singing group

Singing in my opinion is one perfect example of how body and mind work closely together: First you "imagine" the note you want to sing--how high the pitch, how great the volume, what sound to make--then you open your mouth, strain your vocal cord, lift your abdomen (if you are doing it right) or chest (if not), and out comes that sound you intended...

You then need to be "confident" and "persistent" with your utterance, so you can stay the course and not easily get off-keyed or swayed over to other harmonic parts of the song that are being sung by your fellow singers. 

Not that you should mental-block your fellow singers' voices, quite the opposite, you need to listen closely to them all the time, for their harmonics, so you can blend in yours, and for the rise and fall, twist and turn of the melody, so you can vest your emotions in.

If, as they say, when doing meditation, you imagine your mind like a steady river, letting go all the disruptive thoughts and noises like boats floating by, then when singing, it's like that river packs and flows all your thoughts and feelings up and away to the far far land of no return... 

I have joined a few choir or chorus groups off and on through the years. This most recent one my wife dragged me into joining over a year ago is made up of a group of 20+ people, men and women about my age or older, veteran and half-baked singers like myself, from all over Orange County.

I like the songs the group picks to sing: be it English, Chinese, Taiwanese or Hakka (a minority dialect in Taiwan), spiritual, classical, folksy or pop... all are melodically and harmonically rich and beautiful; the fact we have some veteran pitch perfect "big brother" singers singing next to me boosts up my confidence (and covers up my faults); and a cheery, always smiley sweet lady conductor that patiently nudges us on like kids in school... all make the weekly two and a half hour practices go fast and easy.

Here are some video recordings of a recent performance we did at an event commemorating the many great foreign missionaries and the work they did in Taiwan to share with you:

A spiritual--also the official--song of the group, in English
https://youtu.be/8Y7j-FNHOhc

A song in Hakka, about a legendary old tree and the tale surrounding it
https://youtu.be/a01Ba7C-OCk

A poetic "fisherman's song" in Mandarin Chinese
https://youtu.be/rxE6Wq_qTIc

A song in Taiwanese, based on a poem by George MacKay, a Canadian missionary who came to Taiwan in 1871 and devoted the rest of his life (30 years) there
https://youtu.be/a-VHahEwpYY

A jolly folksy tune in Taiwanese about an old man trying having fun riding a bicycle around town with a bumpy ending  

https://youtu.be/98WkM06BKS4

Hope you have spotted me but not heard my voices