“I don’t understand these folk songs! How they howl, you can’t make out the words. They seem to sing well, but why?..”
The traditions of every nation contain all the wisdom and all the knowledge that is aimed at the full development and enrichment of its soul, the formation of its spiritual and moral values, the transition of a person from one state to a qualitatively new one. Show in full... AND IT CAN’T BE such that ours the ancestors were engaged in incomprehensible and unnecessary things! And if modern man says “I don’t understand them,” then he should think about why he cannot understand them.
A song, if a person is not familiar with it and does not need to understand it, is better to perceive it.
To do this, you need to know how a song works in general and why it needs to be perceived (or better yet, sung!).
If you look at a song (voice performance) as if it were treasures in a forged chest, then their names will be attention, harmony, emotional balance (as well as dialogue with yourself and the world around you, respect for yourself and others, attentiveness to the physiological and non-physiological processes of your body, self-organization , perseverance, joy, love, etc.). Through song you can identify your complexes, worries and get rid of them; understand life processes and adjust them; discover your talent and develop it, etc.
How can you learn communication through song, for example?
The whole village used to sing. Each village sings the song in its own way. Each village is a separate organism with its own mentality, way of life, rules of behavior, and social norms. Songs from one village are songs from one state.
They say, “in one breath,” in one single, chain, continuous breath, a song is formed, the melody sounds like a swarm of bees humming, without ceasing. In addition to an ear for music and a sense of rhythm, there is an intuitive level (this is the selection by the voice of the right place in the song, the emotional coloring of the word/phrase, pauses, chants, tackles), which gives the song that flavor that we call the peculiarity of the sound of each village.
Take, for example, lingering lyrical songs. Here you don’t need to listen carefully to the text, you still won’t understand the first time, you’ll only hear individual words if you’re lucky! The songs last 15-20 minutes, and there is not much text in them, and without rhyme, rhythm, and sometimes without much meaning. The sound is maintained mainly by chants. To master the turns of chants is to master the song. In group singing, voices are divided into first, second, third, etc. During the performance, someone makes a conclusion (the first voice, the highest), someone leads the second, who holds the third part, the lower one. But all participants in the process can pick up anyone else and perform his part in this song. For a song to turn out well, you need to know, or rather feel, what and when to sing.
This is nothing more than a dialogue of souls, lives, and experiences of performers.
Then they say - they got along, that is, they found a common language in the literal and figurative sense.
Learning to sing well means learning to communicate: listen to your interlocutor, wait for pauses, intervene, support, interrupt, manage the conversation/melody for the sake of a common goal - we talked/sang - we got the result and feel good at heart!
There is another side to the song: it restores mental, physical, emotional balance.
The human body during singing is a conductor of various vibrations: firstly, the organs of the body from the nutria work, according to the way they reproduce vocal vibrations; sound vibrations merge with counter vibrations of the singers, forming a single sound field in which the performers themselves find themselves; secondly, the combination of the necessary vowels in chants resonates with certain organs in a person, providing an intense restorative effect.
And, of course, the meaning of the song lyrics also sets the mood of the performer, his emotions, his attitude, his mental state (experiences due to memories of past years, etc.).
All processes in the compartment have a colossal impact on the participant in the process. That’s why you can’t sit still when others are dancing and singing (even without knowing the words and melody, you’re immediately drawn in!).
In this way, strength was maintained during work and restored at the end of the day. What kind of stress could we be talking about?
Today's concert form of performing folk songs (when some sing and dance on stage, while others sit and watch in the hall) is not entirely suitable. A person tries to listen to the song, to understand the essence, but he cannot do this, because he is not personally involved. Hence the misunderstanding.
Misunderstanding leads to blocking of consciousness, and under such circumstances, full immersion in culture is impossible.
The beginning of the 21st century is a decisive time for traditional culture. Our task today is to preserve what has survived and pass on the most valuable heritage to our children. Then we can hope for the continuation of traditional culture in the future.

Have you ever tried singing?

It is necessary to sing

because the song is beneficial and helps us in life...

M.R. Hoffman

People sing from birth to death, often without thinking at all about why they do it. There is a popular belief that a person sings out of happiness, but why then do they sing at funerals? Many people today sing to earn money, but children do not sing for money. It happens that we sing without absolutely wanting to, repeating one annoying tune an infinite number of times. Mothers lull their children to sleep with lullabies, and adults repeat the melodies of songs written in a language they do not understand at all, but this activity does not seem meaningless to anyone. Having fun, people who have no ear for music sing karaoke, and those who lack the courage sing in their cars. And, of course, many people sing in the bathroom under the shower.

Throughout a child’s life, it takes a long time to teach reading, writing, and drawing. But the first thing a newborn baby does independently is try out his voice, and only then learn to see and coordinate his movements. They tell about an old woman in the Arkhangelsk region who, at over a hundred years old, had already stopped walking, had almost completely forgotten how to speak and did not remember anything except the songs she sang in her youth.

Most human tendencies are easily explained by instincts. For example, the process of courtship can be associated with procreation, and the desire for competition is justified by the hunting instinct. Singing, from the point of view of practical benefit, is absolutely useless. Recreational functions and the enjoyment of art are sometimes cited as justifications for singing. Many people enjoy the great works of painters while their own experiences as painters have ended with their school lessons. However, we do not stop singing, even if we received our last lesson fifty years ago. What is this amazing property, what is this incomprehensible need of human nature, which, it would seem, is not at all determined by vital necessity and social need, but persistently requires its implementation.

Usually a person knows little about this skill and does not think about its nature. And yet, why do we like to sing, and is singing always a song? What is a person trying to express through singing? Why is singing a part of almost every religious cult? Why own your voice? How does singing affect the singer and those around him? Why do people who have no ear for music like to sing? There is no clear answer to the questions posed in any textbook. And yet, let's try to figure them out. First of all, let's understand why a person sings, because it is obvious that the ability to sing and the reason for singing are not the same thing.

WHY PEOPLE SING

Since ancient times, the musical understanding of the harmony of the cosmos has been the basis of the picture of the world. The luminaries of the ancient world, Pythagoras (570-490 BC), Plato (428-348 BC), Aristotle (384-322 BC), argued that music establishes order and balance in the universe and recreates harmony in the physical body. The ancient tradition traces the ability to sing to the time of the origin of man on earth and connects it with the previous civilization, from which we received this inheritance.

In 1952, a German physicist, professor at the Technical University of Munich, Winfried Otto Schumann (1888-1974), who was researching a physical phenomenon called “resonance,” suggested the presence of its own electromagnetic oscillations of the planet Earth, later named after him - “Schumann Frequency” . The frequencies of this resonance coincide with the rhythms of the brain, which indicates the primary connection of living beings with the Earth and allows a person, using singing and meditative techniques, to self-heal and gain access to unusual abilities. Working in the same direction, the outstanding Indian philosopher and musician of the twentieth century, Hazrat Inayat Khan (1882-1927), revealed “the mechanisms of interaction between man and the Universe with the help of rhythm.”

Based on the research of these scientists, we can conclude that singing is a physical way of transmitting and receiving information, as well as an opportunity, with the help of intonation, timbre, rhythm and frequency, to contact not only one’s own kind, but also the Universe.

EFFECTS OF SINGING ON THE HUMAN BODY

“Humanity has known since ancient times that singing can cure diseases and influence our psyche and consciousness. It can become a real weapon in the hands of a warrior, it can motivate or oppress large masses of people.” Eastern medicine, for example, sees the cause of disease in the blockage of energy flowing in the body. And by releasing, with the help of singing, the blocked channels through which vital energy flows, a person feels healthier and happier. Aesculapius treated with music. Pythagoras began and ended his day by singing; he discovered that music has an effect on arousing various emotions in a person.

To explain the effect of singing on the human body, let's start with the element of water. Our body consists of 70-80% water. From school lessons we know that water is an ideal conductor. If we influence the body with sound, then the body will show certain reactions to this sound. Japanese researcher, Dr. Masaru Emoto (1943 -) in his scientific works clearly demonstrated exactly how this happens. He influenced freezing water crystals with music and words, and photographs were taken of the entire process of influence. The results were stunning. Under the influence of sounds and vibrations, water crystals changed their shape. In his book “Message from water”, Masaru Emoto writes: “Now I know why life cannot exist without water, why there are alternative ways treatments and why they are effective.” Modern equipment allows you to take photographs of a person’s aura. Studies conducted in this area have documented changes in the color of the aura of specific people after voice training. In the relatively recent past in Germany, venerable doctors measured immunoglobulins circulating in the blood. It turned out that after singing, the amount of immunoglobulins increases, that is, the body's immune defense improves. All this explains the reasons for using singing, both solo and choral, to treat ailments.

Many historical evidences of the use of singing for medicinal purposes have survived to this day. The ancient Egyptians treated insomnia with their voices and all peoples, without exception, understood that singing helps to fall asleep, hence lullabies. Pythagoras strongly recommended singing as a cure for insanity. Celtic peoples used "song spells" in therapy. In China, singing was used to treat nervous disorders. In New Zealand, special songs were sung to ease the pain of a woman in labor. In Rus', a sick person was placed inside a circle of singing people and dances were performed around him.

Singing is working with rhythm, sound and vibrations. It is known that only about 20% of the sound reproduced by a person is directed towards the listener, into external space. 80% goes inward. What happens then? The timbre of the voice contains certain frequencies and vibrations, and when we sing, the internal organs vibrate, that is, a kind of internal massage occurs that improves blood circulation. Vibrations that occur when the voice is handled correctly remove internal tension Therefore, singing is an excellent sedative, and it can be used to treat neuroses, mental disorders and depression. This “sound internal massage” is very useful for expectant mothers during pregnancy. Audio frequencies, arising during singing, activate the growth and development of the child and his brain. For example, in France, the famous obstetrician Michel Auden (1930-) for this reason creates entire choirs of pregnant women. A musical rhythm chosen in a certain way can normalize the biological rhythms of the body. If the rhythm of the music is less than the rhythm of the pulse, it has a calming effect on the body, and if the rhythm of the music is faster than the pulse, an exciting effect occurs.

At the end of the twentieth century, the capabilities of science in studying the process of musical perception increased significantly. A narrow area of ​​research has emerged - music therapy. Scientists have found that singing and music actively influence the functions of all physiological systems and processes: breathing, cardiovascular system, blood circulation. In the early 60s, thanks to Laurel Elizabeth Case, a special voice treatment technique called “Toning” appeared.

Singing has several types of effects on a person at once: physiological (body functions), psychological and aesthetic (associative, figurative), vibrational (biochemical processes at the cellular level).

Chinese scientists have even developed a treatment system based on the influence of sounds when singing:

"AND"- relieves nasal congestion, treats eyes and ears.

"A"- relieves spasms, affects the heart and gallbladder.

"U"- useful in the treatment of the uterus and prostate gland.

"E"- helps with brain function.

"SH"- treats the liver.

"X"- resets negative energy.

In the East, since ancient times, they knew that the vibration of sound can tune the spirit and mind in various ways. A technical technique for such tuning is Mantra - pronouncing sounds in a certain sequence. Each mantra has an effect on the body, affects the psyche, and has a sacred spiritual meaning.

Considering the above arguments, the number of long-livers among great singers is less surprising: Lemeshev lived to be 76 years old, having only one lung, the Italian tenor Beniamino Gigli sang on stage like a young man at the age of 70, the strongest bass Mark Reisen celebrated his 90th birthday on stage , Kozlovsky and Mikhailov lived to venerable years.

CONNECTION OF SINGING WITH THE HUMAN PSYCHE

In addition to the physical impact, singing has a strong impact on the psycho-emotional sphere. The emotional and figurative content of singing affects both the one who sings and the one who listens. Moreover, if a word is addressed to a person’s consciousness, then the timbre, emotional coloring, and musical accompaniment are addressed directly to the subconscious.

Sociopsychologists know that using rhythm you can change the states and moods of both an individual and a crowd. Using rhythm, it is possible to speed up or slow down the heartbeat, which has always been successfully used by shamans and healers. Timbre, rhythm and harmony can be both medicine and a deadly weapon: ethnographers describe African tribes where criminals were executed using drumming. There are techniques in which a person tunes his body by singing, like a piano. By resonating with oneself, imparting certain vibrations to one’s own body, a person can raise his vitality. When we start singing without having the mood for it, singing gradually changes our state, and a Feedback, joy comes. Neurologists treat their patients in a similar way: they make them smile. A smile - usually a consequence of a good mood - becomes its cause. Therefore, it is no coincidence that a person sings. This supports emotional and mental health.

Through singing, a person can express many emotional states and thereby relieve stress and throw out unnecessary negativity and excitement. As a result, singing can help in the treatment of depression, neuroses and nervous diseases and provide a harmonious emotional state to those who use the magic of the voice. The famous French otolaryngologist, professor of psycholinguistics, Alfred Tomatis (1920-2001), in his book “Ear and Voice,” describes the influence of high-frequency sounds on the human psyche. He proved that a person does not just hear sounds: vibrations perceived by the senses affect nerve endings and, converted into electrical impulses, enter the brain. Some are perceived as sounds, while others enter the cerebellum and are transmitted to the limbic system, which is responsible for emotions. The electrical impulse created by sound also enters the cerebral cortex and is involved in the regulation of higher mental functions of a person. According to Alfred Tomatis, the ear is one of the most important organs that shape human consciousness.

Of course, singing requires harmony and rhythm. These concepts usually mean the structural organization of the space-time continuum. The entire universe exists according to the same laws. Equal proportions underlie the movement of the planets, a strong building and a beautiful melody. It is not for nothing that the ancient Greeks ranked music not among the arts, but among the sciences: it was part of the triumvirate: “Astronomy, Music, Geometry.” Since ancient times, people have understood that just as violation of the laws of the universe can plunge the cosmos into chaos, neglect of the laws of geometry will turn a building into ruins, and failure to comply with the clear laws of musical harmony destroys the human soul, his internal structure and his relationships with other people.

“The most important concept in Pythagoras’ ethics was “eurythmy” - a person’s ability to find the right rhythm in all manifestations of life: singing, speech, dancing, playing, gestures, thoughts, actions, birth and death. By identifying this rhythm, a person could connect to the cosmic rhythms of the world as a whole.” Rhythm is the structuring of time, the division of the time continuum into certain intervals. Heart rate and breathing rhythm are the basis of life. Physiologists have found that the number of heartbeats during the life of a mouse, elephant or human is approximately the same. Every phenomenon, people, and person has its own rhythm, and by distorting it you can both destroy and control it. Pythagoras, Plato and Aristotle pointed to the preventive and healing power of singing. They believed that singing restores order and disturbed harmony in the human body, changes mood, and rebuilds the emotional state.

With the help of his singing apparatus, a person tries to express certain processes occurring inside him. To explain this, it is necessary to turn to modern research in the field of psychology. Singing is a conscious process, and our consciousness consists of three active interacting structures: the psyche - led by the awareness - the mind, the intellect - which is an expression of spirituality, the sensory sphere - a reflection of the nervous system of the body. The interconnection of these elements is carried out by the “personal self”, which transforms the impulse effects of all systems into a cause-and-effect series and forms our knowledge of reality into a certain picture of the world.

Our physical body relates only to the "conscious" state of mind, while there is a vast realm of the "subconscious" in which we cannot use our five senses. However, while in a meditative state or in a dream, we can “hear” and “see” some shadow processes and images that cannot be felt in the conscious field. Returning to a conscious state, our “I” tries to repeat and visualize the experience gained, using available tools. That is, in order not to forget what the consciousness was able to pull out from the subconscious, a person records it with the help of special signs. For example, waking up and vaguely remembering some images and sensations, a composer hums a melody, a poet composes a poem, an artist paints a picture. This is how composition, painting and poetry are born.

But singing is not a song, drawing is not a picture, and text is not a book. Sometimes these images come together into a single whole and songs are born, that is, poems set to a melody or script, where the pictures are accompanied by texts and music. This is true creativity, in which each creator is unique from beginning to end. And this is the fundamental difference between a creator and a craftsman who skillfully performs his work according to a ready-made template invented by someone.

SINGING AND MODERNITY

Research into the phenomenon of singing and its capabilities is today being actively studied by many scientists of various fields. Specialists discover and record new properties of the voice. Various institutions are being created to study the effects of singing on humans. Music therapy today is an integral discipline at the intersection of neurophysiology, reflexology, psychology and musicology. It is increasingly being established as a universal educational system that optimizes the process of personal development of a person in the difficult conditions of modern social life. In Western Europe and the United States, music-psychotherapeutic centers have emerged and gained popularity. There is also a music therapy center in Russia, headed by Dr. Sergei Vaganovich Shushardzhanyan, an opera singer with a conservatory education.

Modern psychologists claim that The best way improve the quality of your life - just start enjoying it. Singing is precisely the instrument that allows you to “get” the joy of life. According to experts, it is included in the “antidepressive package” along with yoga, sports activities and psychotherapist sessions. IN last years More and more adults, accomplished, serious people are learning to sing. Not so much for the sake of a mythical professional singing career, but to solve specific problems - psychological and physiological. There is an undeniable logic to this, since vocals liberate and help you better understand yourself and your body. The person becomes calmer, more joyful and happier.

From a physiological point of view, vocals are real fitness, since when singing, the whole body works from top to toe. Out of habit, novice singers get tired in their legs, back, abs, even jaw. The abdominal muscles are actively involved. Working on breathing saturates the blood with oxygen, improving the functioning of the cardiovascular and respiratory systems. In addition, vocals teach you to own and manage your emotions.

Various branches of science strongly confirm the beneficial effects of singing on the human body and soul, but it is important to know the “dosage”, harmful and beneficial types of singing, since singing can cause harm. Studies conducted at St. Luke's Roosevelt Hospital Center have shown that some singing techniques, characterized by long breath holds, have a destructive effect on the brain, lungs, larynx, and cardiovascular system. A postmortem examination of the famous Tuvan khoomeiji Gennady Tuman, who died at the age of thirty-three, showed that the singer had “virtually no lungs left.” In Mongolia, there is even a law according to which throat singing performers are equal in occupational hazard to miners and can retire early.

Today, official science recognizes the existence of three main singing techniques: throat, trance and classical. There are other techniques, for example, screaming and growling. Growling was made popular by Louis Armstrong, and is now used in blues, hard rock and other heavy genres. Screaming is practiced by vocalists of metal bands. When choosing which technique to sing in, it makes sense to listen to the opinion of professionals who believe that academic singers can perform both folk and pop music through serious preparation. But on the contrary, it’s unlikely to work. In any case, technique is a matter of taste. The singer himself decides what and how he should tell people through his creativity.

As in any form of human artistic activity, in vocals it is necessary to distinguish between amateur singing “for oneself”, which is necessary for a person like air, but is not art, and singing as a performing art, which has its own laws.

Summarizing the conclusions made earlier, we can conclude that:

Singing -the earliest and most important area of ​​human musical life. It is capable of influencing the human physical body, has strong psychotherapeutic properties and expresses phenomena hidden in the subconscious.

Research into the phenomenon of singing and its possibilities goes back to the musical and philosophical systems of ancient Greece, which, in turn, synthesized them from the musical practice and musical outlook of the eastern civilizations of the ancient world.

Currently, human singing abilities are being actively studied by scientists from various fields, who are identifying more and more new possibilities inherent in the human voice. Various institutions are being formed to study its properties and effects.

When developing the vocal apparatus, it is extremely necessary to have a correct understanding of the mechanisms of its operation, directions of use and possible negative consequences of incorrect functioning and excesses.

Unfulfilled desires do not benefit anyone: they spoil the mood, cause aggression, and so on. But, unfortunately, our desires do not always coincide with our capabilities, and a person understands this very well. For example, many people love music, love to sing along to their favorite performers, maybe even write songs themselves. And only one cruel joke of nature prevents them from being happy: they have neither a voice nor hearing.

There are also people who have quite good vocal abilities, but banal indecision and embarrassment prevent them from singing in someone’s presence. Be that as it may, there is no need to deny yourself the desire to perform songs, because you can sing in the shower for yourself. In addition, the bathroom is the best place for singing, this is where the desire to perform something most often appears. There are several reasons for this.

The voice that no one hears

Psychologists assure that people hear and see themselves completely different from who they really are, so a singing person may not notice that he has an unpleasant voice or lacks hearing. However, it is still unbearably unpleasant for household members: parents, spouse, children to listen to the singing of a person who is unlucky with his vocal abilities. It’s easier for someone who lives alone in this regard: the main thing is not to raise your voice so much as to disturb your neighbors. Those who are afraid of harming the hearing of their household by their desire to perform a recently heard song should take a shower more often - after all, there you can sing for yourself, without disturbing anyone and without being embarrassed about your voice.

People tend to belittle their merits, so sometimes a person thinks that he sings poorly, but in fact his voice is better than that of many pop singers combined. It can be difficult to stop being ashamed of yourself; a person simply becomes constrained and lost if he has to perform a song in front of someone. But he is alone in the shower stall, which means he can feel calm and sing, knowing that he will not receive unflattering comments.

Clearing bad thoughts

In the shower, people relax: dirt and sweat come off, and warm water relaxes their muscles. A person feels good and free, he is practically happy. And happy people or those who simply good mood, love to sing. Psychologists claim that people who are satisfied with their lives sing much more often than those who are constantly tired or nervous. A shower cleanses not only the body, but also the thoughts, it relaxes a person, and in this state people often think about pleasant things. Therefore, at this moment they want only one thing - to sing and feel even happier.

Acoustics

The bathroom often has different acoustics than other rooms, so the sound is also completely different. This means that it’s easier to imagine that you are singing not at home, but somewhere at a concert. Just close your eyes and you can imagine a crowd of fans, so why not perform something for them that they will definitely enjoy?

Imagination

To many people, water resembles a kind of music - iridescent, slightly monotonous, but music. And when music plays, people want to sing more than anything else. With enough imagination, a shower head can easily pass for a microphone. In the soul, when a person is not focused on problems that require urgent solutions, his imagination works better, which means it is not difficult for him to recreate for himself the desired conditions from the means at hand and imagine himself as a completely different person. For example, a world-famous singer.

Boredom

Even those who don’t know how to relax at all can sing in the shower, although for a completely different reason. People who are used to constantly doing something are incredibly bored in their souls, because there you can’t watch a movie or read a book. This does not mean at all that people have lost their zest for life if they don’t know what to do with themselves. This is just the type of people they are: they simply cannot do only one thing at a time, and the shower stall does not give them much choice. There is only one thing left to do - listen to the music and sing along to it.

People sing in the shower because it's an ideal place: it's deserted, it can create interesting acoustics, and it allows you to relax. In addition, there are no listeners who could spoil the whole mood, and a person can enjoy what he likes without fear of hearing something unflattering addressed to him.

From birth to death, people sing, as a rule, without thinking at all about why they do it. Even if, as they say, there is neither hearing nor voice, they still sing: quietly or “from the heart,” testing the patience of the household. Babies sing, testing out their voices even before they can speak. And I saw in the Arkhangelsk region an old woman one hundred and nine years old, who had already stopped walking, had almost forgotten how to speak and did not remember anything except the songs that she sang in her youth. And she sang like a nightingale.

Between the word and the howl.

Sometimes we sing, completely unwillingly, in the wrong place, at the wrong time, repeating an annoying tune an endless number of times. Sometimes we sing in ecstasy in a language we don’t know, and for some reason this activity doesn’t seem pointless to us.

What is this strange property, what is this need of human nature, which seems to be in no way determined either by vital necessity or by social requirements. Love games can be associated with the need to procreate, a person’s tendency to all kinds of competitions and competitions is explained, for example, by the primitive hunting instinct, but singing is absolutely meaningless and useless from the point of view of practical benefit. You will object to me: what about the enjoyment of art? Yes, many people enjoy the great creations of brilliant painters, but, nevertheless, our experiences as draftsmen most often end with the transition to high school, when drawing lessons end. But we don’t stop singing, even if the last singing lesson was fifty years ago.

The funny thing is that, despite these contradictions, singing is apparently such a natural state for a person that few of us seriously asked the question, why is it necessary?

“However perfect the strings may be, they cannot produce the same impression on the listener as the voice, which comes directly from the soul, like the breath, and is brought to the surface through the mind and vocal organs of the body.”

ShusharjanS.V.

Music therapy and reserves of the human body.

One of the main properties of singing is that it is a non-verbal, super-verbal expression of emotions. When the heart is filled with any feeling: be it jubilation or grief, deep sadness or love, the soul longs to pour out this feeling, to express it through external action - and it turns out that it is impossible to adequately express a strong feeling simply in words: no matter how emotionally a person pronounces them, everything seems insufficiently truthful and strong. You can, of course, just moan and scream (animals do this), but this turns out to be not enough: just sound is also not capable of reflecting human emotion. In a sense, singing stands between the word and the howl, between man and beast, between conscious self-expression and natural sensual impulse. Thus, singing is a tool of self-expression and communication necessary for the most complete, voluminous, emotional manifestation of the human personality.

“I trusted harmony with algebra.”

Of course, singing implies harmony and rhythm. By the words rhythm and harmony we understand the structural organization of space, not necessarily sound. We can call harmonious a pleasant combination of colors, a pretty face, relationships in a family where everyone loves and respects each other... The entire universe is built according to the same laws of harmony, the same numerical proportions underlie a beautiful melody, a correctly tuned instrument, beautiful, durable building and the laws by which the planets move. It is not for nothing that the ancient Greeks classified music not as an art, but as a science: it was part of the trivium “Astronomy, Music, Geometry”.

The most prominent ancient Greek philosophers Pythagoras (VI century BC), Aristotle, Plato (IV century BC) pointed to the preventive and healing power of music. They believed that music establishes order throughout the Universe, including disturbed harmony in the human body. It has been noted that music, primarily its main components - melody and rhythm, changes a person's mood and rebuilds his emotional state.

In ancient times, people understood that just as a violation of the laws of the universe would turn space into chaos, just as a violation of the laws of geometry would turn a building into ruins, so a violation of the laws of musical harmony would deform the human soul, his internal structure and his relationships with other people. In ancient China, a composer who wrote “wrong” music was executed. In our civilized world, it is not customary to execute composers, but in vain. None of us think about the colossal impact a constant musical background has on our lives, which we are accustomed to not noticing, but on which we often depend no less than smokers depend on nicotine. The human need for harmony, like everything else in our world, has become an object of manipulation. By repeating the “annoying melody of the day,” a person puts himself into a trance and becomes part of the mass, consuming musical gum along with chips and Coca-Cola. A person who sings is certainly included in a powerful energy flow, instinctively feeling how his own spiritual strength and significance increases at the same time. But it can be either a stream of universal harmony or a sound garbage chute.

With the help of rhythm, a person also connects to the flow, but this time rhythmic. Rhythm affects the psyche, perhaps even more powerfully than harmony.

“One of the most important concepts in Pythagoras’ ethics was “eurythmy” - a person’s ability to find the right rhythm in all manifestations of life: singing, playing, dancing, speech, gestures, thoughts, actions, birth and death. By finding this right rhythm, a person, considered as a kind of microcosm, could harmoniously enter first into the rhythm of polis harmony, and then connect to the cosmic rhythm of the world as a whole. From Pythagoras came the tradition of comparing social life with both a musical mode and a musical instrument.” Petrushin V.I.

Musical psychotherapy. - M., 1999. - P. 10.

The outstanding Indian philosopher and musician Hazrat Inayat Khan, revealing the mechanism of interaction between rhythm and the Universe, notes: “Trees joyfully wave their branches in rhythm with the wind; the sound of the sea, the murmur of the breeze, the whistle of the wind in the rocks among the hills and mountains, the flash of lightning and the clap of thunder, the harmony of the sun and moon, the movements of the stars and planets, the flowering of plants, the fall of leaves, the regular change of morning and evening, day and night - all this reveals for one who sees the music of nature.<…>The infant responds to music before it learns to speak; he moves his arms and legs to the beat and expresses joy and pain in different tones.”

Rhythm is the structuring of time, the division of the time continuum into different intervals. Every phenomenon, every people, every person has its own rhythm, by distorting which you can both destroy and control. Pay attention to what kind of music, with what rhythm, experienced managers play in their stores, stimulating a “groovy” mood with which shopping is easy. Sociopsychologists know that with the help of certain rhythms it is possible to change the states and moods of the crowd. With the help of musical rhythm, you can speed up or slow down your heart rate (shamans and healers have always used this), you can extend or shorten your life time itself.

Rhythm can be both a medicine and a deadly weapon: ethnographers describe African tribes where criminals were executed with the help of drumming.

We can say that rhythm and harmony are what is given to a person from above, what distinguishes him from an animal and makes him a spiritual being.

According to the German scientist and musician Athanasius Kircher, “the psychotherapeutic potential of music lay in its mediation between the music of the spheres (musica mundana) and that which lies in the movement of physiological processes in the body (musica humana). Bringing the latter into conformity with the former, music has a healing effect.”

In unison with the cosmos.

But there is something in singing that not only brings us closer to nature, but makes us part of it, opens up the opportunity to use its resources. This is resonance - the frequency coincidence of the voice with the sounds of the world, both audible and inaudible. If a person manages to match his voice and body with the vibration of the physical space where he is, or find such a frequency match with the voice of another person, an amplification effect occurs, multiplying the strength of the sound, its overtonal richness and the power of impact. Moreover, in the case of perfect resonance, this influence is mutual: a person receives natural power from the world, and he himself influences nature, controlling the elements with the help of voice modulations. The rituals of the Eastern Slavs calling out spring or causing rain are based on this effect. And Hindus believe that if a person has a naturally strong voice, it means that at conception his parents were in harmony with cosmic forces. This belief is closely related to the belief that correct singing improves life: among many peoples of India, singing is still a spiritual practice.

There are psychotechnics, using which a person, with the help of his voice, tunes his body, like a piano, entering into resonance with himself, imparting the correct vibrations to his own body, can raise his vitality, improve his overall health.

The famous French otolaryngologist A. Tomatis studied the influence of high-frequency sounds on the human psyche. He showed that a person not only hears: the vibrations he perceives affect the nerves of the inner ear and, converted there into electrical impulses, are sent to the brain. Some enter the auditory nerves and are perceived as sounds, others enter the cerebellum, which is responsible for complex movements and the sense of balance. From there they are transmitted to the limbic system, which controls emotions and the release of biochemicals, including hormones that affect the body. The electrical potential created by sound also enters the cerebral cortex, which regulates the higher mental functions of a person and the conscious control of his behavior. According to A. Tomatis, the ear is one of the organs that shapes human consciousness. Before him, most researchers did not pay attention to the fact that hearing is only part of a larger dynamic process in which every cell of the body is involved. Sound is one of the energy sources of the brain and the whole body. Revealed direct communication between the range of a person’s auditory perception, the range of vibrations of his voice and his state of health.

A world created by song.

Almost all nations have an understanding of singing as a manifestation of the Divine in man, and spiritual chants are part of almost every religious cult. In the Christian tradition, angels “incessantly sing a song to God,” and people repeat this song - “like the Cherubim” (we are the Cherubim). In one of the Christian fairy tales by Clive Lewis (The Chronicles of Narnia), the Great Lion Aslan creates the world with a song.

And this great gift - singing - every person receives from God at birth. This is the same property of human nature as the ability to walk, talk, laugh. There are no people who were initially deprived of this amazing and perfect instrument. And don't believe the scary stories about bears stepping on the ears of noisy babies. Don’t believe your mother when she assures you that “you never had a voice.” Better remind her how she told you: “Why are you yelling like that” or “When will you finally shut up!” Proof that singing is a natural property of a person can be found in the fact that in countries of traditional culture, in India or Africa, and even in our native Russian village, there are simply no people who cannot sing or “have no” hearing. and voices. Everyone has been singing beautifully since childhood, without attending any music schools. Why are we, civilized city dwellers, so “unsuccessful” that without special education we cannot connect three notes? There are several reasons for this.

Firstly, the sound space of the city is so far from natural that it actually has a destructive effect on a person’s auditory abilities. The hearing of a city child is formed differently than the hearing of village children, for whom the usual sound space is the voices of birds and animals, the noise of the forest and river. In addition, a child who grew up among singing people learns to sing from them implicitly, without thinking about the fact that he is learning by adopting traditional singing techniques.

Secondly, the conventions of modern civilized society are such that it is considered indecent to directly express one’s emotions. Demanding that public order be maintained, parents and strangers even shush small children, whose sonorous voice stands out from the general sound background. Since childhood, a person has been afraid to “sound” - let alone sing, he even begins to speak in a low voice. Try it, make a sound in a modern small car with thin walls or on public transport - such an “individual manifestation” will be perceived by your neighbors as a personal insult.

And after a child was forbidden to express himself with his voice almost from infancy, he begins to be “taught” singing at school. The voice, which is a reflection and continuation of a person’s personality, begins to be “processed”, unified, without ever allowing it to sound. As a result, a certain imbalance arises: both physiological and psychological. Something similar happens, for example, with “retrained left-handers” who, contrary to their nature, were forced from childhood to hold a spoon and write with their right hand, due to which they could not use 100% of the capabilities of their body and mind.

But the fact that you have never fully used your voice - this unique instrument given to you from birth - does not mean that you “don’t have it”! You just need to “take it out of the closet”, clean it, set it up and learn how to use it. Of course, this is not a matter of one day: first the voice must be freed from old clamps, then “pumped up,” restore the muscles of the half-atrophied organ, then develop flexibility, coordination with body movements, learn to listen and hear.

Why should a person own his voice? By “taking control” of your voice, you not only enjoy singing, not only straighten and free your body, but also acquire a powerful communication tool. No wonder they say: “charming voice”, “powerful voice”, “truthful voice”. Often we get the first impression of someone only through their voice, without even realizing it.

Psychologists say that 55% of the effectiveness of communication depends on visual representations associated with appearance, the expressiveness of postures, facial expressions, and gestures of the speaker, in 38% is ensured by the quality of the voice, modulation, use of pauses, clarity and emphasis of speech, and only 7% is determined by the semantics of the words that are pronounced.

A person with a natural-sounding voice always attracts attention in a conversation, and someone who still knows how to control his voice controls the audience, easily displays any shades of his thoughts and mood, and can say with just intonation what cannot be expressed in any words.

Singing has the same effect on the brain as an orgasm or a bar of chocolate. When a person sings, the areas in the brain responsible for pleasure are activated. Hormones of happiness are released - endorphins, and they are so important for overall health.

2. More energy

When a person sings, he becomes more energetic. Lethargy disappears in a second!

3. Free lung training

Singing trains the lungs and helps saturate the blood with oxygen. In addition, the muscles involved in the singing process - the abdominal muscles, diaphragm, intercostal muscles - are significantly strengthened. Singers have strong abs!

4. Stress relief

Singing reduces stress levels. People who sing in a choir or amateur ensemble feel more secure, socially prosperous, and successful. To overcome depression, you should sing!

5. Cleansing the respiratory tract

With the help of singing, the respiratory tract is naturally cleansed. Diseases of the nose and throat are not scary for singers: the likelihood of developing sinusitis decreases if you love to sing.

6. Natural neurostimulant

Singing is of great value to the central nervous system and brain. Like any creative activity, singing promotes more intensive brain work, strengthening neural connections, as well as intensive “inclusion” of a person in the thought process.

7. Benefits for child development

Children who practice singing differ from their peers in their positive emotionality, self-sufficiency and high level of satisfaction. So let your children sing from the heart and at the top of their voices!