BBC Ideas｜当我们唱歌时，我们的内心会发生什么？

What happens inside us when we sing? | BBC Ideas

Your first communication with the outside world is sound and that's why I think it gets all of those hormones going because it's the first communication you ever have. So all the emotions that music can show to people are in those first moments.

I often feel that my voice is stuck, when I'm having conversations or I don't know what to say or I'm shy. With the singing, it just cuts through all this. I'm quite a fragmented person but somehow I just keep coming back to this. You're aligning your voice, your inner self with lots of other people that you may not even know.

Your voice is so personal to you compared to an instrument. That's why we're so sensitive about singing in front of people but it's also why it gives us such a buzz because we are being watched for exactly who we are, no holds barred. If you're really low and down, then singing could be scariest thing you could think of doing. So if you can get over that fear by having a supportive environment like a choir, then you're off.

I was happily married with three children for 20 years and then the wife turned round and divorced me, and I was thrown out with no money, no job, no children, nowhere to live. We're all different people, with different problems and when we're there we're all one. We've got to all depend on each other.

Music accesses more parts of the brain than nearly any other activity. They're also making pathways between each side. It fires off so many different parts of the brain that surely things are going to be starting to change. We've evolved to be a species who want to be in communication with other people. Music has actually evolved to be a tool to do that. It's like a biotechnology. You have to breathe together, you have to sing in tune. Well, you don't have to. But you have to sing in rhythm with each other, you might move together. You're suddenly in it together and that builds trust because you know that everyone is doing it for the group.

This particular choir is unique because it gives you courage. It makes you feel connected. It's a bit like having a hug I suppose, it brings you back to being a human being. Singing is an unusual expression, it sort of throws your insides out. It doesn't bother me now that I am not a perfect musician. It just matters that I can actually stay alive.

I found that so much working in the mental health world is that somebody would be very happy to sing a very intensely emotional song, but to talk about anything afterwards would be really difficult because they don't know where it's going to go, but they know the song is going to end.

When I had a spine problem, I had chronic depression. Your physical health can lead to your mental health. You don't have to be good. First thing you have to feel that I want to sing and that's it. You know you don't have to be 100% because you don't have to be a hero in a day.

In philosophy, there's epistemological solipsism, your brain makes up your world. So we've all got our own little worlds in our head. And so we're all very individual because all our brains are not linked by the internet. That's where music is such an important, vital tool, because if we're all individual we could just say, "I want your cheese sandwich, I'm just going to take it." Or "I want your house, I'm just going to move in." Or "Actually I want your wife, I might just kill you."

These are the animalistic kind of things that an individual, primal being would do. So the way that we can then process these primal feelings, is to do it through a safe way, sublimate it and do it through music.

词汇表
hormone [ˈhɔːməʊn] 激素，荷尔蒙
stuck [stʌk]（读书或回答问题等）卡壳的，难住的，答不上来的
cut through 穿透，克服（困难等）
fragmented [ˈfræɡmentɪd] 破碎的，分裂的，不完整的
align with [ə'laɪn] 与…一致，使对齐
buzz [bʌz] 兴奋，快乐
no holds barred [bɑːd] 毫无保留，不受限制
be low and down 情绪低落，意志消沉
choir [ˈkwaɪə(r)] 合唱团，唱诗班
throw out 赶走，抛弃
pathway [ˈpɑːθweɪ] 路径，通路
fire off 激发，触发
biotechnology [ˌbaɪəʊtekˈnɒlədʒi] 生物技术
sing in tune [tjuːn] 唱得合拍，唱歌不走调儿
sing in rhythm 节奏一致地唱，按节奏唱歌
feel connected 感到紧密联系，感到共鸣
inside out 彻底地，全面地，由内而外
intensely emotional [ɪn'tensli] 情感强烈的，情绪激烈的
spine problem [spaɪn] 脊椎问题
chronic [ˈkrɒnɪk] 慢性的，长期的，习惯性的
be a hero in a day 短期内成为佼佼者，一日成名
epistemological solipsism [ɪˌpɪstɪməˈlɒdʒɪkl ˈsɒlɪpsɪzəm] 认识论上的唯我论
animalistic [ˌænɪməˈlɪstɪk] 动物的，兽性的
primal [ˈpraɪml] 原始的，最初的
sublimate [ˈsʌblɪmeɪt] 使升华，使高尚

💡 翻译、视频版和pdf见公众号【琐简英语】，回复"1"可进【打卡交流群】