A singing house



I know these stories have been making the rounds the past couple of years, but the first time I heard about the phenomenon of elderly nursing home patients with dementia responding so positively to the singing of hymns from their childhoods was from my friend Gini, who reported it from her sister who works in a nursing home in their hometown in Alabama. This story had stuck with Gini, and it was one of the reasons she wanted to make church part of her life. And that got me doing some poking around.

The UU Church of Berkley, California, has a choir called "Luminsence" that recorded a nice medley of several hymns. Church music sounds like, well, church music! If this genre is new to you, know that it's not as polished or produced as pop music, or as gritty as folk, or as infectious as hip-hop. It has its own thing going on, and I challenge you to spend some time with it with an open mind and heart and let yourself be moved. 

It turns out singing does some amazing things to our brains and bodies. It releases endorphins and oxytocin, which increases feelings of bonding and trust and decrease feelings of loneliness and depression. (A 2013 psychology paper postulates that music evolved as a social tool to help us form more cohesive communities that increased our chances of survival.) And the good effects of singing may be cumulative, with studies showing long-term benefits of lower cortisol, the hormone that is responsible for feelings of stress. It turns out that all these benefits are available COMPLETELY INDEPENDENTLY of the quality of sound produced by the singers! Whew, right?! ;) !

But why sing hymns? That's a different kind of argument. Here are five reasons why it's worthwhile to learn and sing hymns with your UU homeschoolers:

1. Hymns are also often great poems. At different points in American history, the best writers and musicians of their times gravitated toward or were directed toward hymn writing. Their legacy is exquisite. Poetry--especially older poetry--is a different way of communicating and grows our brains in different ways when we learn and endeavor to understand it. (And that's true for music, too, of course.)

2. Hymns are soul stirring. They're written with the purpose of moving us toward God, the Great Spirit, the highest expression of humanity, the Oneness that unites us all, or however else you conceive of that which is greater than one's self. In times of trouble and stress in our families, we can use hymns to reconnect us to that which is important and ground our thoughts and actions in spirit. In times of ease and joyfulness, we can celebrate and strengthen that connection.

3. The themes and messages of our hymns reinforce the UU values of community, diversity, good stewardship of the earth, wisdom from many sources, peace, social justice, freedom, and others. We work hard to shape our children's inner voices ever toward loving, empowering, nurturing refrains. Hymns are replete with these.

4. Each hymn has a context, and can lead to explorations of history, politics, biography, geography, multiculturalism, etc. (Song information for hymns in Singing the Living Tradition is here.)

5. Our collection of hymns is part of our UU heritage. It's a birthright of sorts. "We are of the people who sing this, _____________________." We share this body of music with UU's everywhere, across space and time. And when we sing them, over and over, they become part of us.

The ways you sing in your house can vary. There are CD's available to play and sing along to; the First Unitarian Church of Oakland's Chancel Choir does particularly lovely renditions that are easy to sing to. If you're a reader of music, there are song books, including two for children specifically titled "May This Light Shine" and "Come Sing a Song With Me." The hymnals are excellent resources for many reasons. (My partner credits the readings in the back of the hymnal--which he'd peruse during parts of the worship service that did not speak to him--as being his "in" into UUism!). YouTube has a handful of UU hymns. And the Church of the Larger Fellowship has short a capella snippets recorded for home-learners to catch the tune, tempo, and spirit of several hymns.

If you do have a local congregation with which you're associated, singing hymns together with a multigenerational congregation in church on Sundays is an excellent way to sing more. But if that doesn't work so well for you--if you have young children who don't sit in traditional services, for example--you might talk to your music director or choir director about helping to start up a singing circle or family singing night.

Some families since incidentally, throughout the day. Some families sing as they wash dishes. Some set aside time for singing. Some sing in the car to pass the time. I'd be interested to know how you sing with your family, and why, and which songs. What is your family's singing story?

Whenever, however, wherever you sing, may it infuse your life and our shared world with love, meaning, and spirit.

-- T.H.Y.









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