Your voice is unique to you. It grows as you grow. It changes as you change. If you’re curious about the relationship between your voice and your body, your heart and your mind, welcome. My name is Michèle Voillequé and I can’t wait to hear you. 

Today I’m gonna do the maybe ridiculous thing of talking about a video on an audio only podcast. But this video is so transformative, I can’t not tell you about it.

Last week, I was having a really difficult day. I was going spend the afternoon writing, and it was gonna be productive. It was gonna be beautiful. It was gonna be useful for my students. it was gonna be lovely.

And wouldn’t, you know, I couldn’t put two sentences together to save my life. No matter, I tried all my tricks. None of them worked. I did all, all the things that usually help me put sentences together, and I just, the brain wouldn’t do it.

And so I took a break.

I’m participating in a program, that has a private Facebook group attached to it. So I thought, okay, let’s just check out what’s going on in the program. I go to Facebook, and before I get to the program, in my feed is a video from the Obama Foundation.

President Obama last week visited a high school in Chicago that has a boys choir, and this is a really famous choir, I guess. They’ve appeared on a national television program. I didn’t know anything about that.

Anyway, so the video is of President Obama going to the choir to say “hi,” and they are over the moon to see him, as you can imagine, and they offer to sing for him. And he says, “Yeah, I’d love to hear what you’ve got.”

And they sing for him and they sing beautifully.

And it’s the kind of song that has a refrain. And so after a couple of times, Obama is singing along with them and moving with them to the music, and it is just the sweetest, most uplifting moment.

What is happening? People are singing. That’s basically what’s happening.

Take out the former leader of the free world, take out the high school kids, take out the intergenerational component, right? The fundamental, magical thing that’s going on there is that people are sharing music.

It’s so clear how music is absolutely magical and how when we’re singing, what these boys are communicating to the president is,

I see you.

I respect you.

I’m glad you’re here.

We, I have a message for you.

I have joy that I would like to share with you.

I know that my voice matters.

I have a community.

I want you to be a part of it.

I am so glad you’re here.

If you didn’t understand any of the words of their song, this is the subtext of what’s going on. These are, those were not the lyrics, but this is what’s going on in that room as these boys are singing and as their song is being taken in. And it’s what human beings should be spending their time on.

It’s just so beautiful and so uplifting to me. It changed my day. It did not make me a better writer that day. That, writing that day was already off the table, but it did restore me to a sense of, for lack of a better word, okayness. It did restore a bit of balance to my soul.

It did bring me back to my own joy and my own desire for connection and my own appreciation for love that is unafraid, for hearts on a sleeve.

Now you could say that this is such a powerful video, this is such a powerful communication, a powerful sharing, because the singing is really high quality. The singing is really good. They’re practiced. They’ve performed before. They know what they’re doing. Of course, this is gonna be moving.

And surely that does play some part in it, but I want you to know, I have been in rooms with singing that was not nearly as accomplished, but was absolutely just as moving.

Again, what’s being communicated is,

I see you.

I respect you.

I’m glad you’re here.

I have a message for you.

I have joy that I want to share with you.

I know that my voice matters.

I have a community and I want you to feel a part of it.

That’s what’s going on when we’re singing for one another.

And if there’s any lack of that in your life, I want to humbly suggest that you can find it by singing. You can find it by sharing your voice with the people who matter to you.

That’s really all I have for you today.

This episode is coming out just at the very darkest time of the year, and I hope, among other things, that music can be a little light for you, can help carry you through the dark turning of the year in the Northern Hemisphere.

If you’re in the Southern hemisphere, enjoy your summer! May the music, in that case, be a cooling breeze for you to carry you through.

Thank you so much for listening.

If you enjoyed today’s episode, please rate and review on Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen. Every positive review helps new people find the show. Subscribing ensures you’ll learn about new episodes as soon as they come out. If you have a question about singing or speaking or being, please send me an email at letters@mvmusik.com.

That’s letters at M as in Mary, V as in Victor, M U S I K.com.

Transcripts and show notes are available on my website. You can subscribe to my newsletter there, too. Can’t Wait to Hear You is produced in conjunction with Particulate Media. I’m your host, Michèle Voillequé. I can’t wait to hear you.