Consider the old expression, “When all you have is a hammer, everything starts to look like a nail.”
Almost always, my response to whatever challenge the world throws at me is, “Make music.” I am, of course, mindful that this makes me guilty of seeing every situation as a “nail” awaiting the “hammer” of singing.
But in the end, I think – no “hammer” has more weight, more power, more breadth, than singing out loud. Music can bring people together, music can heal wounds, music can make you feel others’ pain, music can soothe, comfort, anger, and inspire.
Our musical hammer is one heck of a multi-purpose tool.
In other words…
This will be our reply to violence: to make music more intensely, more beautifully, more devotedly than ever before.
– Leonard Bernstein
Sing,
Sing a song.
Let the world sing along.
Sing of love there could be,
Sing for you and for me.Sing,
Sing a song.
Make it simple, to last
Your whole life long.
Don’t worry that it’s not good enough
For anyone else to hear.
Just sing
Sing a song.– Joe Raposo, Sing Sesame Street
The best way to spread Christmas cheer
Is singing out loud for all to hear.– Buddy The Elf, Elf
People who make music together cannot be enemies, at least while the music lasts.
– Paul Hindemith