and we’d love for you to be part of it.

If you’re a classical singer, collaborative pianist, or musicologist passionate about expanding the repertoire, embracing linguistic and cultural diversity, and exploring Latin American and Iberian art song in Spanish, Portuguese, and Catalan, this program is for you.

✨ Early registration comes with reduced tuition, and spots are very limited—we accept only 12 participants to ensure a personalized, intensive experience.

Don’t wait to begin your journey.

💌 Learn more and register here

LET’S KEEP RESONATING

Thank you for being here—for listening, learning, and resonating. Whether you sing, read, reflect, or share, you are part of a growing community that believes in the power of sound to connect and transform.

Until next time, abrazos!

Patricia 💫
Follow me on Spotify | Follow me on Instagram | Join the BFOS Follow me on Linkedin | Follow me on Academia | Subscribe to Resonances the Podcast