Singing Through Sticky

Singing Through Sticky

Here in South London the arrival of winter was announced by a wild wind that shook many trees from their roots.  Streets were strewn with splintered tree branches as the clocks were turned back, moving us into the darker part of the year.
So on Samhain, I find myself asking - what can singing bring to the splintered parts of ourselves and the sticky, tricky dark times?

Listening
When there is less light in any situation - whether materially or metaphorically - we cannot rely on appearances alone.  We are called on to listen and intuit more deeply, to feel into the still place within every storm and navigate our way through the night.  Singing sharpens our listening and our connection to our imagination and intuition.

Closing the Gap
Have you ever found there’s a gap between your thoughts, intentions and desired communications and the actual expression of them?  A daily singing practice, like any form of meditation not only keeps us calm, centred, happy and well but also enables us to clarify our communications.  By taking time alone to reflect and understand ourselves we are more able to be expressed clearly around others.  Our best intentions become embodied and we act from a more integrated place.

Primal Sounding
Some things cannot be spoken, there just aren’t words for them. This is why we need access to the whole spectrum of expression including howling, weeping, wailing, lamenting, keening, screaming, shouting, yodelling, giggling, chuckling, gurgling, grunting, groaning, moaning, murmuring, humming, whooping, yelling.  The safe use of abstract sounding allows us to get raw and real with ourselves and release our inner gremlins.

Finding the treat in tricky
When things get tough communication can break down.  Staying in connection can involve being willing to say tricky things, discuss taboo topics and uncomfortable truths. The consequences we fear are often surprisingly less scary and have far less repercussions than the consequences of keeping them hidden in the shadows. The tricky when faced can often become a treat.

Creative conflict
A wise friend said to me this week that ‘two rights can conflict.’  We are all people with truths and unique perspectives. It is necessary that we discover, debate and dialogue with our difference.  When used consciously, creative conflict moves us forward, helping us distinguish and develop our unique contributions. Whole fields of knowledge are enriched by conflict - psychotherapy grew as a field because Jung diverged in opinion from Freud.

Community
In many of our ancestral communities singing was a way to keep warm and weather the storms of life - to fire up the spirit on dark nights and pass on stories, lessons, warnings and advice.  Singing enables to celebrate our ancestries and lineages and to be enriched by being immersed in the diverse rhythms and melodies of our global community.

May all your tricks transform to sweet treats this Halloween :)

Do join me at this months special events.

Please do feel free to comment - I’d love to hear about your singing journey. 

Voice Remedies for Winter Times

1. Drink Sage Tea
2. Boil raw ginger, lemon and, if brave, garlic in a pan for 20 mins then add honey.
3. Gargle with warm salt water
4. Steam - put a few drops of olbas or eucalyptus oil in a bowl of boiling water, lean over the bowl with your head under a towel and inhale deeply.
5. Adorn yourself with scarves.

Photo: Man Ray - Lee Miller

The Singing Tardis - Musical Time Travel

The Singing Tardis
Musical Time Travel

One of the things that amazes me about my experience of sounding is how it can bring create connections across time and space.  The creative process of interacting with a song and its story, draws me into the present moment of my own story and creates a transformation whose effects extend into the future.

Every song has a lineage behind it and a context from which it emerged, so singing it connects me to an amazing tapestry of colours and flavours.  Whenever I sing, I become present to myself and become very aware of my sensations, feelings, thoughts, intentions, and the connections I am making with others around me.  Those connections often sow seeds for the future experiences, relationships and collaborations.

Just this week I’ve been learning songs for community music project with babies and recalling nursery rhymes my parents sang to me, having learned them in their own early years.  I’m now singing these songs with babies who will sing way beyond my time on the planet.  Singing becomes a creative form of time travel which enables me to connect with my ancestors, my family, members of my community and the future generation.

The story that goes back and back and back and on and on and on…

On 10th November I’m due to perform a 16 verse song, Lord Allenwater, at a gig with the False Beards (a duo composed of Ian Anderson and Ben Mandelson who perform ‘old time english blues psych folk world twangery’)  The song tells the tale of the final days of Lord Derwentwater, who was beheaded in 1716 for his participation in the Jacobite rebellion.  The transmission of it is also a tall tale, for it was collected by Ralph Vaughn Williams in 1904 from Emily Stears, who happens to be the great grandmother of Ian Anderson, who was actually taught the song by the Shirley Collins before realising he was ancestrally related to it.  

When I first heard Ian sing Lord Allenwater in his kitchen sometime in 2008-ish, a musical light bulb combusted in my head and I had immediate desire to sing it, an inspiration which manifested last year when we recorded it for the False Beards EP Ankle.  Lord Allenwater has a lot to answer for because before I heard his noble tale sung (I’ve always had a soft spot for rebels) I’d never felt any desire to return to the folk songs I heard in my childhood.  That first spark of connection ignited a process that later resulted in an EP (fol-de-rose) an album (Empty Cup) and some very strange experiences along the way, both with and without beards.  What a difference a song makes…!

The fluidity of time

Time becomes very fluid in musical experience, so much so that it is actually impossible to extricate past, present and future into neat parcels.  My experience of sound teaches me that time is cyclic and is constantly echoing, resonating, remembering, returning and recreating itself.  I realise that past, present future are not fixed destinations but actually simultaneously interacting layers of reality.

In his recent speech on receiving the PEN/Pinter Prize, Information is Light, Tom Stoppard quotes Harold Pinter as saying  “If the past can be obscure, why not the present?" explaining that “other people's lives come at us without a backstory most of the time. The present is like that.” 

The present is an immensely rich and amazing moment in time, inextricably interconnected with our backstory and burgeoning with future possibilities.  Paradoxically it’s full potential is often most fully enjoyed when we forget everything and forsee nothing.

Recovering the imagined lands

All artforms invite us to engage in a process of sustained concentration which brings us into a meditative state of self-reflection in the now. In this state it is possible to untangle our backstories, fully enjoy the present and chart a clear pathway ahead.  We are also able to connect with the stories of those who have come, gone and will walk alongside or beyond us. 

Neil Gaiman, describes in his article Why our future depends on libraries, reading and daydreaming how reading enables us to develope empathy - a vital ingredient for social cohesion.

“You get to feel things, visit places and worlds you would never otherwise know. You learn that everyone else out there is a me, as well. You're being someone else, and when you return to your own world, you're going to be slightly changed.

Empathy is a tool for building people into groups, for allowing us to function as more than self-obsessed individuals.”

Singing enables me to time travel to other stories, places, states of mind and realms of reality.  I am daily transformed by the liberating force of the sound current as it flows through me, prompting reflection, remembrance, renewal.

The Communion that Creates Community

In my work supporting others to sing and express themselves, I witness individuals retrieving the power of their expression from places where it was previously locked away in their back story.  Through creative dialogue with our stories, the future becomes full of new possibilities. The vibrant, empathic connections created by people who sing in groups enables them to join together to make a difference in the world.

Ultimately for me sounding continually creates states of communion within individuals which then enables them to create a community which includes all the stories that have gone before, are still being told and are yet to be told.

The Singing Tardis offers us all the chance to play Doctor Who, to take hold of the immense power of all that time has, is and will be and bring our full imagination and creativity to the task of transforming our worlds.

Wishing you creative, imaginative and transformational travels

Music of the Mind - How Singing Supports Mental Wellbeing

  Music of the Mind

This month I am honoured to be part of two wonderful charity events both of which have prompted me to think more deeply about the essential contribution of music to healthy mental wellbeing throughout life.

Space for Experience  - a special event to celebrate the contribution of elders by Age UK Croydon at Croydon Minster on 6th October, 2.30-4.30pm.

You Can Sing!  a special free Singing Workshop on 12th October, 2-5pm, at The Bedford supported by Happy Soul - an independent Charity that uses the arts in an innovative way to de-stigmatise mental health and promote well-being.

How Singing Supports Mental Wellbeing

Stigma it seems to me is the thing we most have to address - Stephen Fry

Statistics from the Mental Health Foundation indicate that 1 in 4 of us may experience a mental health issue during our life time, anxiety and depression being the most common.  Whether it is due to a life trauma, stress, habitual thought patterns, the ageing process and/or chemical imbalance, mental distress can effect many of us.  As such it is not unusual, weird or whacky - it’s simply akin to breaking a mental leg - and rather than stigmatisation and alienation requires a creative, compassionate and intelligent response.

Singing and musical have been been demonstrated to have innumerable positive benefits on our mental wellbeing since ancient times - here’s a few thoughts on how.

1. Giving Permission
Ultimately singing is about being and expressing ourselves in all our complexity -warts, wonders n all.  We all long to be seen in our truth, to express our deepest feelings and fulfil our creative dreams and visions - to live a happy, healthy and fulfilling life.  Singing is one way that we can express our deepest selves and connect with one another.

There are different kinds of issues effecting different groups in society, but singing is a kind of universal activity that people can engage in from birth onwards, literally. - Prof Stephen Clift

2. Oxygenating the Mind
The mechanics of singing require us to breath more deeply and rhythmically in order to sustain phrases and melodies, giving our cardio-vascular system a gentle work-out.  Our heart rate is regulated and more oxygen reaches all parts of our body, including our brain which therefore supports more effective brain function.

3. Active Attention
Singing brings our attention into the present moment, as we concentrate on lyrics, melodies and sound patterns.   The Gamelan Project has demonstrated that children with ADHD showed improvements in their ability to concentrate after participating in music projects.  Director of the project ethnomusicologist Dr Alex Khalli says in a BBC Article:

By learning music, one of the things you learn is rhythm and how to be aware of the temporal dynamic of the world around you and how to keep your attention focused on all of these things while you do what you do.

4. Regulating Thought Patterns
Singing replaces the erratic thought patterns experienced during mental disturbance with regulated, rhythmic sound waves.  A recent BBC article features a Study by the University of St Andrew, in Scotland which demonstrates an increase in mental function in musicians:  

Our study shows that even moderate levels of musical activity can benefit brain functioning.  Our findings could have important implications as the processes involved are amongst the first to be affected by aging, as well as a number of mental illnesses such as depression.  The research suggests that musical activity could be used as an effective intervention to slow, stop or even reverse age, or illness related decline in mental functioning.  - Dr Ines Jentzsch, Psychologist

Music requires a whole-brain response, synchronising kinesthetic, linguistic, emotional and sensory responses.   This means it has the capacity to bring profound relief for those experiencing Alzheimers, Parkinsons and Dementia - as explained by Founder of  The Alzheimers Society project  Singing for the Brain - Chreanne Montgomery Smith  

There is a remarkable preservation of melody and the words of songs in the brain.  You've got rhythm in one side of the brain and the memory for words in the other side of the brain. The idea of remembering melody and emotion together is very strongly protected. It's not that a particular spot of damage is going to ruin it.

5. Fear busting
When we sing we move from a state of ‘I Can't to I Can - from fear to confidence. Singing alleviates anxiety, inhibitions, self-doubt and other negative mental states because it offers a safe space to express ourselves. As we learn and develop our confidence whilst singing, we become brave, creative and expressive beings. An NHS video features the story of Jane who overcame her phobia of driving through singing.

It's producing a sound from your own mouth that then is reverberated by others in your group and you produce a huge sound; It's changed my life, basically. I know it sounds really dramatic, but that's what happened. Phobias can tend to be all dominating in your life and I was very much out of control with it. And I'm not any more. And I think that's probably one of the biggest messages, that you can get some kind of control back again in your own life. - Jane

6. Emotional Expression
Singing gives outlet to our feelings in all their spectrum - for every life experience and state of mind there exists a song - whether it already exists or is waiting for us to write it.

There are lots of songs that are chosen that allow people to express, in a safe environment, uncomfortable emotions which they really can't express to each other, so it's done in song. It is a little tension-valve release. - Chreanne Montgomery Smith

As difficulties, tensions and painful feelings are expressed through song, there is an increase in positive feeling states - Dr Maria Sandgren, Psychologist at Department of Psychology, University of Stockholm, Sweden measured the emotional effects of singing on 218 singers in Stockholm:

Results indicated that choral singing had strong effects on the well being in that positive emotions increased significantly and, in turn, negative emotions radically subsided.  In conclusion, I found that choral singers, particularly women, are happier, more alert and relaxed after a rehearsal.

7. Belonging
In a recent talk about The Power of the Mind in Getting Well, Dr Janet Hranicky said one of the most overlooked factors in health recovery was our biological need for bonding - to feel physically, emotionally and mentally close to others and to share positive, nourishing relationships.  Studies have shown that singers in choirs release oxytocin which is the hormone released during birth and sex that supports the bonding process.  

We could also see that they felt more together after the choral singing and also less alone. Choral singing is definitely a very social phenomenon. - Dr Maria Sandgren

More simply put, singing helps us to remember that we belong to one another.

Do join me at this months events to celebrate the monumental magic of music

Wishing you the joyous singing of your own song