Author: Raimund Schäfer

Why do we sing?

• Singing makes you happy
• Choir singing keeps you healthy
• Singing is balm, if necessary in extracts
• Active pictures, Dieter Meyer certainly has something to offer
• Our two image campaigns
• Send me your husband (must have the club reference out)
• This is good for me, from the ‘For you’
• Healthy and vital by singing
•  …

---

Singing in the choir as a source of health and well-being

Good arguments for singing:

– Those who sing actively make music – this is the beginning of not just consuming culture. Who sings contributes to the culture.

– Singing in the choir keeps body and mind fit. Singing is one of the sports that can be practiced into old age and – with us you always sing in the first team.

– He who sings in the choir brings joy to others – and the deserved applause is a reward that everyone likes to receive.

– Whoever sings in an active choir, e.g. in the men's singing club Lehen, meets other active singers. This creates friendships and overcomes boundaries.

– Singing is the true mother tongue of man. Singing is also a wonderful way to free oneself from fears and worries or to express one's joy.

– Singing blows through the cells and just makes you happy.

– Singing is not unmanly!

---

Singing, mind and body

Our body is a musical instrument. When we sing, we can experience the uniqueness of singing, namely being a player, an instrument and a listener at the same time. It is not indifferent to the quality and health of our lives whether we play this instrument or not. Singing unfolds the personality and promotes physical and mental health. Singing is also mentioned here ‘just as the beak has grown for us’. The knowledge of the healing power of singing can be found in the spiritual traditions of almost all peoples.

Singing in the Community

Singing in the community relaxes, makes you forget the stress of everyday life and it is fun to stand on stage and bring joy to others with what you have learned. Singing is a good exercise to promote concentration, even in old age – our oldest singers have passed the age of 85 and are still very good at everything. Do not forget the sociable in a choir; there is always something to laugh about, sometimes something to drink and the weekly singing lessons, the rehearsal weekends and the choir excursions create a very harmonious cohesion.

Singing and health in concrete terms

Those who sing regularly benefit from health benefits in several ways:

Brain: Singing is controlled by other regions than spoken language. Slow articulation can alleviate speech disorders.

sinuses: Singers use the sinuses of the head as a resonant space and let them vibrate. This strengthens the defence function of the mucous membranes.

Larynx: The blood circulation is increased, the tissue remains elastic. This keeps the voice sound young.

Breathing: The use of diaphragm breathing improves ventilation of the lungs and reduces stress.

If you want to do something for your health, you don't necessarily have to walk or do gymnastics. He could also join a choir. At least doctors recommend it. ‘Vitamin Chorus – Healthy Through Singing’ is a campaign aimed at highlighting the beneficial effect of singing together.

It has long been proven that not only sport has positive effects on health, but also singing. No medicine is as cheap and has as few side effects as singing. ‘The stress hormone drops, good mood substances and synapses in the brain change, mood increases.’ Singing has a positive effect on breathing, strengthens the immune system and promotes intelligence. Children who play music, for example, performed better at school.

---

Poster campaign of the choir association Westerwald

---

Choir singing keeps you healthy

– Wiltrud Wolff-Telgmann / June 2016 –

Source: https://www.gv-fremersberg.de/2016/06/01/chorsingen-haelt-gesund/

When I started choral singing, I felt like a treasure hunter who was allowed to discover new things. Since my professional roots are in the medical field, I have dealt with the question: What effects does choral singing actually have on our health? When I started my research, I was very surprised to find such diverse research and studies. In doing so, I came across a wealth of aspects for choral singing. These are scientifically proven and for me also a logical consequence of my own experiences. Singing has positive effects on both the psyche and the body, which are significantly proven. Choral singers have significantly more stable health compared to ‘non-singers’ – both mentally and physically. They are blessed with greater self-confidence and are more often in a good mood. (See also under "Did you know …?")

From a scientific point of view, choral singing led a shadowy existence for a long time. The everyday singing accompanied and facilitated the work in bygone times and fulfilled important psychological and social functions in almost all areas of life – starting as a lullaby or then also as a lamentation for the dead. In other cultures, singing is still an integral part of the daily routine. On many trips I was able to experience this partly up close. One also thinks of the relaxing effect of the sound massage, which also contributes to an intensive detoxification on a physical level. The same effect is thus achieved by regular singing, for example also with us in the singing club Fremersberg.

Here is a quote from a wonderful person whom I briefly met with the ‘Philharmonic of Nations’ (young musicians from 40 nations). He gets to the point of what singing is all about and right now his message is so relevant again, isn't it?

"At a time when people's natural and mental capacities seem to be increasingly diminishing, so that our future may be threatened at all, we need all possible sources of reflection that are open to us. Singing now holds incomparably the still dormant potential to really become a universal language of all people: … Singing is first of all the inner dance of the breath, of the soul, but it can also free our bodies from all solidification into dancing and teach us the rhythm of life … Therefore, it is important not only to preserve the singing, but to promote it worldwide. Because singing, like nothing else, makes the direct understanding of hearts across all cultural borders possible … So singing can at the same time be a movement in its own right, even trigger a gentle revolution of pacification, and perhaps increasingly help us people to get out of life-hostile personal and social structures.” Yehudi Menuhin (1999)

---

Poster promotions

---

---