Music is a biological necessity

This episode explores how music can regulate the nervous system, build belonging, and help people feel safe in communal playing spaces. Tara Connaghan is joined by Louise Kelly, a consultant music therapist from the North of Ireland, TEDx speaker, and co-founder of Resilient Rhythms, whose perspective connects traditional music with anxiety, confidence, and connection.

We discuss why some players sit on the periphery, why others play loudly or keep leaving and returning, and how those behaviours can be understood through fight, flight, freeze, and fawn responses rather than judgment.

Chapters00:00 - Music as shared nervous system regulation

00:44 - Introduction to Louise Kelly and the episode’s focus

03:02 - Louise’s background in music therapy and why she speaks publicly about music’s power

04:32 - The TEDx selection process and the journey to speaking on stage

06:24 - Why music is a biological necessity, not just entertainment

07:46 - Sessions, teamwork, and rhythm as connection

09:01 - Growing up outside the Irish music tradition and feeling drawn in

10:55 - Discovering session etiquette through a therapist’s lens

12:49 - The nervous system’s job: keeping us safe

13:45 - Fight, flight, freeze, and fawn in session behaviour