More on health and singing:

“You can look at disease as a form of disharmony.
And there’s no organ system in the body that’s not affected
by sound and music and vibration.”
– Mitchell Gaynor

“Do you know that our soul is composed of harmony?”
– Leonardo daVinci

“Cause music’s been my therapy,
Taking the pain from all my anatomy …”
– Marvin Gaye

(As I suspected,) Singing is good for you.

Take these examples:

In a Soul Breathing class I recently attended, the leader Terry told us,

“Breathing removes 70% of the toxins from our bodies. Sweating (and those other two bodily functions) only get rid of 30% of the waste/toxins in our bodies.”

(A lot of breathing happens during singing. *smile*)

Singing also reduces stress and pain. It can help with everything from asthma to Alzheimer’s and snoring to brain to development.

…

I have a long relationship with the “healing power of singing.”

…

It started many years ago when I was just child. We lived in the pseudo-country and ran around barefoot for most of the summer. This resulted in splinters from the thistles in the yard. A well-remembered ritual of my childhood is sitting with my foot in my mom’s lap while she dug out the splinters with a freshly cauterized needle and tweezers.

Of course, the part I remember most was the soundtrack.

In order to have a splinter removed in my house, you had to sing “Row Your Boat” at the top of your lungs. I think my mom’s theory was that we couldn’t pay that much attention to what she was doing if we were busy serenading her.

Turns out that “singing also seems to block a lot of the neural pathways that pain travels through.”

Gee, Mom, I guess you were onto something.

Last night, my a cappella ensemble, Spices, sang with OVation in our first — and we all agreed not our last — joint concert. It was great fun to spend the evening with other a cappella afficionados.

Each group sang some of our favorites for the other and fellow director Randi and I both found music to  … er … borrow from the other’s group. We ended the concert with a rollicking version of Higher & Higher featuring soloists from each group. Our enthusiastic audience — full of current and new fans (and some former Spices!) — gave us rave reviews.

After the concert, we headed to the church basement for a reception (where a kind soul snapped this photo of the majority of both our groups).

…

Tonight, it’s back to the Artists’ Quarter with singer friends Judi Donaghy and Michele Denise Michaels to perform with Jay Young and the Lyric Factory for another run at the works of Stevie Wonder and Michael Jackson. If you missed this show, they say the third time’s the charm. If you’ve seen it before, we’ve added some tunes I know you’ll recognize! *wink*