I sing in a 140-voice community chorus, The Outer Cape Chorale and a smaller group from within that, the Chamber Singers. I love the time we spend together, the music we produce, and the way my mind and body are engaged by it all.
My choral director, Allison Beavan sent me this healing story when I told her I'd been getting weepy over the loss of singing together due to covid19. I'm sorry if I'm jumping around time-wise, but it seems like the right thing to put out for now:
...Did I ever tell you the true story about the singing monks? They sang for hours each day - chanting. Their leader died or left or something. The new leader arrived and did not like to sing so he cut the singing way way down. Next thing they knew, monks began to become sick. Experts were brought in. Mold? Food? What could be causing these illnesses - and so much illness? Long story short, they finally tried to determine what had changed and of course it was the singing. The consultant instructed them to sing and you guessed it; the illnesses started to abate. This has been documented and researched by musicologists and psychiatrists, etc.
They still don't know if it's literally vibrations in the body, if it heals the soul or soothes the psyche. They haven't figured it out...still. But they do know it worked and was healing...
I've just finished singing along to a Youtube performance of Vivaldi's Gloria, something Allison recommended as a substitute for the glorious experience of singing together. It helped, and will have to do, for now.
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