Singing Can Chase Away Blues, Host of Other Ills

If you don’t sing, you may be missing out on an important aspect of life, says Hansonia Caldwell, dean of the California State University, Dominguez Hills, school of humanities and fine arts.

“The American culture places music primarily as an appendage to its life style. Some other cultures make music and art a central part of their life styles,” says Caldwell, who is also director of the Dominguez Hills Jubilee Choir at the university.

Singing can provide an intense emotional release, she says. It is a communication tool through which people can express emotions.

“Music with words tends to be heightened language,” she says. “It takes the impact of language to a higher level, at which the language makes a greater impact on the person experiencing it and the person hearing it.”

Singing also provides a means of expression beyond the narrow confines of speech, she explains. The melodic line gives shape and deeper meaning to the words.

This is why popular music tends to focus on themes that have significance to the ordinary person, such as love and sorrow, she observes. The words of a popular song may make such an impression on listeners that they may hear only the melody and not the harmony or rhythm.

“It’s really not the music, it’s the marriage of music and words that grabs people’s attention,” she says.

The unifying effect of music and singing can be used in physical as well as emotional therapies, Caldwell points out.

“If you have to move your arm up and down, it’s easier to do it to music,” she says. “The rhythmic aspects of music are frequently used as an organizing tool. That’s why you see the army marching to a rhythm.”

Beyond providing an emotional escape mechanism, singing can also enhance your physical well-being, Caldwell says.

“When you learn to sing, you learn how to breathe properly. You learn what’s going on inside of you. You can feel your breath coming in and out.”

A singing session promotes proper breathing and relieves tension, she adds. “I work with amateur choirs,” she says. “They come in after work at 7:30 p.m. and they are exhausted. But within five minutes of rehearsal they are transported outside themselves. It stops them from centering on their hurts. Nobody cares if your feet hurt while you sing.

“Mentally, singing provides still other benefits. One reason music is used in elementary school is because it’s an attention-focusing device. Because it’s enjoyable, it leads to the expanding of a person’s attention span.”

Cooperation Taught

Singing in a choir setting also teaches youngsters collaboration and cooperation, she adds.

Caldwell, who believes singing should be a home activity, suggests turning off the radio news stations and using that time more productively in singing.

“As you listen to news, your blood pressure goes up,” Caldwell says. “When you listen to music and you sing, your blood pressure goes down. Singing gets your psychological state at a more peaceful level.”

At home, singing can add another dimension to play and be used as part of the learning process. It can also provide another bond between parents and children, according to Caldwell.

“Parents are so separate from their children. They need activities that bring them together. This is something that comes from within. It doesn’t require going out to a restaurant.”

Finally, people in musical ensembles are always striving toward perfection, a fact that will make their performance better and bolster their self-confidence, Caldwell maintains.

“I really encourage everybody to take the opportunity to sing,” she says.