Group Singing as Communion

by John Scardina
Purchase Meeting

I started singing with Peter and Annie Blood-Patterson (co-creators of Rise Up Singing and Rise Again) at Friends General Conference in 1989. In 1991 — as a response to the first Iraq War — I began joining them in their home once a month for a community sing as an artistic response to war. Since then I have led such sing-along sessions in many places, including NYYM’s Summer Sessions.

As Robin Williamson of The Incredible String Band (one of my musical mentors, along with Michael Heron, Pete Seeger, Joni Mitchell, Bela Bartok, and John Prine) once said, “Music is prayer, everything else is interesting in an infinite sort of way.” That’s how I feel, whether we are singing Julian of Norwich or Dancing with Bears! Indeed, when we “lift every voice and sing” something magical happens.

As an educator I learned that there is a discrete “musical intelligence” (Howard Gardner in Frames of Mind). As a psychologist I learned from Oliver Sachs that “music (is) continually forcing itself on my attention, showing me its effects on almost every aspect of brain function — and life.” (Musicophilia). Music heals our souls, quiets our troubled inner voices, and sparks our bodies to move and rejoice.

At West Chester Friends School (where I was the psychologist for 35 years) I began a once monthly Meeting for Singing. The entire community gathered in the meeting house to sing on a Thursday morning. All of the songs were taught and learned by the children (from pre-K through fifth grade) so there was no need for song sheets or songbooks. After a very short time we began having nearly as many parents, grandparents, and extended family members show up, a testament to the power of group singing. Many times adults came up to me afterwards with tears in their eyes, saying that the experience had moved them deeply. Singing together was filling a void in their lives.

At NYYM Summer Sessions, I contribute my two ministries as best I can — driving a golf cart and singing after dinner. I play for the contra dance and watch all of you dance with joy and spirit. I cannot imagine my life without music. Can you?