[extropy-chat] LA Times - Singing and health

[Thomas]

pjmanney wrote:

>[...] This is for those singers among us, like Emlyn.
>
>This is from the LA Times Health section, on how singing is beneficial to health.  It raises immune system indicators, raises oxytocin, raises cognitive fuction, improves quality of life in older age.  Group singing seems to improve it even more.
>
>http://www.latimes.com/features/health/la-he-sing23apr23,1,2749174.story?coll=la-headlines-health
>[...]
>
 From the Times article: "At least one cognitive scientist, Steven 
Pinker, is skeptical of a primal human need for music. Instead, he sees 
music and singing as a kind of linguistic dessert — delicious but not 
necessary. In his 1997 book, 'How the Mind Works,' he wrote, 'I suspect 
music is auditory cheesecake.'"

I see Pinker has contributed a good deal in the field of EP. In my 
opinion the "linguistic" aspect of music accounts for a small fraction 
of its significance. Music has the virtue of arousing and allowing us to 
express inarticulate emotions of joy, hilarity, loss, longing, etc. When 
it comes to voicing deep emotion, the lyrics alone cannot satisfy the 
way a simple sustained vowel sound does. I wonder if Pinker has done 
much singing. -- Thomas Oliver (the songmaker)