A while ago my daughter got herself a t-shirt printed with the inscription 'What if the hokey-cokey is what it's all about?' Community singing certainly does something special for some people, but why?
There was a totally absorbing programme about music and health, broadcast on R3 today, parts of which explored how 'music facilitates communication and community'.
I learned about one project, Singing for the Brain, which taps into the associative memories of those with dementia and Alzheimer's and has a demonstrable healing effect. I heard from people who have studied the ways in which music affects our brains, emotions and wellbeing, telling us that in health terms music is 'not a drug - it's the opposite', and
It only works when it's part of a relationship.
And if like me, you wondered whether the legendary longevity of many musicians was something to do with socio-economic class, here's a more likely explanation: musicians are 'self-medicating'.
I've been making a living as a self employed musician for almost five years with my band, Motorheadache - A Tribute to Lemmy. I'm pushing 40, while Lemmy is 62 and I would certainly argue that there is a therapeutic value to being in a band and putting on a performance. It's the travel trailing up and down the M1 and M6, meeting a range of people with a common interest in the music and, best of all, the adrenaline rush of making it happen onstage and people getting off on it (known in the trade as a 'crowd rection' signalled by applause, cheers, standing ovations and offers of sex).
None of this is exactly rocket science, but it's real and in the moment. No blue sky thinking. It is what it is and in the talent pool, you can really only piss with the cock you've got.
I have to agree with Lemmy on the point he made - once you have made a living from being a musicial for two years, it's in your blood and not something that you can easily give up. I'm vistually unemployable now. I have no interest in IT after spending 6 years working the field and by osmosis, I have a mindset shaped by being a musician and that is in my DNA now.
I get my children (3 and nearly 5)to sing all the time and experiment with lyrics and word play. Better than them looking up Jesus (saviour of the world, apparently) on google and being meta tag profiled and sent adverts for weekend christian retreats. Rock 'n' roll is the only religion that never lets you down.
Posted by: Rob Campbell | Saturday, 08 March 2008 at 14:26
Good to hear from you Rob, may your cavities ever resonate. (If I remember that right).
k
Posted by: Kevin Harris | Saturday, 08 March 2008 at 18:16