Music and Wellness Come Together at Calgary’s Studio Bell
The National Music Centre is in tune with today’s self-care needs.
A wag might suggest that not so long ago, the relationship between music and wellness in Calgary sounded something like this: “Dwayne Wells, who made his money in oil wells, sang along to George Strait’s ‘Living and Living Well’ at the Stampede before ordering a well-done ribeye at Caesar’s Steakhouse.”
However, Alberta’s largest city is hitting some new high notes. Studio Bell, the capacious downtown Calgary home of the National Music Centre, recently installed a permanent exhibition titled Music & Wellness. It offers an innovative, nuanced vision of the healing power of music in terms of both physical and mental health. From relieving trauma to reinforcing cultural values, there is great potential therapeutic value in melody, rhythm, and harmony, as new research underlines.
Daniel J. Levitin, whose latest New York Times bestseller is I Heard There Was a Secret Chord: Music as Medicine, is one of four experts that the exhibition spotlights in large-screen video interviews. The McGill University neuroscientist has worked with stars like Sting and Steely Dan.
In this exhibition, Levitin notes the worries that even elite jazz musicians confront when attempting to emulate the improvisational genius of Charlie Parker or Miles Davis. Parts of the brain’s frontal lobes can shut down, “throttled by fear and anxiety that you’re going to make a mistake,” as Levitin puts it. Conversely, music can also activate the brain’s reward circuitry and summon up meaningful memories, leading musicians and listeners alike into new, positive spaces.
Calgary-based music therapist Jennifer Buchanan emphasizes the stress-relieving potential of the right tunes: “Twenty minutes of music that soothes you is like taking 10 milligrams of Valium.” Moreover, according to Buchanan, inspirational music can help the blood vessels open up.
For those struggling with long-term illnesses like Parkinson’s or Alzheimer’s, University of Calgary researcher Bin Hu highlights studies that show depression and motor abilities improving due to musical exposure. There is, in fact, a “long-lasting and clinical meaningful outcome” in terms of defreezing when Parkinson’s sufferers are prompted to overcome a temporary inability to move with music as a catalyst.
Meanwhile, Eldon Weasel Child, a Siksika singer since he was six, speaks powerfully about how music resonates in Indigenous culture, imprinting traditional knowledge from elders in the minds of listeners and supporting community healing. Songs about animals and nature are “all to connect us with the world around us,” observes the elder whose Blackfoot name means Holy Thunder Chief.
Neighbouring rooms complement the Music & Wellness exhibition. Visitors can share their thoughts on how music has enhanced their lives on postcards displayed on a wall, with sentiments like “Music is my constant faithful companion” and “Music has kept me alive.” Or they might witness a spontaneous outburst of joy, such as an on-site interpreter playing Bach and Elton John selections on a 1924-built Kimball theatre organ while a neurodivergent young person dances along.
Photos by Lucas Aykroyd
In the broader picture, the NMC is contributing to revitalization in Calgary’s long-troubled East Village neighbourhood, similar to what the Stax Museum of American Soul Music did for Memphis.
The NMC stands across from the Central Library, another cultural and architectural landmark. Its curved contours, use of natural light, and amenities from public art to recording studios evoke the award-winning Oodi library in Helsinki. Just blocks away is The Next Page, a Harry Potter-esque independent bookstore whose basement features a seed library with wild arugula and lemon marigold seeds.
The harmonious vibe is enough to make culturally attuned Calgarians sing. Still, according to Andrew Mosker, the founding president and CEO of the NMC, there is always more to accomplish. “Music has a role—and everyone already knows this instinctively—of bringing people together, creating conversations, and sometimes facilitating understanding and compromise between people who have different cultural backgrounds,” he says.
He points to successful NMC initiatives like Jam Club, which offers free music lessons to at-risk youth, and the 2024 Mid-Autumn Festival at Studio Bell, which featured Jasmine Jazz, a collaboration between the Vancouver Chinese Music Ensemble and Juno-nominated composer Jodi Proznick.
Whether your tastes run toward Taylor Swift or Tongan drumming, it is evident that whatever you take away from the Music & Wellness exhibition to enhance your own consumption of music is the main thing.
