What Does Music Give Us? II
July 14th 2008 01:40
One of my first posts was about what I think music has to offer people, but on Friday night and I attended a reunion of people from primary school, and someone at the function made a few very interesting comments about singing in the school choir and it got me thinking again….
Singing in a choir gives people the opportunity to participate in a community activity and foster a sense of belonging, for one thing. It also gives Joe Average the chance to shine in unexpected ways. There was a particular boy in our class who came from a disadvantaged background. He would fall asleep in classes because he had to get up each morning at 5.30am to complete a paper round, and often come to school without having eaten anything. He also happened to sing like an angel, and one can only imagine his sense of self-esteem when ALL of his peers heaped praise on his musical ability, and that’s exactly what happened.
Nothing beats the experience of communally filling a hall with the sound of “one” human voice, and being conscious of participating in something so beautiful is a rare and moving experience. I will never forget rehearsing the Mozart Requiem once – unaccompanied, we were given our notes by the choirmaster and we just began singing. It was almost incomprehensible to me that I was helping to make this rich sound. Every so often I think about it and smile because nothing beats feeding the soul this way! And it can also be viewed as a powerful tool to help make people feel good about themselves.
Singing in a choir gives people the opportunity to participate in a community activity and foster a sense of belonging, for one thing. It also gives Joe Average the chance to shine in unexpected ways. There was a particular boy in our class who came from a disadvantaged background. He would fall asleep in classes because he had to get up each morning at 5.30am to complete a paper round, and often come to school without having eaten anything. He also happened to sing like an angel, and one can only imagine his sense of self-esteem when ALL of his peers heaped praise on his musical ability, and that’s exactly what happened.
Nothing beats the experience of communally filling a hall with the sound of “one” human voice, and being conscious of participating in something so beautiful is a rare and moving experience. I will never forget rehearsing the Mozart Requiem once – unaccompanied, we were given our notes by the choirmaster and we just began singing. It was almost incomprehensible to me that I was helping to make this rich sound. Every so often I think about it and smile because nothing beats feeding the soul this way! And it can also be viewed as a powerful tool to help make people feel good about themselves.
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