Can singing change the world?

I would argue in relation to the movements I mentioned above that singing also sustained people in their struggles – giving them courage and collective power even in the face of state opposition and violence and maintaining hope in what Nelson Mandela described as “the long road to freedom”.

So that is the context to get us thinking but in this blog I want to be personal. To talk about my history of political singing and then looking at the journey of one song to help us reflect on what exactly it is that makes singing such a potent tool for change.

I grew up in a political household and politics has always been in my bloodstream. I went to Greenham and I marched on CND marches with my parents. However I didn’t initially think of singing as the channel for my politics, instead I went into party politics – joining the Labour Party and become a member of my trade union. I quickly became frustrated by the infighting and politicking and my commitment to party politics waned. I began to think about positive ways I could express my politics and, as I’d always loved singing, I thought that might be the way forward. I joined Raised Voices political choir in London. With Raised Voices I sang at many benefits and on many marches and began to learn the repertoire of the political choir movement – specifically the South African anthems of the anti-apartheid movement but many more. At the same time I came across the singing of African-American acapella quintet Sweet Honey in the Rock. The first time I saw this group of amazing women I was blown away by the concept that you could sing about what you believed in and make a statement to the world all in stunning harmony.

These two experiences were pivotal to me. I had found a way to express my politics though the creative, empowering and positive use of my own voice joining with others in harmony. This concept of combining building community with singing (whether for political aims or simply to create connection) became and remains the bedrock of my work and led to my involvement in the creation of The Natural Voice Network.

The Natural Voice Network

So that’s my story and it perfectly reflects Caroline’s thoughts. But these blogs are not just about me and Bid personally but about the groups we work with, their responses to our work and what we create together. So I’m going to explore that through the story of one song Ripples on the Water. In March 2017 I initiated a weekend of professional development for Natural Voice Network members on the theme Songs of Change. As a Network many of us were becoming increasingly involved in political song as the impact of austerity and other issues like fracking were biting. I wanted a space where NVN members could get inspiration and ideas from each other. There was a strong feeling that, as a Network, we should be creating our own new songs of change to add to the existing repertoire. With this in mind we placed a heavy emphasis on song-creation over the weekend. Together with a group of other NVNers I created Ripples on the Water. We wrote the song together. At that stage it had a melody and words. We wanted to create something that was strong but also hopeful. Here are the original words:

Out of the Songs of Change weekend came my connection with Bid, her inspiration to apply to be guest editors of this blog and our journey to this point. We wanted to create new songs and after a discussion with my performance group Far Cry where they talked about wanting to sing about change but in a positive way I returned to Ripples on the Water. I created three potential building blocks for the song – some backing parts, a round and block three part harmonies.

I then took these to Far Cry and we tried them out. They worked and people liked the song. They had suggestions about how many parts the round should be, when to use the backing parts and suggested the idea of ending by moving from the minor sounds of the melody to a major chord. I took these suggestions away and added my own thoughts. One of Far Cry had said to me how much the song moved her – she works as a therapist and said how often that could feel like isolated work where you didn’t know whether you were having an impact. For her the words reminded her that small actions do have ripples. I decided to ask her to sing the first line alone and for one of the male singers to respond with the second line before the whole group joined them. I also wrote more words to move it from the individual to the collective and I changed the musical ending as they suggested. Last week we sang it in its final version:

I took time to ask for their responses. Was there something special for them about the song and about the fact we had co-created it? Here’s what they said:

“I feel more invested in it because we co-created it.”

“I was thinking what the effect on the audience – I think it will make them feel ‘ah that’s what this group is about.'”

“It’s exciting to be part of the evolution of something.”

“It makes me try and take on board the meaning of the words – as you get a bit older you get a bit cynical, you’ve seen it all before but in actual fact fact if you make a bit of a change – and it might be you that needs to change – that can be the beginning of something new.”

“I think that because the words are meaningful we are all prepared to go along with it – I think if it was flippant I would probably zone out a bit but because it’s meaningful I don’t. And I love the way the song ripples.”

“What does it for me is that one word “together” because you’re drawing the audience in.”

“I really the end because I wasn’t here the week it got resolved. It was a suggestion I’d made and the week I was here we tried it and it didn’t work and I went away thinking “oh no maybe I should have kept quiet” but when I come back it was there and I think it’s beautiful. What’s so lovely is that it has that melancholy feel and lovely crunchy, hard harmonies, minor harmonies all the way through and at the end you suddenly get this ray of sunshine. Musically that process is really satisfying and that came from the group because in the first week we commented that the melody had quite a melancholy feel but really it’s a song about hope – that we can change things and so the ending matches the sense of hope.”

“It’s a well known image but it’s beautifully expressed, very simply expressed in a non sentimental way.”

“It reminds us that a small action can make a difference – you might just share one word with someone one day and you don’t know what impact it might have – it reminds you of the phrase think global, act local.”

So what relevance does all this have for the Transition Movement? Well, if we want to create different ways of living together and find ways to strengthen our communities I would argue that the style of singing Bid and I do is a powerful tool to support that. I would also argue that song is a potent tool for changing minds, getting your point across and challenging the status quo in a way which is positive, creative and powerful. History shows us this is the case.

Meet the authors

Jenny Goodman and Bid Cousins are members of The Natural Voice Network – an organisation of singing leaders who are committed to the principle that singing is part of being human.

From that flows an open access approach where everyone is welcome to our groups regardless of previous experience – we teach entirely by ear using acapella harmony songs from a range of world, folk and contemporary traditions and our own arrangements. We believe that voices singing in harmony together have an unbeatable feel good factor, builds individual self-confidence and well-being, AND binds communities together. We combine many years of leading singing groups, choirs and projects across the UK and internationally – working in a range of settings and with a wide range of groups.

We are also experienced performers and song-writers. Jenny currently sings and writes with acapella duo The Blameless Hussies and acoustic/roots band – Jenny and the Goodmen as well as writing for her community singing groups – her most recent writing project is working with children at a local school using their words and ideas to write a new song celebrating their community. Bid is a musician and singer playing Celtic harp fiddle and viola. She has worked with community choirs writing and singing music celebrating the land and history. Her current composition project is a suite of music for Celtic harp inspired by North Yorkshire.