Hey, welcome to the short stuff. Josh here, Chuck here, Jerry here, Dave here. In spirit it's shorts stuff. Sorry, it's shorts stuff. Yeah.
I'm gonna start this one by telling a quick little story of last year. I got in my Instagram feed for a little while these choirs, these choral singing groups that were you know, it's kind of a thing now where it's not like, oh, you know, we go to the church and it's an official choir, but like, hey, my friend has a warehouse space and we can put a piano in it and just put out a call to see, like people want to show up and sing together.
Like humanist choirs.
Is that what it's called.
That's what I'm calling it.
Oh okay, yeah, oh just because yeah, humanist episode, I got Youah, yeah, exactly that. And you know they're doing like a cool Radiohead song or something like that, like or whatever, you know, Christmas music around the holiday. And I was like, you know what, man, I sang in a choir growing up in my church, and Emily and I both sing, she sang in show choir, and like
we both got a lot out of those experiences. And I haven't done it since I was a teenager and I was like, man, we got a piano, and I bet you we could get a group together to come around and do this kind of thing. And I was I still might do it this year, but I never got around to it. But it was something that was really kind of on my list.
So are you going to do it? Though?
You think, well, I really want to do it, Okay, we'll do it. Yeah, I do want to cause I think, you know, I would be the facilitator, but I would get someone who's like, somebody's got to lead the show because I can't do that. But I'll sing and I'll put you know, I'll provide the space and the piano.
Okay, there you go. I think that's a good start.
I think it would be fun, like a neighborhood deal and long way of sort of getting around to this idea that they've kind of learned that singing is good for you, and specifically singing together like inn a choir.
Right, Yeah, that's a a big thing. And Chuck, if you did get a choral group together, you guys would be the two hundred and fifty thousand and first chorus group in the United States, because that's how many are in there. Yeah, something like almost twenty nine million people regularly sing in a choral group and in the United States, and it's the most popular of all arts related participatory activities. Yeah, It's more popular than cross country painting and charades leagues combined. You know.
Interestingly, I saw a study the other day where they found one participatory activity helps stave off dementia more than any other and it was dance.
Oh I believe that.
Yeah, because the movement and the all the benefits of doing a participatory activity, plus the benefits of the exercise and everything, but something about dance that and it was like kind of off the charts, and like how good it was for you to do as like as you age.
Sure, gitch troubles come on, get happy, all right.
So let's talk about singing though, because like if you get together with a choir, obviously everyone there is probably going because they like to sing and they're probably pretty good at singing. But you can just go to your local karaoke bar as evidence that, Like people love to sing who can't sing at all sometimes and they will do that in front of people and people will like still watch that and be interested.
For sure. Yeah, people will watch other people who can't sing sing, Yeah, and then people who can't sing will sing in front of other people and feel good about it. Like karaoke is a great example of like the fact that this exists. There's something about singing, including singing and other in front of other people that actually does give
you a positive vibe. Yes, so you said something though, I mean like you can sing at home in the shower, you can sing at home on the couch, you can sing at home in the kitchen, sing in the car for sure, sing in the car, you could sing in the laundry room, right, like you could sing basically anywhere by yourself. And yes, there are benefits, as we'll see. But because there's something about singing in a group, as we'll kind of unpack, it's just it provides greater benefits.
But if you do sing in your laundry room, you're still going to get some benefits from it. But if you've got a group of people who sing with you in your laundry room, you would be doing really good for sure.
Good time for a break, Yeah, all right, we're going to talk about what those benefits are because they seem kind of mysterious. Right after this.
If you want to know then you're in luck. Just listen to SUFFUSI stuffuse no.
All right, So, like you mentioned before the break, all types of singing is good for you. We found it releases endorphins, which is always great. If you're singing in front of people, it's gonna you know, build your confidence. Like I've seen some not very good singers at karaoke just like still kind of kill it and walk out of there, like clearly, like kind of brimming with confidence. Sure, which is going to have like a great effect on your life and well being for sure.
But like I said, singing with a group, choral singing has the most dramatic effects, And there's actually some studies that have shown this. Apparently in Australia in two thousand and eight, a study looked at choral singers and said, hey, how satisfied are you with your life? And they said really satisfied, so satisfied that if you compared us to the average person from the general public, we're more satisfied
with our life. They're like, well, wait a minute, what if we control for all these differences and the only difference is these people sing and the rest of the people don't. Well does that still hold true? Yes, it will, that's right.
It was Australia, they said, yes, and not now.
And I mean Australians are generally happy on a whole compared to other other groups.
No, I totally agree.
That was so like Australian choral singers through the roof happy, they can't stop smiling. Yeah.
In fact, I'm gonna start saying that. I'm gonna say, man, they were as happy as an Australian choral singer.
That's a great one. That's great.
In nineteen ninety eight, there was another study that found after nursing home residents were you know, active in a singing program for a month, there were big time decreases in both anxiety and depression levels. And a study in England six hundred British choral singers found that singing plays a central role in their psychological health. Like people get a lot out.
Of it, right, And that would have included Ireland and Wales.
That's right. Actually that didn't look too deeply into that one. But yeah, if it said British then for sure.
So some of the physical effects though, like it actually does. Like we've been talking mostly about well being we'll talk a little more about that. But physically speaking, singing has a great effect on your body. It's essentially an aerobic exercise. Because of the way you're breathing, you're getting more oxygen in your blood. That improves your circulation. Good circulation makes
you happy. I've seen that it's prescribed. Singing is prescribed to people who are going through lung rehab for some sort of lung issue. And there's also like a you need to breathe deeply, so you're spending like an hour or so, like a week breathing deeply. That's essentially one of the main parts of meditation and relaxation techniques is deep you know, controlled breathing and singing. An acquir requires you to do that.
Yeah, for sure. I remember talking, Oh, when was it, I guess it was sometime light last year when or I guess early last year, when I was very upset a lot about politics, not like I am now, which is like just super stoked all the time, right, But I remember talking about sing therapy, and that's what I did for a little while. I would like put on my piano as a little player piano, so I would put that on and I would sing as hard as
I could sing, and it really really felt good. It made a big difference in how I felt.
What were you singing whatever?
A lot of billy joel?
Oh that's great.
No, Like I was singing whatever. Whatever You could really belt out, you know.
Okay, I think that's wonderful that you did that for yourself. Man, Yeah, it was.
It was fun.
So one of the things that you could have also done, since you probably know every word to every Billy Joel song, you could have learned some new songs, right sure. And had you done that, you would have been working your brain, which is another benefit of singing, especially in a group. You have to learn new stuff every week.
Yeah, for sure. And if you're learning things, and if you're concentrating, like all right, I got to work out my alto part on this thing. I'm a tenner. Actually work on your tenor part. And then when you get together with your little choir or big choir and you're like, all right, I got to remember my part here where I come in. Like, that's what you're thinking of, that's what's on your mind. You're not thinking of the stress at work or the stress at home, or the stress
in your life. Or your health stress, Like it's your chance to park that stuff and really dwell on something else for a while.
Right, And then we finally arrive at one of the big reasons why, probably the biggest reason why singing an a choir actually has the most benefits of any kind of scene is because you are becoming part of a group. Yes, Like if you've ever been a member of any kind of choir, like, that's a fairly tight group. Everybody knows one another. You're required to rely on one another, Like you are needed by this group. Your voice is needed,
your part is needed. Like there's a sense of belonging and inclusion that comes from being a member of a choir. And then on top of that, adding in all of the benefits of singing again like this is it's just really good for you.
Yeah, it's amazing. When we were I think I told you this backstage. But when we were in Madison, I went a day early and I woke up the next morning and I was My hotel was like kind of right on the water, so I had the windows open, and because I could hear the water gently laughing, and it sounded really nice. But I heard singing, and I was like like group singing, and I was like, where
is that coming from? And I went and looked out of my window and there was It turns out that in the hotel there was a choral festival going on, so there were a bunch of choirs staying there, and there was a group of young people, like probably twenty of them on a dock on a pier singing a Radiohead song. And it was the most lovely thing I had ever heard. You can't imagine a better way to sort of start your morning than just by hearing that.
In reality, though backstage everybody he told me that he shouted, piped down, shut up kid, that's cool man.
It was great. It was so so lovely.
Right well, I think since we ended that on a high note from one of Chuck's good memories, good recent memories from our visit to Madison, I mean short stuff is out.
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