Synchronised in song

Abstract

Abstract Chapter 3 describes the design, implementation, and efficacy of a programme of singing and songwriting—Sing to Connect—for refugee mothers in South-East Queensland, Australia. Drawing attention to a raft of upstream drivers of health inequities in displaced populations, the chapter sets out a rationale for work that amplifies cultural strengths such as music and language in health interventions that are arts-based. It goes on to describe the songwriting and singing as related musical practices that bring about social outcomes such as connection, cooperation, collaboration, and eventually cohesion. Underscoring the capacity of songwriting to alert the mothers to pertinent health issues, to channel creative self-expression, and to offset power imbalances with their midwives, the chapter offers a suite of insights that hold implications for both music and midwifery practitioners.