My junior high school made everyone (no exception!) sing in the choir, but before and after that, we were on our own.
I rediscovered singing when Mary J Blige songs were on 92Q back in the 90s, and I had a broken heart and a long commute. After that, crickets once again.
I read somewhere that before homo sapiens developed the jaw structure and musculature to make "finely tuned" sounds, their communication was largely song-like.
Finally, becoming a yoga student and instructor well into mid-life, I am much more attuned to the power of forming any sustained note in the throat (e.g., OM). Feels like all the things that cannot be said being said at once, and with feeling.
I grew up in the church singing. Everyone in the congregation sang the hymns in four-part harmony. The stern old protestant German and English standards on Sunday morning, the pipe organ thrumming through the wooden pews and our bodies, holding together every voice as we lifted "A Mighty Fortress is Our God" to the rafters baby! A very corporal experience indeed.
Sunday evenings in the summer were even more fun, with windows open and palmetto fans waving as we joyously hurled old-timey american gospel tunes out into the warm air, words and notes floating over the neighborhood.
My mother sang quietly and soothingly as she did laundry and dishes. Maybe hymns, but mostly folk songs. I haven't kept up that practice, but sometimes I whistle while I work.
Singing is as important as talking and dancing is as important as walking.
My junior high school made everyone (no exception!) sing in the choir, but before and after that, we were on our own.
I rediscovered singing when Mary J Blige songs were on 92Q back in the 90s, and I had a broken heart and a long commute. After that, crickets once again.
I read somewhere that before homo sapiens developed the jaw structure and musculature to make "finely tuned" sounds, their communication was largely song-like.
Finally, becoming a yoga student and instructor well into mid-life, I am much more attuned to the power of forming any sustained note in the throat (e.g., OM). Feels like all the things that cannot be said being said at once, and with feeling.
Now I am wondering what it would be like if there were more singing in everyday life.
I grew up in the church singing. Everyone in the congregation sang the hymns in four-part harmony. The stern old protestant German and English standards on Sunday morning, the pipe organ thrumming through the wooden pews and our bodies, holding together every voice as we lifted "A Mighty Fortress is Our God" to the rafters baby! A very corporal experience indeed.
Sunday evenings in the summer were even more fun, with windows open and palmetto fans waving as we joyously hurled old-timey american gospel tunes out into the warm air, words and notes floating over the neighborhood.
My mother sang quietly and soothingly as she did laundry and dishes. Maybe hymns, but mostly folk songs. I haven't kept up that practice, but sometimes I whistle while I work.