Singing - the immersion of the self in the community

David Griggs-Jannower writes great posts and he's got another one available on his blog.  His subject today is the communal aspect of singing, based on an article from Brian Eno in Ode magazine.  Eno says this:

When you sing with a group of people you learn how to subsume yourself to the group consciousness--because a cappella singing is all about the immersion of the self into the community. That's one of the great feelings: to stop being me for a little while, and to become us. That way lies empathy; the great virtue. If I were asked to redesign the educational system, I'd insist group singing be part of the daily routine. It builds character and encourages co-operation.

That led Griggs-Janower to eventually say this:

Maybe what we need in this country is more of this communal activity. What separates this communal activity from, say, sports, is that there is no enemy. We don't win at someone else's expense, it's not us against them. It's us, all together, with each other, with Mozart or Brahms, and with our audience, in pursuit of artistic achievement and grand entertainment. There aren't a whole lot of things like this outside the arts; so much of everything else is competitive.

Read the whole post here.