Why I Sing

April 10th, 2008, 11:23 am

Singing has been an incredible source of strength, emotional release, spiritual opening, creativity and more for me for many years. Singing while dancing, exercising and walking has not only been a great stress releaser, but the beginning of composing many of my songs. I recently read a woman’s description of why she sings, in a book called We Moon 07, an astrological calendar, and collection of women’s art, poetry and essays. Here it is:

Why I Sing by Meredith Heller 2005

“I sing because it feels good. As one sound starts bubbling up from my belly and resonating in the cathedral of my chest, it feels as if the whole earth is breaking open and a river is running up my serpent spine until the gates of my heart is sprung, and I wiggle free from this tight suit of skin. When I sing, something bigger than just me emerges, chanting the life force in an ancient language of tone, breath, and rhythm. My heartbeat is the percussion, my breath the space between the notes; I am a bellows breathing fire into the heartland to ignite and blaze, not only for me, but for everyone. To sing is to invoke, to chant, to yell, to moan, to sigh, to sob, to coo, to laugh, to reach for and to empty all in one.

I sing because it keeps my muscles lithe, my mind loose, my flesh warm, my bones subtle, my blood rich and my heart ripe. I sing because it makes me cry when I need to, makes me express what is tangled and pent up and makes me celebrate what is joyful. When I sing, I am able to let go of my smaller self to communicate with the divine in a language beyond language–before language, when tone, melody and emotion were the only language.

I sing because it is my way of placing a prayer in the open palm of the goddess, and my song is an armful of wildflowers gathered at sunrise and placed on her altar like a million tiny tongues chanting their harmonies to the universe, calling out the names of every being, everywhere, to come home.”

Isn’t her expression of what singing does for us incredibly beautiful? People all over the world, of every level of singing ability, and every possible cultural background and religion, have been swept up in the beauty of expressing ourselves through our voices, either alone, or in community, expressing just our individual selves, or connecting to the greater self that connects all of us in an indescribable way, except for people who are incredible at describing the indescribable, like Meredith Heller. She is a gifted singer-songwriter, no surprise there, check out her myspace site.
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