How Can I keep from singing?
It’s Wednesday 6:55 P.M. and whether rain or shine, they start arriving… the faithful ones who make up our Warren Wilson Presbyterian Church choir. Every week this group of dedicated people who love music and enjoy each other come to the chapel to sing together and prepare music they will share during worship in the coming weeks.
Maybe you would consider joining them? Who me, you ask? Why not!
People join the choir for many reasons…
* because they love music.
* because they find a special group of people who also share a love of music.
* because they hope to enhance our worship experience through music.
* because they know something would be missing in their life.*
* It’s for some, all of the above.
Whatever the reasons, the choir in our church is a special opportunity for people who love music and are able spend some time singing together regularly for rehearsal and worship services.
What does the choir sing?
We sing a variety of music ~ classical to contemporary, global music to Appalachian music, contemplative to spirituals… and more.
It is helpful if you read music, though this is not a must.
Choir benefits the congregation…
Beauty, meaning, inspiration, leadership and mission
The congregation is gifted by the music the choir offers through special anthems or responses that help bring beauty and meaning to enhance our worship. The congregation is also gifted by the choir’s music leadership in helping the congregation to sing. And, as a service to the community, the choir offers a special anthem each month for the Sunday chapel service at the Veterans hospital.
Choir benefits the singers
Empathy, healing, calming, synchronized heartbeats, a natural mood lift
Many studies are out there about the benefits of music. Music can go to the sacred places where we resonate, both physically and emotionally, with that which cannot be expressed through words. Children perform better in other subjects when music education is involved. For some people just listening to music can reduce anxiety, blood pressure, and pain as well as improve sleep quality, mood, mental alertness, and memory. Music has been linked to improvements in health and healing. Of special interest to choir members, being part of a choral singing group has been shown to have calming effects on the heart, especially when unison singing is involved. Some surprising studies have shown that heartbeats of choir members synchronize after joining in singing together. And there’s more — neurochemistry is involved! Evidence has shown that when people sing together, the “friendship” chemical, oxytocin, is released.
*Music has powers beyond our imagination. It can transcend culture and be a common language of our human experience. In a recent NPR article titled “Imperfect Harmony: How Singing with others changes your life,” a conductor being interviewed had asked the choir, “Why did you join the choir?” A lot of people responded, “I knew something was missing in my life, and it was music and connection to other people.”
Could something perhaps be missing in your life? Maybe you too are missing singing with our choir! Give our director of music, Vivian Hare, a call and find out more about being involved. We will begin our fall season soon and hope you will consider being part of choir.