Why people don’t sing
I hear from so many singers who were told not to sing. Perhaps they come from a family of non-singers who say “we aren’t musical”. Or they have family members who were great singers and they felt that their singing wasn’t any good in comparison. Or, and I hear this far too often, the music teacher at school told them to stand at the back of the choir, or to mime, or not to come.
They decided they were bad at singing and they shouldn’t ever sing.
I tell them that when a baby falls over when learning to walk we don’t tell it to give up and move onto new things.
Singing is a birth right. Singing is a portal to joy. We all have a right to sing. Below I outline 5 (ish) reasons why you should sing.
1 Singing is a Birth Right
Babies babble before they speak. Of course that’s because they need to learn how to use language but still, the noise making of a baby is there before they have the words to use to communicate clearly. They sing before they speak.
Parents speak to their babies in parentese1, which is a posh way to say “sing song voice”. We teach our babies to speak by singing to them..
You may disagree, but I think the primal noises babies make are very like singing even if they aren’t singing. And, let’s be honest, many babies sing. But as my kids grew up in a singing house I can’t say that all babies sing. But mine certainly did.
2 – Singing Unites Us
When we sing we connect to something more than ourselves and our voice.
I believe that one of the benefits of many religions is that congregations sing together.
When we sing together, we breathe together and we unite. When we breathe together we are less alone and we are part of something more than ourselves.
When we sing together our voices unite as well. The sound that is made is so much more than just the notes we sing. We come together to bring out harmonies, and if not harmonies then harmonics2 which are those extra notes you hear when two voices (or instruments) come together.
I work with people who are so afraid to sing that they mime at weddings and funerals. I find that so incredibly sad. You should sing.
3 – Singing Allows You To Express Things That Are Otherwise Hard to Express
In the musical theatre world, (which I spend quite a bit of my teaching time in), someone once said something along the lines of, if it’s too much to speak then we sing, if it’s too much to sing then we dance3. Personally I stick to singing, as, for me, dancing is fun but I’m not at the level of personal expression with it yet.
The right song can give us the opportunity to express something when we can’t find the words we need.
Sometimes the music moves us and sometimes the words move us. Sometimes they move us so much we can’t sing the song but often this is a sign that you should sing the song, even if it’s just in private. Your reaction to the song is telling you that you should sing the song.
I will never forget when a singer I was working with sung “Patterns in the Rain” to connect to his feelings. It was one of many deeply moving moments we have had together over the years. (Yes my work is a massive privilege and I don’t take any of that for granted).
Sometimes we have to get past the words to sounds.
When Shakespeare uses “oh”s and the like it isn’t because he couldn’t be bothered with words it’s because he’s showing words won’t suffice to say what he’s making his characters say.
Sometimes we need more than the words, we need sounds.
Sometimes we need more than the words, we need sounds. I love this version of Inchworm from the film Hans Christian Andersen.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dfCRjliOvJQ
4 – Singing Is A Portal to Joy
I believe that there are many portals to joy (or God as I sometimes call it).
I think it’s about connecting with whatever lights you up. Whatever helps you to connect with yourself, others and the world around you. I get this from trees, people and I get this A LOT from music.
I believe that when you connect with your voice, when you connect with music it can bring you closer to connecting with joy.
5 – All Of the Health Benefits
We all know that singing is good for us. A few of the benefits off the top of my head are….
1 – It is therapeutic. The sort of deeper breathing we do when we sing activates the vagus nerve which takes us into rest and digestion (and out of fight and flight).
2 – It’s a workout.
3 – It’s great for your lungs.
6 – It means you can be heard if you’re needing to shout for something.
Only kidding. Or not. And yes that’s 6.
If you are ready to deepen or start your singing journey.
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- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baby_talk ↩︎
- https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/harmonic ↩︎
- Apparently this is a version of a Hans Christian Anderson quote “when words fail, music speaks.” I was raised on Danny Kaye so I really like that this quote comes from Hans Christian Anderson, (although he is always Danny Kaye to me). ↩︎