Singing is a sensual experience. It’s like eating cold chocolate ice cream on a hot summer day. It’s like settling into a warm cozy chair in front of a blazing fire. It’s like swimming in a crystal clear bay on a gorgeous Caribbean beach. It’s like snuggling your favorite little one on your lap while you read their favorite story.
I could go on and on.
Singing is just plain delicious fun. I usually feel sorry for people who don’t experience singing that way. When singing is work, when it feels hard to do, when it isn’t fulfilling, when it is a chore, something is wrong. Unfortunately, many people think that those things are normal or that they are to be expected. I have heard experienced singers with a great deal of training singing in public with a sound that is just plain not good. Clearly, they have never had an effortless sound joyfully emerge from their throats else the comparison would be enough to make them NOT sing in public. Again, I say, how sad!
For those who do not sing or who think they cannot sing, I can only say — try! If you find a compassionate and patient teacher you can learn, and in doing so, also learn to have fun and enjoy not only how you sound but how you feel. Why deny yourself that opportunity?
Since we carry the voice around with us, don’t forget that it can be your companion when you are lonely. It can cheer you up when you feel blue. It can entertain you when you are bored. It can challenge you when you are curious. It’s free, it’s always available, and it is yours to share or to keep to yourself as you please. We can’t say that about very many other things in life, can we?
The world is full of sounds. Some of them are melodious, some are ugly, but the one sound that is always potent is the sound of your own voice. Pay attention to it and it will serve you well.
The the thing about singing is that the joy of singing is the joy of being alive to sing.