Fear not: Sing, dance, and make merry

      
By Katy Cannon
    Columnist

      
Last week passed so quickly I almost forgot
      to pause and figure out why. Did it go quickly for all of you,
      too? Did you wonder if it was the excitement of Thanksgiving,
      or the tingle in the air, or the approaching end of the semester?
      Maybe you're in love. Whatever the reason, the week went by in
      record time.

      


      Just as most of us agonize over the rough times in life, so also
      should we rejoice in the good times.

      


      Unfortunately, rejoicing is often curtailed by lack of self-assurance.
      It pains me a little to think of all the wasted fun due to embarrassment.
      

      


      I can't remember very many times, if ever, I've seen people on
      the sidewalks or in the halls singing or dancing. Even in the
      privacy of a car, most will halt their expression of joyful lip-synching
      when they come to a stoplight, grinning sheepishly at the driver
      next to them. From where does this fear of singing and dancing
      come?

      


      I once read a little rhyme that went like this: 

      


      "I had the greatest gift there can be, a mother who did
      sing to me." Whether or not Mother sang to us, we all had,
      at one time, the desire and courage to sing. It doesn't take
      much to get a child to sing, in fact, it's often hard to get
      one to stop. Little children love music and love making it. 

      


      Why do you suppose Disney movies are all musicals? Sometime,
      though, around the age of 6 or 7, kids lose that unabashed vigor
      of song. 

      


      Music remains important, but some evil thing tells us we are
      not allowed to make it ourselves. With this loss also coincides
      the loss of that crazy little dance we all used to do.

      


      Music is, without at doubt, one of the most important creations
      of humankind. Few would disagree with this, but too few are a
      part of the magic. Perhaps there are certain times in life when
      music is more important. Perhaps early childhood is one of these
      times, in addition to adolescence. I'd bet nearly all of you
      were pretty into one kind of music or another throughout junior
      high and high school.

      


      Many of us near-adults have managed to acknowledge the importance
      of being a part of the music, but most haven't. They are afraid
      to sing, thinking their voices untuned, and they are afraid to
      dance, thinking their bodies ungraceful. But what are tune and
      grace to obstruct the expression of joy.

      


      It is true that music expresses all the emotions a human can
      know, but ultimately, all music is an expression of joy. Take,
      for example, a blues ballad. A man may sit down and pour out
      his guts into a song of heartbreak and longing, but isn't there
      an exquisite pleasure in the mourning? The happiness lies in
      the connection and sympathy for another human and in the precise
      delight of combined rhythms, melodies and harmonies. 

      


      Something inside each of us recognizes with acuteness the rightness
      and goodness of music. It is a thing we all need. So I say, abandon
      your fears. 

      


      So what if something thinks you're silly for waltzing across
      campus or conducting wildly to the song in your head.

      


      When you are sad, be sad, and when you are happy, be happy. For
      the rest of the semester give yourself the chance to join a friend
      in song or dance. I guarantee a little music will brighten your
      day.
 

      
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