By Sara Vokes, Music Director
It was late into the evening; at least 9 pm and I had a conference call for which to prepare with colleagues in Asia. I was working in Human Resources at the time and singing on the side. I was quietly humming a French song by Faure as I prepared my materials. My office door was almost all the way closed. The doors to all the other offices were shut as no one else was there. The hallway was a wide hallway and only one other person was in the building quite far from my office. I was just thinking about water for tea when the door across the hallway flew open and its occupant strode across the hallway to my door.
To say I was shocked put it mildly.
“DO you mind?!”
I let out a “AHHH!!!” and jumped up out of my chair.
“You must stop…that singing sound you’re making. The constant singing! Really Sara, it’s driving me nuts!”
I apologized and explained that I thought I was alone. My colleague calmed down and asked me to never sing again while working while they were working. They liked hearing my singing/humming, but they couldn’t focus when I was singing WHILE they were working. They couldn’t listen to ANY music while they worked.
I hum or sing in my head (still do) on projects where the humming would help. Work like process flow regarding documentation of onboarding new employees, for instance, required a Mozart type scale with an octave and fifth jump. The stream of vocal sound in my head helped me see where the “flow” of work was going and how the decisions were made. I would “sing” rock songs before employee training sessions or as I waited to review the handbook with an employee. All of this helped me to set a calm focus or excited energy. Simple things like waiting for water to boil, waiting at a light in my car, in the waiting room of a doctors’ office…. all required (and still require) a bit of sound. But if a certain type of music came on in whatever waiting room I happened to be in, I felt ill at ease, irritated and soon, impatient. Why does music help me? Was I born this way or was it something I learned?
I’ll explain further: As I write this, I have Pat Metheny playing in the background from his Secret Story album. However, I CANNOT listen to his Offramp album as I write or work. THAT album requires my full attention. It is the same with JS Bach or the band Queen or Chaka Khan or Fleetwood Mac: I MUST stop and “see” where the notes are going and feel the path of the musical phrases. However, I can work on anything when I listen to “spa” music…including practicing piano or running through some vocal pieces! The chord progressions are slow and expected and my mind can focus. When I write music, all music must stop except that which comes from inside me.
So, what is it about music, spa music for instance, that allows us to slow and lower our blood pressure and breathe more deeply? For some certain music is a balm to a frantic world, for others it is akin to a mosquito buzzing near the ear. And WHY does it stay in our minds and memories?
Why do we even make music? Why did we ever connect sounds our vocal folds made into long streams of sound? Why do two notes played on an instrument or the sound of a drum solo or a series of chords have such an impact on us and tell us that we “KNOW” that song?
This winter season I am carving out time to read and listen to music to which I’m not accustomed. I plan to find as many different musical groups to listen to as possible. Additionally, I will be reading a book titled “Why You Like It. The Science and Culture of Musical Taste” by Nolan Gasser, who was the Chief Musicologist for Pandora by the way. Maybe I’ll find some answers there or maybe I’ll just find more music to play in my head.So, what are you listening to as you live your life and why does it make you want to listen?
Sara
