Give voice to your feelings

If you’ve ever thought about joining a choir but felt apprehensive, watching the success of Gareth Malone’s Military Wives’ Choir on BBC 2 recently may well have given you the push you needed.

Joining a choir gives people an opportunity to share the uplifting experience of singing together, the joy of producing wonderful sounds together and to become part of a supportive community environment. Although many people may say they can’t sing, with a bit of encouragement, they find they can and what’s more they feel their self-confidence increases and their levels of stress reduce.

Singing is about having fun and allowing your voice to become free. When your voice becomes free, you feel free. It can take your mind off work-related stress, money worries and other problems. But is there more to singing than this transitory change of mood? Some mental health practitioners believe the voice is the key to good mental health. The voice is a powerful instrument, physically, mentally and emotionally and when you are singing you are communicating with a higher intuitive awareness that we all have.

Dr Larry Culliford, a consultant psychiatrist in Brighton, believes singing works on two levels: by physically encouraging people to breathe and use their whole body better, and emotionally helping them find creative resources. 'There are hidden reserves of strength and hope, and indeed happiness, that singing somehow spontaneously helps people to find. It may be that this is one of the ways in which mind and body are interrelated.' says Dr Culliford.

On a physical level singing offers valuable aerobic exercise, encouraging better posture and more effective breathing. It is also thought that singing releases endorphins in the body, which relieve pain and reduce stress. Using singing as a therapy for relaxation, overcoming depression and anxiety is a growing trend.

Gareth Malone explains, ‘We need music in our lives because we need these moments of being together. It’s the whole point of human society, that we get together and enjoy each other’s company — and choirs are the culmination of that, an expression of something that is deeply personal and deeply human.’