Psychological Trauma:
Theory, Research, Practice, and Policy
© 2020 American Psychological Association
ISSN: 1942-9681
COVID-19 and Spontaneous Singing to Decrease Loneliness, Improve
Cohesion, and Mental Well-Being: An Italian Experience
Elisabetta Corvo
Canterbury Christ Church University
Since March 2020, Italy has been in lockdown due to COVID-19, and individuals have missed all kinds
of networking opportunities. Already in the 1st weeks of March, Italian cities’ silence was broken by
This article is intended solely for the personal use of the individual user and is not to be disseminated broadly.
singing. The use of singing as a coping strategy as well as to improve the sense of cohesion is evident.
This document is copyrighted by the American Psychological Association or one of its allied publishers.
Greater attention should be paid to the development of social cohesion and to social support in terms of
social networks and the development of social capital.
Keywords: singing, health, social capital, COVID-19, loneliness
Since March 2020, Italy has been in a lockdown, starting from
northern Italy, because it was more affected by COVID-19; after-
ward, the lockdown was extended to the entire country. The
lockdown meant, for many people, that they had to change their
lives completely and radically, to avoid contacts with friends,
relatives, and parents and besides that to stop activities not con-
nected with work. Along with the change, fear and the difficulty of
adapting to change, as well as a feeling of uncertainty about the
future, has certainly increased. Rapid changes, such as deprivation
of freedom to move or to meet other individuals, are often difficult
to interpret. In the discontinuity created by the situation, individ-
uals began to seek continuity.
Aristotle (4th century B.C.) wrote in his Politics that “man is a
social animal” because individuals tend to congregate with other
individuals with the final aim to build themselves into a society.
Many philosophers, such as Hobbes (1642/1991); Locke (1689/
1967), and Kant (1784/2010), have variously interpreted the con-
cept of society and the State and have discussed the philosophical
debate about how and why individuals try to connect with each
other. Tönnies (1887/2011) tried overcoming two fundamental
theories on society, the historical⫺organismic and that of the
contract, introducing a new concept type, that of community, as a
key tool for understanding social change. Community is made up
of personal relationships, family ties; community in Tönnies’s
(1887/2011) conception encompassed a wide range of feelings,
Editor’s Note. This commentary received rapid review due to the time-
sensitive nature of the content. It was reviewed by the Journal Editor.—KKT
This article was published Online First June 25, 2020.
X Elisabetta Corvo, School of Allied and Public Health Professions,
Canterbury Christ Church University; X Walter De Caro, CNAI Italian
Nurses National Association, Rome, Italy.
Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Elisa-
betta Corvo, School of Allied and Public Health Professions, Canter-
bury Christ Church University, Canterbury, United Kingdom. E-mail:
elisabetta.corvo@canterbury.ac.uk
S247
2020, Vol. 12, No. S1, S247–S248
http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/tra0000838
Walter De Caro
CNAI Italian Nurses National Association, Rome, Italy
such as security, supply, happiness, and organic attachment (Al-
brecht, 2019). Tönnies (1887/2011) classified community into
three different kinds: kinship (blood community), neighborhood
(community place), and friendship (community spirit).
The lockdown imposed by the Italian authorities has had an
impact on all three community concepts as expressed by Tönnies
(1887/2011). The kinship ties (blood community) have been bro-
ken; an illustrative example is the strong ties in the Italian culture
between grandparents and grandchildren that has been broken
during the lockdown. The friendship ties (community spirit) have
been affected too because the lockdown rules imposed allowed for
seeing and having relationships with only and exclusively the
individuals who live in the same house. However, a phenomenon
has occurred within the neighborhood (community ties) that has
caused it to unexpectedly flourish: singing from the windows.
Individuals have missed all kinds of networking opportunities of
any type: Religious, sports, cultural, or leisure activities were shut
down due to the lockdown. The loss of this type of social capital
that develops because through the sharing of common passions and
interests or even from simply meeting with people (Putnam, 2000)
who are not part of their cohabitant group has been massive. The
social capital that develops from meeting people with similar
interests and originates from the role that each individual plays in
these networks was in fact weakened if not completely lost during
the lockdown. However, it is important to bear in mind that social
networks, which produce social capital (Putnam, 2000), are con-
stantly changing and evolving, to adapt to new circumstances.
During the lockdown, a perception of loneliness and distress
was generated due to the general fear, lack of contacts, lack of
freedom, and uncertainty about the future. These feelings can
potentially have a strong impact on the mental well-being of each
individual (Fiorillo & Gorwood, 2020; Torales, O’Higgins,
Castaldelli-Maia, & Ventriglio, 2020). It is interesting that Italians
reacted quite immediately and spontaneously to address loneliness
and distress through the use of singing and music from their
windows.
There is a growing body of evidence that supports that the idea
that singing has a variety of positive effects on both mental and
 S248 CORVO AND DE CARO
physical health (Clift & Morrison, 2011; Irons, Sheffield, Balling-
ton, & Stewart, 2020; Kreutz et al., 2003). Remarkably and spe-
cifically, several pieces of research on mental health have found a
link between singing and mental well-being across different ages
and settings (Clift, Manship, & Stephens, 2017; Fancourt, Finn,
Warran, & Wiseman, 2019; Moss & O’Donoghue, 2019). The
research conducted was varied: Some researchers analyzed the
effects of singing in choirs, and others carried out research on
singing groups specifically set up for research purposes.
Already in the first weeks of March, the silence in Italian cities,
because there were no cars or traffic, was broken by singing.
Singing was carried out in various ways: In some cities, quite
recent songs with a strong emotional impact for their meaning
This article is intended solely for the personal use of the individual user and is not to be disseminated broadly.
were sung; in other cities, conversely, old songs that are strongly
This document is copyrighted by the American Psychological Association or one of its allied publishers.
connected to the Italian culture, such as the national anthem, were
chosen. The windows in the streets of the cities were animated
with people of all ages enjoying the moment of social cohesion and
of emotional exchange. The videos filmed instinctively and shared
through social media by individuals show a moment of strong
union in which the sense of loneliness was to some extent for that
moment forgotten.
The most interesting aspect is the spontaneity of sharing and
bonding emotions through singing (and music) of different indi-
viduals because, as mentioned above, most of the research con-
ducted has been on structured choirs. In this case, conversely, the
singing network was completely spontaneous and free from rules.
The use of singing as a coping strategy as well as to improve the
sense of cohesion is evident. Individuals used their identity—in
terms of songs chosen—to avoid feelings of loneliness and to
enhance their mood in these times of uncertainty. An interesting
aspect is that this phenomenon has had a variable trend: It was very
strong in the beginning; that is, when the lockdown just started, the
number of individuals singing at their windows was quite remark-
able, whereas subsequently (after 2 or 3 weeks) there was a drop.
At this time (May 2020), individuals are back in their windows to
sing along with the rest of the neighborhood.
The circumstances that communities and individuals are expe-
riencing have been nothing short of exceptional. From a mental
well-being point of view, it is difficult to adapt to internment and
movement controls; the lack of freedom and the opportunity to
meet with friends and relatives has a serious impact. Humans are
social animals and naturally live in groups for solidarity and
support. Greater vision must be given to the development of social
cohesion and to social support in terms of social networks and the
development of social capital.
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Received April 30, 2020
Revision received May 19, 2020
Accepted May 19, 2020 䡲