Hook an opera diva up to an MRI machine and what do you get? For starters, some intriguing research results into how music and our brains work together. Superstar soprano and National Medal of Arts recipient, Renee Fleming, has shepherded and participated in Sound Health: Music and the Mind, a collaboration between the National Institutes of Health (NIH), The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and in association with the National Endowment for the Arts. 

Fleming and NIH Director Francis Collins, MD, PhD are bringing musicianship and neuroscience together in a study that looks at music, health and well-being. In an interview with Stanford’s Paul Costello, executive editor of Stanford Medicine, Fleming shared: “I went to the NIH and participated in an MRI imaging study that actually looked at my brain when I was performing. It’s an incredibly fascinating scan and it’s remarkable how much the brain is activated by music. It has a broader impact on the brain than almost any other activity.” She told Costello her goals for the initiative include bringing a wider awareness and support to music therapy as a discipline. “The second [goal] is to educate the public and enlighten people about the power of music to heal,” she said. To read the interview, go here.