[AUDITORY] Frontiers Research Topic on "The Role of Music During the COVID-19 Pandemic"

[Niels Christian Hansen <nch@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Frontiers Research Topic on “The Role of Music During the COVID-19 Pandemic”

The Frontiers Research Topic “Social Convergence in Times of Spatial Distancing: The Role of Music During the COVID-19 Pandemic”, edited by Niels Chr. Hansen, Melanie Wald-Fuhrmann, and Jane W. Davidson, is now open for submissions with abstracts due on 1 Sep and full manuscripts due on 1 Nov. Please note that abstract submissions are voluntary and primarily serve to give the editors an opportunity to promote wide representation. Full manuscripts can still be submitted if no abstract is submitted.

**Due to the exceptional nature of the COVID-19 situation, Frontiers is waiving all article publishing charges for COVID-19 related research in this Research Topic.**

Link to official call: https://fro.ntiers.in/CovidMusic
Deadlines: 1 Sep 2020 (abstracts), 1 Nov 2020 (full manuscripts)
Contact: Niels Chr. Hansen, Aarhus Institute of Advanced Studies & Center for Music in the Brain, Aarhus University, nchansen@xxxxxxxxxx<mailto:nchansen@xxxxxxxxxx>

More info: The global COVID-19 pandemic and resulting lockdown measures produced a multitude of novel ways of engaging with music. Creative outbursts spread ‘virally’ from balconies and living rooms to social media platforms where new concert formats and innovative, thought-provoking music videos proliferated under hashtags such as #coronasongs, #quarantunes, and #songsofcomfort. These new phenomena bore witness to a conviction that music may be used to create and maintain social bonds and cope with anxiety, boredom, loneliness, stress, and a looming uncertainty about the future.

This Research Topic invites music researchers from all disciplinary backgrounds with diverse methodological skillsets to jointly document, investigate, and understand music’s role during the coronavirus crisis. The current situation provides unique opportunities for ecological observations, large-scale surveys, and controlled experiments on the interplay between ingrained psychological mechanisms and cultural practices in promoting social convergence despite imposed spatial distancing.



Niels Chr. Hansen (PhD, MSc, MMus, BA)
Assistant Professor (AIAS-COFUND II Marie Skłodowska-Curie Fellow)
Aarhus Institute of Advanced Studies & Center for Music in the Brain, Aarhus University, Denmark
nchansen@xxxxxxxxxx<mailto:nchansen@xxxxxxxxxx> | ph. +45 25338833