But strangely enough, the aspect that has improved my singing more than anything has not been practicing (although, without it, there would be nothing. Edison said 10% inspiration, 90% persperation and I totally agree!) nor has it been the boys, Baldo and others boosting my confidence and making me believe. No, it has been being more in touch with nature, with the people and the world around me, being more humble, seeing more with the heart and not the eyes. Werbeck worked closely with Rudolf Steiner, so it is no wonder that being in touch with nature goes hand in hand with “better” singing.

But the thing I can’t point my finger on is this: has being in touch with nature improved my singing or has singing itself put me more in touch with nature and improved my singing as a result? I think it is the latter personally. Because singing, proper singing, opens you up, especially your heart. It is something natural, where we are a medium for the melody, that it is not us singing but a divine force that sings through us. It humbles us and makes us think about giving not just taking.

Most singing from the onset of the industrial age has drifted so far away from these spiritual beginnings. Baldo puts it as thus: “As culture and education has changed over the last centuries, people nowadays are singing less than ever before. Millions of people, during their everyday life are not singing anymore. About 200 – 300 years ago humans could sing 3 – 4 octaves, and nowadays only a little more than one. The tendency is that our voices become lower, inflexible, and hardened (more physical). Our voices cannot develop as was possible in earlier days.” This is also true of more than just our voices. Look at what we as a race have done to this world because of our hardened and inflexible hearts and minds.

I truly hope that we all sing more, take more walks in the countryside, listen to the birds, bees and all our other wondrous fellow beings, hug a tree, plant a vegetable patch. I honestly believe it would be a much, MUCH better world for all of us. What a wondrous effect the musical butterfly effect would then have!