Hi all,
When I'm not singing ballads my day job is being a neuroscience researcher/professor. I have an article in press "Ballads on the Brain" in which I consider the cultural phenomenon of amateur ballad singing (as distinguished from professional performance) from a biological perspective, specifically its impact on brain circuits involved in recovering from stress, regulating emotions, and making social connections.

The publisher (EMC Imprint) is rather behind schedule in releasing the volume in which that will appear (it was due out in February) but I'll post a followup message with the link when it goes live, and would be glad to email anyone a pre-print on request.

In the meantime, however, I have given a public talk on this material under the title "The neuroscience of singing". I've now posted a video of the lecture here if anyone is interested:

Ballads on the Brain lecture

Note that although I do sing a little in the lecture, it's not a performance. My ballad singing videos are on a different channel:

Pamela San Diego channel


Best,
Pamela