Singing is the most accessible stress reliever

https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20200518-why-singing-can-make-you-feel-better-in-lockdown

by laurex • 6 years ago

138 81 6 years ago

bbc.com

cachestash• 6 years ago

It's not for those who have to listen to me.

techer• 6 years ago

Then sing alone wearing earplugs.

onion2k• 6 years ago

I don't know the song "alone wearing earplugs". Who's it by?

bonniemuffin• 6 years ago

I wish there was a good way to sing together over videochat. The lag makes it impossible--if you've tried singing Happy birthday to someone over Zoom, you've probably noticed that it's the worst! Everyone tries to adjust to everyone else's lag and it just makes everyone even more and more out of time with each other.

dlkf• 6 years ago

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drone_music

barbegal• 6 years ago

You're right you can't all hear each other. Some choirs use instructions like https://www.makingmusic.org.uk/resource/zoom-online-rehearsa... where everyone is on mute and can just hear themselves and the choirmaster.

I think a technological solution would exist: A and B hears choirmaster, A and B's sound is sent back to server which syncs it with the choirmasters sound before sending to C, D, E and F. C, D, E and F's sound is sent back to the server which syncs it and sends to G, H, I... etc.

So most people can sing along hearing some of the choir and the latency overall shouldn't be too bad. Scales with log(n) * max(latency)

madcaptenor• 6 years ago

I haven't tried it, but maybe singing a round would work? The whole point there is the delay.

uhoh-itsmaciek2• 6 years ago

In a round, the delay is under your control. If you start singing the first line when you hear me sing the second one, you're actually starting to sing at (second line ts + $latency). And then I hear it another $latency later. A round could work if your call software compensates for this and delays your singing for me until the next round "entry point".

That is, you hear my "Gently" and join in with "Row," but it's not played back for me until I start singing "Merrily." This could work, but as you can see, it would need some clever delay management.

raxxorrax• 6 years ago

It is incredible how even minuscule delays can be heard. I first laughed about calibrating sound systems with microphones to compensate for different cable lengths until a sound engineer let me listen to the differences.

He could hear if a box had a delay about 2-3ms. Quite hard requirements.

amelius2• 6 years ago

Note that delays can also be an issue when singing in real life. In a large church choir, people in the back have to start singing a tiny bit earlier than people in the front because of the speed of sound in air. And then there is the pipe organist too, often at an ever greater distance.

https://music.stackexchange.com/questions/30454/how-does-a-p...

SketchySeaBeast2• 6 years ago

I first laughed about calibrating sound systems with microphones to compensate for different cable lengths until a sound engineer let me listen to the differences.

Seriously? Even if electricity has a drift velocity of 50% the speed of light, that's still 150,000 meters in 1 ms - how long is this cable???? There must be something else at play.

wodenokoto• 6 years ago

Absolutely minuscule delays due to the distance between your ears are a guide to your stereo perception.

Human hearing is quite extraordinary.

cma• 6 years ago

Electricity travels at a big fraction of the speed of light, he couldn't hear a cable length delay. Sound travels about a meter at 3ms in air, that's more likely what microphone calibration was for.

holri• 6 years ago

ninjam should work, although I have not tried it myself, anyone else?

https://www.cockos.com/ninjam/

GuiA• 6 years ago

I've found that the lag impacts even day to day speech. Turn taking cues are all out of whack, and I notice that e.g. my teammates interrupt each other significantly more. It makes conversations in groups larger than 4-5 people very awkward.

DonCopal• 6 years ago

Then how is Smule possible?

zodiac2• 6 years ago

The parts are recorded at separate times

zodiac2• 6 years ago

I saw someone on a facebook group for choral directors who got 10ms latency over 30km. It can be done but requires somewhat specialized hardware (ethernet cable to the router, external audio interface and mic), network setup and software

daralthus• 6 years ago

https://endlesss.fm/ gives you a shared loop pedal. It's not real time, but just as social and the looping means you don't have to worry about lag.

joslin01• 6 years ago

Big time.. I started singing 4 years ago after going through some heartbreak. It soon became an obsession to sing everyday and I can always count on it to lift me up if I'm feeling down.

brootstrap• 6 years ago

I sing so much randomly around the house my wife has to tell me "GET A NEW SONG". Just about once a day. Songs are usually some weird mix of jams that daddy likes, and the theme songs from my 1.5yr old daughters disney junior cartoons. Fuck those little songs get stuck in your head. Currently on one from 'mira royal detective'.

globular-toast• 6 years ago

Singing is really good. I learnt guitar and to sing a few years ago now. I taught myself to play guitar using online videos (mainly JustinGuitar). I took singing lessons for about a year which helped me to sing properly. I also sung in a choir (SATB) or a little while but I didn't really get on with that. I prefer singing pop songs. I'm good at singing them but I don't have a good singing voice. I could be a backing vocalist in a band, but not a lead singer. But still, it's fun to sing with friends and family!

amelius2• 6 years ago

I sing best in the morning. After work, stress has usually built up so much that it's difficult to get my voice back into a relaxed state.

Disposition• 6 years ago

Try a different genre, or just something with more presence and power. At a time in my life when I had daily intense emotional stress, I sang stuff by Chris Cornell (Soundgarden, Audioslave) and channeling that raw unbridled energy in his music felt immensely cathartic.

qnsi2• 6 years ago

Ask HN: any hackerlike ways to train your singing when alone with no feedback?

I will try to search algolia and come back to you with my research

castlecrasher2• 6 years ago

I used Rock Band for this for a while.

mrspeaker• 6 years ago

Or even not alone - is it possible to get better at singing, or is it mostly just natural? I can kind of "hold a note", but only about 8 of them! Can you meaningfully extend your range, or is your range your range?

qnsi2• 6 years ago

IIRC you can improve your singing

graphpapa• 6 years ago

You can find videos of people’s improvement with practice on YouTube.

This is one example: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=eTX9LxZ9YUQ

Definite improvement

fenwick67• 6 years ago

Rock Band, SingStar etc will tell you when your pitch is off. It won't help you with anything beyond that, but it's a start.

balfirevic4• 6 years ago

Unfortunately, singing is pretty hard to learn alone. Correct technique is somewhat unintuitive and it's hard to actually see what other singers are doing (internally, with their muscles, throat, larynx) and compare it to what you're doing.

When taking lessons is not an option, I've seen this course get recommended at /r/singing a lot: https://singingsuccess.com/

Don't have first hand experience with it, though.

tekkk• 6 years ago

Well, after singing for a while with a teacher I kinda understood how to produce a good steady voice. However, it's a bit difficult to explain in text.

But okay, this at least was the revelation for me: try to blow air like blowing out a candle. Meaning a directed, focused blowing that comes with a good strength. This is basically how you want your breathing to be when singing. A steady air flow, without muscular tensions. Then, you just slowly add voice to that air flow. With a humming voice first, trying to utilize as much of your vocal cords as possible. Then you can try singing louder, and seeing if you can keep the same steadiness. What you are trying to get the hang of, is a certain "bite" where your voice resonates with a good clarity and has strength to it, without really trying too hard. (Go watch John Denver singing to know what I mean)

An issue I, and probably many others, face is an inefficient breathing that generates friction in your vocal cords, causing your voice to quickly fall apart becoming weak and crackly.

So avoid "pushing" your voice as much as necessary. It will just cause bad muscle memory, like doing deadlifts with a bad technique. You have to build up the nervous system and the muscle memory slowly, never extending it too far. It might feel annoying singing with "half-volume", when all you want to do is to sing along with your favourite singer with full power. Yet once you build up the technique the whole thing becomes significantly easier. Hard to explain, but you shouldn't be feeling like you have to expend a lot of effort to get a strong voice.

Well, I hope that's something. I would be curious to know if it helped.

uhoh-itsmaciek2• 6 years ago

As someone who's been learning to sing mostly on my own (though I've taken a few local workshops that have helped a lot), here are the things I've found most helpful:

* commit to the notes you're singing: singing tentatively makes it harder to evaluate yourself

* sing along with a recording and emulate the singer--every ornament, every nuance in timing--you can find your own voice (so to speak) once you know what you're doing

* repeat a song or even chorus or line over and over, especially singing along with a recording

* record yourself: everyone hates doing this, but again, it's much easier to evaluate what you're doing

* if you're having trouble with a specific line, find the notes on an instrument and sing along (though make sure you're not just locked in to fixed pitches--a lot of the beauty of great singing is exploiting the marvelous glissando capabilities of the human voice)

* drink water and don't hurt yourself

andyv• 6 years ago

You really need a voice coach, because you really can't hear yourself sing. Crazy but little known fact-- even professional soloists hire voice coaches. A former coach of mine works over Skype, though I never tried that.

HappyDreamer• 6 years ago

Here:

    sudo apt install audacity

('audacity' is a sound recording program.) Then try to sing along a YouTube song, listening to the song in your headphones, whilst singing into a mic — recording your voice only.

Then play back your voice, from the recording, and find out what you'd like to change about your voice, and what you can get better at. It's harder to sing, than what I thought!

And, juts like running or table tennis or whatever, everyone is going to be not-good at it, in the beginning, I think.

iovrthoughtthis2• 6 years ago

Shame poorer inner city dwellers all live in close proximity with thin walls or shared accommodation. Singing is almost impossible in those circumstances without annoying a neighbor.

My last tenancy agreement had specific references to playing any music instruments / singing practice.

asdfasgasdgasdg2• 6 years ago

Singing at a normal indoor volume is fine even in apartments. Maybe you can't belt music out at the top of your lungs but despite the lease agreement no city will allow the enforcement of a rule that no singing at all is allowed in apartments.

danenania• 6 years ago

It probably depends on the city, but in general the legal noise limits allowing for "quiet enjoyment" seem to be pretty high. I lived above loud college students for awhile in SF, and was curious whether they were technically breaking the limits, so I downloaded a decibel meter app to check. Even with the phone sitting on the floor, they would only break the limits when someone yelled at the top of their lungs or they played extremely loud music. That was despite being able to hear pretty much all their (loud but not shouting) conversations, (loud but not usually extreme) music, etc. very clearly in our apartment.

So I think singing should be fine legally speaking unless you live somewhere with a lot stricter limits, especially during the day. It's a good idea to check with neighbors though. Often they won't mind if you do it as long as you avoid certain times or certain rooms. That's how we (sort of) resolved things with our student friends... and thankfully we moved out of there pre-quarantine :)

jedimastert• 6 years ago

Singing at a normal indoor volume is fine even in apartments

That really depends on what kind of music you like to sing

iovrthoughtthis2• 6 years ago

The city might not but my neighbours... they might haha.

Seriously though. How would singing be relaxing if you had to deal with angry neighbours every few times you sung?

gfxgirl2• 6 years ago

Singing is the most accessible stress reliever

Not where I live in an apartment in a crowded city where the culture is to not bother others. Neighbors would not be happy to hear me sing no matter how good am, any more then they are happy to hear my stereo.

When I commuted to work in a car I had 30 to 60 minutes of singing time each way. Now I have karaoke box 3 - 4 times a year.

awinter-py• 6 years ago

yeah, in apt setting it doesn't reduce stress, it just transfers it to your nextdoor neighbor

human voice relatively patterned, esp if the computer knows the song you're singing / you've sang it before. I wonder if there's room for a custom noise cancelation algo that can dampen my neighbor's opera practice?

balfirevic4• 6 years ago

I don't consider it reasonable to expect such level of silence from neighbors that normal singing volume levels would exceed it.

kansface• 6 years ago

Singing is loud - about the same as a trumpet (80 db).

r00fus• 6 years ago

Sound isolation in older or cheaply designed apartments really sucks.

Plus, therapeutic levels for singing probably require something louder than mezzo piano.

afaejiajiwj• 6 years ago

I have a terrible voice and a very limited range, so I whistle

ipnon2• 6 years ago

Terrence McKenna believed stress relief is the reason that so many shamanic rituals include singing and steady drum beats. The anxiety surrounding communication with the dead or the gods is released through the music. He also pointed out rightly that singing requires deep, slow breathing, which prevents hyperventilation and its attendant stress. More practically, his recommendation for bad drug trips is to sing or hum a low and slow tune. I can unfortunately attest to the effectiveness of this technique.

AlwaysRock2• 6 years ago

+1 for singings your way out of a bad trip. To paraphrase McKenna, If you find yourself in hell start singing. It will take you all the way to heaven.

yters• 6 years ago

what happens in a bad drug trip?

hutzlibu2• 6 years ago

"He also pointed out rightly that singing requires deep, slow breathing"

I would generalize that "breathing is the most accessible stress reliever".

Breathing consciously is the single thing you can do always to relieve stress and get your hormons in balance again.

Singing and chanting and drumming can be even more powerful obviously, but you cannot always do that, but you can (and should) always breathe the right way.

ipnon2• 6 years ago

Agreed, I believe in the absence of a scientific explanation in terms of increased blood flow or nitric oxide breaching the blood brain barrier, the solution had simply been codified in pre-scientific cultures as "one weird trick" for combating anxiety.

starpilot• 6 years ago

It's all about focus. Whether it's painting or rock climbing or play violin.

vick89• 6 years ago

I absolutely hate singing and listening to music that I don't like is like torture.

1e-9• 6 years ago

There's evidence it may also reduce snoring and sleep apnea by strengthening the pharyngeal muscles[1].

[1] https://file.scirp.org/Html/5-2460085_31850.htm

gowld• 6 years ago

Camelot did it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fiJvAcbxKlU#t=3m10s

irrational• 6 years ago

Heh, nothing stresses me out more than singing. Mainly because I'm a really bad singer. But, I also have an issue where music does nothing for me - I have no emotional response to songs, music, etc. So I don't really have an incentive to improve my singing. It is sort of a catch-22.

jmiskovic• 6 years ago

There is a VR application called SoundSelf, which makes interesting visualizations derived from your voice and singing to put you into meditative state. It seems like intriguing take on using biofeedback to achieve specific mind states.

dagav• 6 years ago

Singing to reduce stress is a great exercise because it feels like your voice comes straight from your heart. Find a song that speaks to you, sing it, and see what emotions come up. It can help to uncover some unconscious emotions you've been holding on to.

Singing is the most accessible stress reliever

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