This is a feeling thing, not an aesthetic thing, says Julia Hollander of the music made all around the world during the Covid lockdowns of 2020-2021. As cities quieted and tranquillity became the norm – no traffic, no planes, no pneumatic drills, school playgrounds empty – all around the globe the sound of shocked silence reverberated as people began to hear birds trilling, our own breathing, breeze in the trees and – surely not! – singing.

Why We Sing

Hollander is a singer, community music teacher, learned researcher, precocious opera director (ENO, age 25), political activist and, of course, a mother. Beginning with the birth of humanity and the birth of a baby, this book is evidence that she is also a writer of flair and fluency. Why We Sing is fascinating, surprising, illuminating, heartwarming and absolutely unputdownable. (Not something I was expecting, although now it would be impossible to say why.)

Hollander begins with the kidney bean in the womb to explain how two strands...