Music for Healing

We know that music is magical. It affects our health and well-being. Singing in the York Region Community Choir is a wonderful, healthy activity that we enjoy every Monday evening.
Lately, our Mondays are even more rewarding.
We're on our seniors' tour. We're visiting retirement residences and nursing homes in our community. Last week we visited Doane House Hospice in Newmarket.
When we visit seniors to sing for and with them, we feel great because we're doing what we love to do, and it's good for us, and we can feel great about contributing to the health and well-being of our audience members.
I just read about The Vancouver Chamber Choir's Music For Healing recordings:
 a series of three discs designed to accompany people facing serious life challenges. It has been funded entirely through generous donations by individuals and organizations who want to be part of an important and ongoing gift to the therapeutic process in their communities.
The first two discs look amazing and are available on their website. The choir is presently working on the third CD. It's an impressive project. I can totally relate to their desire to connect with the community in this way, and can imagine that it's a very successful and satisfying mission. They say:
It is our way of saying through our music, “You do not stand alone”. 
Choral music can do that best. The sound of a community of singers, people's voices joining together in unison and in harmony, is special.
Check out the sound clips on the website. They are really extraordinary. There are samples of all kinds of music the choir sings.

Driving Music

Hello Everybody!

The other day, my choir friend Heather posted on Facebook that she found herself speeding when the song On the Floor was on the radio in the car. 

Oh yeah. I know how that feels. It’s happened to me many times. And, I love that song too. It has great dancing, bouncing rhythms. A driving beat. The driving beat makes your foot hit the floor. Suddenly you’re flooring it! It’s especially dangerous on the 404. I’ve found myself doing 130km/hr or more!

Driving with classical music

When I’m commuting to and from work at Victor Travel- a 45 minute drive- I usually have very pleasant drives up and down Dufferin Street. I pass by rolling hills and horse farms with 96.3fm providing a lovely soundtrack.

I’m not an experienced commuter. Sometimes I find the driving a bit stressful, and classical music is usually calming. I try not to get distracted or end up speeding.

A greater distraction

But then, like this morning, something worse happens. The music is so moving that I start to cry. Not just cry. My breathing stops and then I sob. It happened this morning when I heard a harmonica play Rhapsody in Blue by Gershwin. OMG! It was very distracting at first just trying to figure out what that instrument was. Then, the thought of this one guy on his harmonica, playing that awesome music with such skill and passion, with a powerful orchestra behind him, just blew me away. A double forte, and I was breathless. And, I couldn’t control the tears. I wonder what the man at the stoplight thought.

Well, the bottom line is that powerful music is dangerous.

Dangerous music

I had the same problem when I heard Libera for the first time. I was in the car, listening to some pretty music on 96.3fm, when suddenly I was in tears. Those beautiful boy voices soared and I wept. It was so beautiful that I went home and went to 96.3fm’s website and looked up the piece on the playlist. Then, I went to the Newmarket Public Library’s website to see if they had it and went in and borrowed the CD. My family was very patient with me when I played that CD all the time for a few weeks!

I started to think, “Maybe I should contact the radio station. They shouldn’t play music like that during rush hour!” Of course, I can’t do that. Those were things that moved me, but they won’t have the same effect on everyone. My family calls Libera the singing coyotes.  

What kind of music do you play in your car? Do you listen to the radio or to CDs? How distracting is it? Do you find yourself flooring it when certain songs play?

I'd love to hear your stories.

Yours in harmony,

Renate