Many therapeutic riding students are plagued by anxiety. Some of it is situational–horses can be unpredictable. They are big. They have enormous, sharp teeth. Their reflexes are much faster than a human’s. Many equines wear iron shoes. Whose idea was this anyway?
But for other students, the anxiety is chronic. They are, by nature or bad luck, champion worriers. One strategy we use with those riders is singing. Singing, because it requires us to exhale more slowly than we inhale, engages the parasympathetic portion of the nervous system. (So does humming, whistling, or keeping up stream of self-talk.) The parasympathetic system is our “rest and digest” wiring, as opposed to fight, flight, or freeze. My repertoire in the past week has included that stirring anthem to simplicity, Alice the Camel.
I’ve also done a few choruses of You Are My Sunshine… And then there’s always The Bare Necessities. Of course, if the instructor is yodeling her way through the lesson, her parasympathetic system is activated, and any anxiety she might be feeling 
abates. I suspect this is why most religious services start and end with music, and why sports events kick off with a musical moment–it’s a neurological hack that gets us feeling calm and at peace.
I should be singing more, not because I’m any good at it, but because I love music. My first academic degree was in music history, though anybody who’d spent as much time on a piano bench as I did in adolescence should have been a performance major. I could not perform repertoire–went hopelessly splat in front of recital audiences, though I could accompany ballet classes, play wedding receptions, or teach all day long.
I was reminded of this at the barn dance fundraiser my barn held a few weeks back. A live band did covers of Loretta Lynn, Dolly Parton, Patsy Cline… old standards that are as singable as they are dance-able. I Fall To Pieces has been stuck in my head ever since. Last night, I attended a Jim Malcolm concert (Scottish traditional singer), and he has us singing a few of the choruses and finishing up with the Robert Burns’s version 
of Auld Lang Syne.
I left the venue feeling sweet and settled (also a little sad. I miss Scotland and my friends there). Nothing lights up our neurological circuitry like music (except for the combination of music and dance). We connect more disparate parts of our mind when listening to and making music than we do with almost any other activity we can pursue. Music is a powerful tonic, one I particularly enjoy, and yet… I have neglected it.
After back-to-back live music experiences, I feel a little bit like there’s a free bottle of high quality daily vitamins sitting on the counter and I keep dragging myself past it, day 
after day. And this particular bottle of vitamins is guaranteed to work especially well for me, because it reminds me of the first time I was half-way competent at anything beyond tying my shoes or brushing my chops.
So I’m adding to my nightly routine: Journal, five gratitudes, and one song or piece of the good stuff. Sing it, listen to it, maybe even play it (I do have a piano), and finish the day on… a good note.
Are you ignoring any sources of free, available vitamins for the body, mind, or heart? Things you used to love that faded from your life, or activities you once did but put aside? New endeavors you’ve been meaning to try?
I like the phrase free vitamins!!
I am walking 4-5 days a week- finding that I feel better & am sleeping better I take Greg on a short walk when I get home because he can’t walk 2 miles… plus he’s waiting by the door. It makes him happy.
Am back to baking & cooking. I listen to music .. all kinds.. it makes me happy… when I bake. Greg does not like it when I sing
I am going to make a pot of tea and spend time with a book. No laundry, housework or yard stuff.
Just A book, tea and me.
I have missed my reading time!
Have a great week and sing to the kitties!
I walk too, but it’s drudgery. I console myself that at least I don’t have to run, which was drudgery in purgatory. I bet Greg loves it when you bake!
Songs also bring up memories. I can’t carry a tune in a bucket but I love to howl along. The Tennessee Waltz is lovely. Roger Miller’s Chug-a-Lug cracks me up. Eddie Arnold’s Cattle Call is irresistible and reminds me of when he was the entertainment at a rodeo.
I am surprised at how much I enjoy Big Band music. Maybe it evokes my parents’ generation, or maybe it was just good, dance-able, accessible ensemble music. I like ragtime too, and the Brahms late works for piano. I also like walking into a store and hearing eighties hits, because I know, “They are targeting my demographic.” I might not like the specific tunes, but it’s still evocative of my youth, and the store knows it.
I think I’m keeping on top of things that rejuvenate me. But I could be wrong. My go-to has always (even as a child) been reading and it’s still my preferred activity. I watch a bit of PBS and try to catch a bit of the news (though part of me also tries to avoid same) and if I’m not too tired, a bit of Stephen Colbert’s show. I used to really like going to the movies (one afternoon/evening/night when we lived in LA, we managed to see 3 first-run movies back-to-back–the area around UCLA was full of movie theaters so it was pretty easy). But my patience with audience behavior is pretty low these days and most of the movies I see trailers for aren’t particularly interesting to me. Since our library rents movies, I just wait until those that I do want to see become available. My recliner couch is more comfortable and I don’t have to shush anybody while I’m watching.
The last movie I went to see at a theater was The King’s Speech, and the crowd really did go wild at the end. We were moved to a person, and very appreciate that that story got told. I see the studies that say most of us are happier even doing “solo” activities with others around us–reading, folding laundry, cooking–but I don’t get that. I am more like you. I need the solitude, and if i want diversion, I’ll get it from a book.
Audiobooks! I choose one to read me to sleep every night. It needs to be one I’ve already read & loved, or I’ll stay up too late wanting to find out what happens next. Gives me serenity, sweet dreams since I know there’s a happy ever after, or for now, & it blocks the 24/7 groan of the construction turning my once rural county road into 6 lanes of gridlock a mile away.
Grace Anne needs to upload more books to libraries however much it’s a pain in the derrière. Hoopla or Libby, I’m always eager for more favorites. Plus my county joined forces with another so we have more options to check out. One library card, two counties’ worth of options. Yay! Smart way to stretch tax dollars for underfunded areas.
Workin’ on it, Beth! Next up in the libraries will be A Gentleman of Sinister Schemes. Give me a couple weeks. In Maryland, if you have a card for any public library, you can borrow any title held by any library in the whole state. Those darned socialists never sleep.
I was expecting Alice the Camel to be very different and definitely not a song, ha, ha.
Glenboro, a small town in my province, Manitoba, has a statue of Sara the Camel. Nearby are the Spirit Sands, a dessert-like series of sand dunes, so Sara is the perfect mascot for the dessert.
I followed Grace’s link and now I am happily humming Alice’s song.
After Thursday choir practices, I love to sing our most recent anthem all the way home.
My daily vitamin is my morning cup of cocoa made with almond milk and real cocoa powder. It’s a wonderful start to my day as I read in bed with my mug next to me. Always very special.
And now we’re seeing all those studies saying cocoa is the key to keeping blood pressure down. We knew that!
I feel like I have those free vitamins sprinkled about and really struggle to see them. I’m not sure why it can be so hard to remember what nourishes me. I used to have a list and try to do at least one thing off the list everyday, but somehow I think that list is sitting under some vitamins somewhere. I need to compose another list. On it will be the Queen of the Night aria that I love to butcher, Moonshadow puts a smile on my face, reading, taking a walk, doing a jigsaw puzzle, browsing a bookstore in person, a leisurely cup of tea, tending my plants, meditating, etc. Thank you Grace for the motivation to draw up a new list.
Make a big list, post it where you see it, jot suggestions on the calendar… Life it too hard without regular doses of joy.
Ah, I totally get what you mean by music being the best thing ever. I used to sing all the time, I even adjusted lyrics to fit a given situation. Example- I re wrote Good Morning, Good Morning song woke my daughters up in the morning with it. My daughter was astounded when she saw one of the movies it was in and discovered the truth. Now my kids are grown and ask me to stop when I start singing. So I invented a theme song for each of my dogs and sing to them LOL
My mom used to do the same thing, and how I would love to hear her bowdlerized lyrics just one more time now!
Ah Grace, this re,finds me of that olde Welsh saying
“Music and love are the wings of the soul”
It is when we soar to meet the sublime.
Or just get up and boogie!
Hi Grace, your post just struck a chord. I know I know,
For over 30 years, off and on, I took harpsichord lessons from one teacher. That teacher was incredible. He was extremely talented, exceptionally knowledgable about the baroque period music that we played and funny as hell. And then he died and I have not been able to play since. I’ve tried a few times and it just isn’t the same but you’re right I should try again because I miss it.
I do sing, church choir, and shape note singing. That’ll get your endorphins up. But that is not daily,
So thank you for the push
Mary
Or maybe just listen to some well played harpsichord. Start somewhere, but don’t let it slip away.
When my kids were small I made two mixed tapes (my age is showing) that I called “Joyful Noise.” I played them during “happy hour” when no one was. Happy, that is. It was big music that ranged from Ode to Joy with massed choir to Beer, Beer, Beer. Kids could hardly talk, but they could move and did. And some times Mom did, too.
I still tutor off and on. I still try to get kids to sing what they need to learn, or just for fun. Mostly they don’t want to.
Have you ever thought of doing a series about the musicians who would play at all the top-lofty events you write about so well? I would think that was a thriving–and educated–community, and would include various emmigrees from the way too many countries in strife at the time. Might include–gasp–women in disguise! Valentine would quite naturally be aware of/part of this group.
Nusic! This past july I visited Krakow, Poland and at the dinner celebration at a resturant in the Jewish sector of the city I enjoyed listening to 3 devinely inspired and talented muscians serenade me with music I listened to, enjoyed as a kid thinking I was absorbing Polish folk songs. How much more I appreciated the music learning it was Jewish folk music. This experience topped off my tripand left me wanting more of the wonderful sound.
Singing was not in my repertoire (now, thanks to Alice the Camel it is included!) but I use to meditate, do some toning, some belly breathing, and recently I’ve added a daily brisk walk about 20-30 minutes that have proved to be very, very good for my body and my mood…
And there is another unexpected vitamin: some months ago I discovered that I was talking to myself not in my mind but really talking to myself (Hello baby, what are we going to do today? … that kind of things) and it is a surprise how good it feels! As in being happy to be with myself.
Grace, thank you for the ARC!
I had a great weekend. First I made a huge sign for the marches and went out on Connecticut Ave. DC with a heck of a lot of other people. Great community feeling, lots of love floating around. That afternoon and the next day I went on the Chevy Chase (both DC and Maryland) Art Walk. So, I’m an introvert, although I love talking to people too, and mostly I’m at home wrapped in my own thoughts. This was all a big, huge hit of talking to people and I feel wonderful. I’ve got to figure out how to do this more often! Then tonight I finished my book club book and downloaded the Besotted Baron and preordered the Christmas novelette so now I have something fun to read and something else coming in November! Can’t beat it. At least until I look at a newspaper or Substack and get mired in gloom.