Sing Our Songs and Encourage Others to Sing Theirs

Why couldn’t we appreciate everybody’s singing in the same way we cheer on our elementary school kids to sing their heart’s out and celebrate with them in their passion and joy in sharing? If enough of us could encourage each other in this way, we’d have a lot more joyful songs around us, which I think would be a wonderful thing. And just think if we could transfer that same principle into the way we talk to each other and the way we support and encourage one another.

I had the chance to sing a solo at a regional church meeting tonight. I know a lot of us probably wouldn’t consider that as being such a great opportunity as much as something to dread. Where do we get that belief that we can’t sing if we can’t sing like a trained professional who has honed their abilities for decades?

I remember my old choir director in high school—Mrs. Mason who I believe I’ve mentioned in reference to high school musicals who also directored those feats of coordination and I’m certain patience—reminding us all that we all have the same basic mechanics that make it possible for us to sing. I tried to study the science being of sound and the anatony of our vocal cords. Unfortunately, it went a bit over my head as a sixteen year old kid. But outside of a very small percentage of our human population, we all have the same basic anatomy when it comes to singing muscles and bones and tendons.

So that means that all of us are capable of producing sounds that translate to songs. What makes the difference between what we typically call singing and what we call noise is completely the ear of the hearer, being influenced by our cultural upbringing and societal norms. So given all of that, whether or not any of us believe we are singers is almost entirely based around what we’ve been taught, what we’ve been encouraged to believe about ourselves, and our own desire.

Have you ever seen a bashful meadow lark, so certain that it can’t sing well enough to share with others? That might be a bad analogy because of course know one can laugh at the meadow lark’s performance or cringe at the sound in a way that can be understood by the meadow lark. But let’s take it to a human example then. Have you heard a group of 1st graders sing for a school holiday program? Do we see very many Pavarotti’s in those kid choirs? No, but yet we celebrate their joy, their enthusiasm, their thrill at sharing a message that they have learned.

Why couldn’t we appreciate everybody’s singing in the same way we cheer on our elementary school kids to sing their heart’s out and celebrate with them in their passion and joy in sharing? If enough of us could encourage each other in this way, we’d have a lot more joyful songs around us, which I think would be a wonderful thing. And just think if we could transfer that same principle into the way we talk to each other and the way we support and encourage one another.