A Time-Sensitive Gift

On Music & Singing and Why We Shouldn't Wait

Everyone Can Sing

I believe everyone can sing, or more precisely, everyone can be taught to sing. The 35-year-old businessman can learn to sing, but he will have to work far more than if he was five years old. Music is a language. It has phonics, grammar, and syntax. It has both reading and writing components. Yet, we don’t often think of teaching it as a language. How did you learn your native language? Did your mother explain gerunds and past participles while rocking you? Not at all. She did read to you. Maybe she even sang to you. She filled you up with songs over time. Perhaps you even went to church where you heard songs being sung and sang them too as you caught on to what and when to sing.

Maybe others did not have much music and singing in their home or church. But perhaps you had the opportunity to attend private music lessons or sang in a children’s or youth choir for some time. These early activities were timely and helpful to your musical ability.

The Clock is Ticking

While it is not absolute, practically, the clock is ticking when it comes to learning spoken or musical languages. Returning to the 35-year-old, he would need more time to rewire and train his brain in a new language, like French or music, than his five-year-old self would. This is why I tell my music and choir students that they will never have more time to sing in a choir and practice their musical instruments than they do right now. With each year that passes, so increases their responsibilities to work, family, etc.

Eternal Singing

Having lost both my father and uncle this year, I have been reminded of just how much singing attends us in times of hardship and death. In ages past, it was more organic in church and family society. In some places, it still is. But many people will have to be purposeful in cultivating their singing ability. As has been stated in this publication before, we do not know all of what we will be doing for eternity. But we know that we will be singing. It’s not a peripheral activity for the Christian.

Don’t Go At It Alone

If you need to be strengthened in your singing ability, I suggest you find a community—a singing congregation, a choir, a music class, or all of the above. Don’t try to tackle this on your own with a YouTube video course. Instead, let the communal aspects of singing with one another encourage you to press on to maturity. You won’t wake up one morning with the ability to sing. Instead, you will find little by little improvements and encouragements that, after a time, you can pause, look backward and see just how far you’ve come. Music is a time-sensitive gift, but it is worth putting in the time from an early age.