Singing: The key to a long life (2008)
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Re: Singing: The key to a long life (2008)
#2I have a habit of singing publicly. I did not realise this was socially abnormal until I was about 21.
I suppose it helps that I have a pretty decent singing voice (baritone), but I'm also quite loud and my voice really projects (so I'm told).
I can't stop though. I made a compromise - I won't sing in public places (eg train, walking through the city), as people will think I'm mad. But I will whistle. And I'll sing at home, in my neighbourhood, local shops, people's houses, in the office - basically everywhere else.
Fortunately I married someone who has the exact same habit. At home we just walk around singing, sometimes not even the same song.
I understand some people are tone-deaf, and just cannot sing. But for everyone else, I genuinely don't see why you're not all walking around singing! It's fun, it's elating, it's expressive! I even sing sad songs when I'm sad, and it makes me feel better.
Putting aside shyness, there's people that don't even sing alone. That I'll never understand ...
Re: Singing: The key to a long life (2008)
#3I have a habit of singing publicly. I did not realise this was socially abnormal until I was about 21. I suppose it helps that I have a pretty decent singing voice (baritone), but I'm also quite loud and my voice really projects (so I'm told). I can't stop though. I made a compromise - I won't sing in public places (eg train, walking through the city), as people will think I'm mad. But I will whistle. And I'll sing a…
Thanks for sharing your experience! My living situation is changing in such a way that I’ll be able to sing to my heart’s intent very soon.
The reason I’m thanking you in particular is that your story confirms a lemma in my pet theory of how human intelligence emerged. Humans are capable of interrogating their boredom, and not only observing but interjecting themselves in their subjective experience. What came first? Primitive language or rhythm? What came first? Complex language or music?
It’s obfuscated by modern technology and culture, but we can sing like the birds. More expressively, in some ways. Slaves sang in the fields and workmen in the mines. It’s the original smartphone, and perhaps the original way the human animal passed the time in a way that could be experienced and shared with others.
Idk, I’ve had a second glass of wine tonight, but your comment has brought me immense joy that I usually don’t find on anonymous sites, even HN. I didn’t even really explain my point in this comment, just rambled around and outline. Regardless: Keep singing, fellow baritone. Thanks for keeping the music alive. The experience of being an individual human being is all we have, and singing is one of those magical or amazing things that makes it, by all accounts, special.
Re: Singing: The key to a long life (2008)
#4To those thinking "I want to sing but I just can't sing." I encourage you to get one on one lessons with a professional.
I started out not being able to sing at all. Couldn't match the pitch, I just sounded like I was trying to "talk in tune". My voice would get very tired very quickly too.
It took a long time, but the change is huge. I can sing in tune now. I can sing much higher. It sounds pleasant. My voice doesn't get tired.
Expect to take 2 or 3 years to really get somewhere. Singing is strange, you can't really see what other singers or yourself are doing. With the piano you can take a look at your teachers hands, but with singing you have to go on a kinda of exploration into sensations in your body, with the teacher as an experienced guide.
Singing is one of the few skills I would recommend to literally everyone.
Re: Singing: The key to a long life (2008)
#5Church choir communities are fun, supportive, flexible (you can walk into any church choir and belong), exciting (yes, I would like to go on a cathedral tour this summer!), and long lasting (sing into your 80s why not?). I heartily recommend them.
They are demanding, however. Think twice if you both sing and have small children. But they sure keep the mind sharp.
Pro-tip: if you’re an atheist, join an Anglican or Episcopal choir. Most of them are atheists too.
Re: Singing: The key to a long life (2008)
#6Those were Janis' dying words...
Re: Singing: The key to a long life (2008)
#7I feel a little silly admitting this (which itself is silly because I can understand how ridiculous it was, now that I'm older), but I remember when I was a kid and I used to innocently sing along whenever I felt like it. My sister was a fantastic singer; she was an opera trained soprano and, as kids, in comparison, I was nothing special.
I think back to a time where my mom heard me singing, thought it was off-key, then mocked me by singing back what I had sung in an exaggerated tone. Mortified, I thought that maybe I just wasn't the one who had inherited the musical talent in the family. I realized that my mom's reaction was a shortcoming of her own and I as a 7 year old just happened to be in the way.
As time went on, I realized I did have a passion for music; I started writing it, I studied it in college, I even started taking voice lessons. But I fell off when I started my career and have never picked it back up again. I imagine that, much like going to the gym (or getting a personal trainer), it's something you can make progress on at any age although as you get older, it can take different approaches to make progress.
Is this correct?
Re: Singing: The key to a long life (2008)
#8I have a habit of singing publicly. I did not realise this was socially abnormal until I was about 21. I suppose it helps that I have a pretty decent singing voice (baritone), but I'm also quite loud and my voice really projects (so I'm told). I can't stop though. I made a compromise - I won't sing in public places (eg train, walking through the city), as people will think I'm mad. But I will whistle. And I'll sing a…
To paraphrase an idea I heard whose source I forget: all kids sing, but at some point they start to feel ashamed about it. And then singing becomes an activity reserved for people who are "good at it", which becomes a cycle as the only people you hear singing are way better than you.
I don't really know how I got out of it, but at some point, I figured out how to sing again, and then in front of other people again. I just performed in an amazing concert with the best choir I've ever been in - like previous groups, I'm certainly not among the best singers. But it's just a joy to be a part of it.
Re: Singing: The key to a long life (2008)
#9To those thinking "I want to sing but I just can't sing." I encourage you to get one on one lessons with a professional. I started out not being able to sing at all. Couldn't match the pitch, I just sounded like I was trying to "talk in tune". My voice would get very tired very quickly too. It took a long time, but the change is huge. I can sing in tune now. I can sing much higher. It sounds pleasant. My voice doesn'…
> Singing is strange, you can't really see what other singers or yourself are doing. With the piano you can take a look at your teachers hands, but with singing you have to go on a kinda of exploration into sensations in your body, with the teacher as an experienced guide.
Actually the same is true for playing the piano as well. Piano playing is not as intuitive as people believe because it is not just the apparent vertical movement of fingers hitting the keys. Rather, it actually involves the entire lower arm from the elbow down to the finger tips working together. What you see as a concert pianist’s fingers moving up and down is a lot of the time actually a series of very rapid and infinitesimal wrist rotations and learning these rotations actually require piano students to feel the subtle muscle sensations and movement associated with those movements.
Re: Singing: The key to a long life (2008)
#10Contrary anecdote: My grandparents are over 90, but they're lifelong members of a religious community that considers music and dancing sinful.
Personally, I quite enjoy singing and music, but it seems strange that an attention-seeking activity would be correlated with longer life.