Music for the Soul

All deep things are song.  It seems somehow the very central essence of us, song; as if all the rest were but wrappages and hulls! 

—Thomas Carlyle (1795-1881)

I sing in a choir. We meet once a week, rehearse for two hours, and perform perhaps a dozen concerts and outreach events each year. It’s one of the best things I do each week.

When I sing, I am intimately connected to the women around me. We listen to one another, even as we sing our own notes, and we strive to blend our voices into one ringing whole. When we find that perfect unison, the sound resonates throughout the sanctuary of the church where we practice. There is a sense of oneness in those moments.

Music washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life. 

—Berthold Auerbach (1812-1882)

When I sing, I am not thinking about the chores that need to be done, or the bills that need to be paid, or the uncertainty of the future. I am only thinking about my breath, my voice, the voices around me. I am focused. I am in the zone. I am present. I am NOW. Time falls away. It expands and contracts at once. Choir practice lasts an eternity and is over in a flash.

Music is the cup that holds the wine of silence.

—Robert Fripp (1946-    )

Music is like meditation. It requires you to be irrevocably present. The smallest lapse of attention, and you lose your place, lose your note, lose that awareness of everyone else singing around you. When I reach that place, it is full of ringing music and rich interior silence. It’s the hush of lifting the corner of the veil of enlightenment.

I have found irreplaceable friendships within my choir. We’ve all shared in creating music together, and it’s a magical experience. That feeling of being surrounded by support adds to and multiplies the joy that singing brings. It doesn’t matter how bad my day has been, how down my mood might be – within a few minutes, choir rehearsal will lift me up and out of myself.

My idea is that there is music in the air, music all around us; the world is full of it, and you simply take as much as you require. 

—Edward Elgar (1857-1934)

Take music out of the air as you require it. If you can sing, sing. If you play an instrument, play. If you prefer listening to music, then listen, a little bit, each day. Truly listen. Close your eyes, focus on the notes, the sounds. Feel it inside you, clear your mind, and truly listen. It will bring you the most unexpected and welcome gifts.