Image courtesy of Bokeh Photography

You sing in the car.

I do too.

Not to every song. Just the ones that really get me going. The other day I was driving home from a conference and was rolling through the stations on the radio and happened upon Paul Simon’s Graceland. I sang along. I noticed, though, that each time a car would pass me, it was like they hit a mute button that stopped my singing. I resumed again once I was sure that they couldn’t tell that I was singing. I’m not sure why getting caught singing in the car is so embarrassing.

Music itself is a powerful motivator and has an influence on our mental and physical health. On a much more personal level, music changes our brain patterns and evokes emotion. It is this emotion, that can be very powerful, that makes music and singing so personal. In this sense, I think music offers us a glimpse into the soul. Those songs that we think are really worth singing, sing to our hearts. They resonate within us a fading dream, hope, idea, or feeling. Singing about it expresses those things which words alone can’t quite capture. This expression can have a healing effect on us. But also quite embarrassing if we are caught. Generally we only let a few people this far into our inner being. If you think about it, these are probably the same people we wouldn’t mind singing in front of. In fact, we’ve probably sang with them. I think this forges our bond with those people even stronger.

I remember a few years ago I was driving home on an early summer evening. I had the windows down enjoying the air as I pulled up to a stoplight. A car pulled up to my side with it’s windows rolled down, radio blaring, and the young woman driving was signing at the top of her lungs. Her voice could even be heard above the music. My wife and I exchanged smiles, but as I thought about it, I thought, “You go car-singer girl!” It must certainly feel freeing to have no reservations to express yourself like that–with no thought of whether or not you’re on key.

So…. “There’s a girl in New York City, who calls herself the human trampoline…”

————————————-

Author’s note:

This is my first blog post on CollectiveInquiry. Actually, it is my first blog post ever. As I believe in life that there needs to be a balance, I hope that my posts reflect this. Some of them will be lighthearted and some will be serious and the rest will fall somewhere in between. All of them will have had some impact on my life. This first one falls more on the lighthearted side, but reflects a passion that I have in life: Music.