For years, music has been something we enjoyed. Now we’re finally remembering it’s also something we need.
A recent feature in Reasons to be Cheerful (by Michaela Haas) spotlights research showing music doesn’t just soothe us emotionally—it actively shifts our physiology. Post-surgical patients who listened to music needed half the morphine. Their heart rates stayed in healthier zones. Recovery came faster, and fear diminished.
Dogs, too, were calmer under anesthesia when exposed to Mozart and Chopin.
Let that sink in: music helped the dogs.
Why does this matter for team building?
Because while most people in today’s workplaces aren’t fresh from surgery, many are quietly recovering—from burnout, loneliness, overperformance, AI anxiety or return to office culture shock.
The transition back to “normal” hasn’t been gentle.
And that’s where music comes in.
According to neuroscientist Daniel J. Levitin, music doesn’t just make us feel better. It rewires us. It supports neuroplasticity and recovery, helps normalize the stress response, and modulates key chemicals like serotonin, dopamine, and prolactin.
Music, in short, gives our brains a better signal to follow.
That’s what researchers at the University of California, San Francisco found: when we’re in pain, signal activity in the brain’s orbitofrontal cortex spikes—and that’s the very same region music activates. It distracts, yes, but it also resets.
So, when we bring music into a team building experience—not as background noise, but as the central, shared thread—we create space for real recalibration. We’re not lecturing people to bond or forcing joy through awkward games or icebreakers. We’re offering a different path into presence, playfulness, and connection.
And people say yes to music in a way they won’t always say yes to other “wellness” tools. Not everyone wants to meditate, be touched, or talk. But give them a beat to follow, a lyric to share, a stage to set, a sound to move to? They’re in. (By the way, there’s something for everyone in SongDivision’s formats. Some love the spotlight. Others love behind-the-scenes ops or being a scribe).
In the article, one neuroscientist, Jeffery Dusek, put it this way:
“Some folks are absolutely not interested in being touched, having needles stuck in them, or meditating… but when you offer music, very few patients say no.”
At SongDivision, we’ve long known deep in our bones that music is an important language of belonging.
Now, the research echoes what we see every day: that when people create music together, they don’t just relax—they reconnect. With each other, with themselves, often with something bigger.
So no, music won’t “fix” your culture instantly. But it will change the conditions. Know this: It’s a proven, powerful and frequently underestimated business tool.
It will get your people listening again. And that’s where better days begin.
Here’s the piece that inspired us.
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