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Singing is the most accessible stress reliever
- cachestash 6y agoIt's not for those who have to listen to me.
- techer 6y agoThen sing alone wearing earplugs.
- onion2k 6y agoI don't know the song "alone wearing earplugs". Who's it by?
- karatestomp 6y agoThe In the Showers. Most know them for their hit “Along with the Radio (Alone in a Car)”
- bonniemuffin 6y agoI wish there was a good way to sing together over videochat. The lag makes it impossible--if you've tried singing Happy birthday to someone over Zoom, you've probably noticed that it's the worst! Everyone tries to adjust to everyone else's lag and it just makes everyone even more and more out of time with each other.
- dlkf 6y agohttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drone_music https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drone_music
- barbegal 6y agoYou're right you can't all hear each other. Some choirs use instructions like https://www.makingmusic.org.uk/resource/zoom-online-rehearsals-vocal https://www.makingmusic.org.uk/resource/zoom-online-rehearsa... where everyone is on mute and can just hear themselves and the choirmaster. I think a technological solution would exist: A and B hears choirmaster, A and B's sound is sent back to server which syncs it with the choirmasters sound before sending to C, D, E and F. C, D, E and F's sound is sent back to the server which syncs it and sends to G, H, I... etc. So most people can sing along hearing some of the choir and the latency overall shouldn't be too bad. Scales with log(n) * max(latency)
- madcaptenor 6y agoI haven't tried it, but maybe singing a round would work? The whole point there is the delay.
- uhoh-itsmaciek 6y agoIn a round, the delay is under your control. If you start singing the first line when you hear me sing the second one, you're actually starting to sing at (second line ts + $latency). And then I hear it another $latency later. A round could work if your call software compensates for this and delays your singing for me until the next round "entry point". That is, you hear my "Gently" and join in with "Row," but it's not played back for me until I start singing "Merrily." This could work, but as you can see, it would need some clever delay management.
- raxxorrax 6y agoIt is incredible how even minuscule delays can be heard. I first laughed about calibrating sound systems with microphones to compensate for different cable lengths until a sound engineer let me listen to the differences. He could hear if a box had a delay about 2-3ms. Quite hard requirements.
- amelius 6y agoNote that delays can also be an issue when singing in real life. In a large church choir, people in the back have to start singing a tiny bit earlier than people in the front because of the speed of sound in air. And then there is the pipe organist too, often at an ever greater distance. https://music.stackexchange.com/questions/30454/how-does-a-pipe-organist-deal-with-latency-or-delay https://music.stackexchange.com/questions/30454/how-does-a-p...
- bobbiechen 6y agoYou also see this in marching band, where playing in time with the conductor's hands results in messy sound for the audience, because of how far apart different band members might be. The conductor also can't listen to the sound and hear if the band is in time - so you have to watch their feet instead. There's some good videos about these effects on the Drum Major Academy website: https://drummajor.org/marching-band-sound-delay https://drummajor.org/marching-band-sound-delay
- SketchySeaBeast 6y ago> I first laughed about calibrating sound systems with microphones to compensate for different cable lengths until a sound engineer let me listen to the differences. Seriously? Even if electricity has a drift velocity of 50% the speed of light, that's still 150,000 meters in 1 ms - how long is this cable???? There must be something else at play.
- danharaj 6y agoIt's not the transmission through the cable that matters, it's the fact that you're using a long cable to put things far enough apart that the speed of sound matters.
- holri 6y agoninjam should work, although I have not tried it myself, anyone else? https://www.cockos.com/ninjam/ https://www.cockos.com/ninjam/
- GuiA 6y agoI've found that the lag impacts even day to day speech. Turn taking cues are all out of whack, and I notice that e.g. my teammates interrupt each other significantly more. It makes conversations in groups larger than 4-5 people very awkward.
- DonCopal 6y agoThen how is Smule possible?
- zodiac 6y agoThe parts are recorded at separate times
- zodiac 6y agoI saw someone on a facebook group for choral directors who got 10ms latency over 30km. It can be done but requires somewhat specialized hardware (ethernet cable to the router, external audio interface and mic), network setup and software
- daralthus 6y agohttps://endlesss.fm/ https://endlesss.fm/ gives you a shared loop pedal. It's not real time, but just as social and the looping means you don't have to worry about lag.
- joslin01 6y agoBig time.. I started singing 4 years ago after going through some heartbreak. It soon became an obsession to sing everyday and I can always count on it to lift me up if I'm feeling down.
- brootstrap 6y agoI sing so much randomly around the house my wife has to tell me "GET A NEW SONG". Just about once a day. Songs are usually some weird mix of jams that daddy likes, and the theme songs from my 1.5yr old daughters disney junior cartoons. Fuck those little songs get stuck in your head. Currently on one from 'mira royal detective'.
- globular-toast 6y agoSinging is really good. I learnt guitar and to sing a few years ago now. I taught myself to play guitar using online videos (mainly JustinGuitar). I took singing lessons for about a year which helped me to sing properly. I also sung in a choir (SATB) or a little while but I didn't really get on with that. I prefer singing pop songs. I'm good at singing them but I don't have a good singing voice. I could be a backing vocalist in a band, but not a lead singer. But still, it's fun to sing with friends and family!
- amelius 6y agoI sing best in the morning. After work, stress has usually built up so much that it's difficult to get my voice back into a relaxed state.
- Disposition 6y agoTry a different genre, or just something with more presence and power. At a time in my life when I had daily intense emotional stress, I sang stuff by Chris Cornell (Soundgarden, Audioslave) and channeling that raw unbridled energy in his music felt immensely cathartic.
- qnsi 6y agoAsk HN: any hackerlike ways to train your singing when alone with no feedback? I will try to search algolia and come back to you with my research
- castlecrasher2 6y agoI used Rock Band for this for a while.
- mrspeaker 6y agoOr even not alone - is it possible to get better at singing, or is it mostly just natural? I can kind of "hold a note", but only about 8 of them! Can you meaningfully extend your range, or is your range your range?
- qnsi 6y agoIIRC you can improve your singing
- EVdotIO 6y agoYou absolutely can. Practice, lots of practice. Get an ear training app, and practice intervals. When I took music theory courses, you spent about half your time ear training, and most of it was just intervals.
- graphpapa 6y agoYou can find videos of people’s improvement with practice on YouTube. This is one example: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=eTX9LxZ9YUQ https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=eTX9LxZ9YUQ Definite improvement
- deleted 6y ago[deleted]
- fenwick67 6y agoRock Band, SingStar etc will tell you when your pitch is off. It won't help you with anything beyond that, but it's a start.
- iovrthoughtthis 6y agoShame poorer inner city dwellers all live in close proximity with thin walls or shared accommodation. Singing is almost impossible in those circumstances without annoying a neighbor. My last tenancy agreement had specific references to playing any music instruments / singing practice.
- asdfasgasdgasdg 6y agoSinging at a normal indoor volume is fine even in apartments. Maybe you can't belt music out at the top of your lungs but despite the lease agreement no city will allow the enforcement of a rule that no singing at all is allowed in apartments.
- danenania 6y agoIt probably depends on the city, but in general the legal noise limits allowing for "quiet enjoyment" seem to be pretty high. I lived above loud college students for awhile in SF, and was curious whether they were technically breaking the limits, so I downloaded a decibel meter app to check. Even with the phone sitting on the floor, they would only break the limits when someone yelled at the top of their lungs or they played extremely loud music. That was despite being able to hear pretty much all their (loud but not shouting) conversations, (loud but not usually extreme) music, etc. very clearly in our apartment. So I think singing should be fine legally speaking unless you live somewhere with a lot stricter limits, especially during the day. It's a good idea to check with neighbors though. Often they won't mind if you do it as long as you avoid certain times or certain rooms. That's how we (sort of) resolved things with our student friends... and thankfully we moved out of there pre-quarantine :)
- jedimastert 6y ago> Singing at a normal indoor volume is fine even in apartments That really depends on what kind of music you like to sing
- asdfasgasdgasdg 6y agoIt doesn't depend on the type of music. It depends on the volume.
- gfxgirl 6y ago> Singing is the most accessible stress reliever Not where I live in an apartment in a crowded city where the culture is to not bother others. Neighbors would not be happy to hear me sing no matter how good am, any more then they are happy to hear my stereo. When I commuted to work in a car I had 30 to 60 minutes of singing time each way. Now I have karaoke box 3 - 4 times a year.
- awinter-py 6y agoyeah, in apt setting it doesn't reduce stress, it just transfers it to your nextdoor neighbor human voice relatively patterned, esp if the computer knows the song you're singing / you've sang it before. I wonder if there's room for a custom noise cancelation algo that can dampen my neighbor's opera practice?
- balfirevic 6y agoI don't consider it reasonable to expect such level of silence from neighbors that normal singing volume levels would exceed it.
- kansface 6y agoSinging is loud - about the same as a trumpet (80 db).
- balfirevic 6y agoSome singing is loud. Do you consider this too loud for apartment? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SKGJyVWRdJM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SKGJyVWRdJM
- gfxgirl 6y agoyes, that is too loud for all but one of the 20 or so apartments I've lived in. I once lived in an apartment where the manager told me don't worry about sound including running the washing machine late at night because the walls are double concrete with a gap between to be sound dampening. That's the only apartment that's been quiet. All others it was easy to hear conversations from neighboring apartments including the one I'm in now (T_T)
- afaejiajiwj 6y agoI have a terrible voice and a very limited range, so I whistle
- ipnon 6y agoTerrence McKenna believed stress relief is the reason that so many shamanic rituals include singing and steady drum beats. The anxiety surrounding communication with the dead or the gods is released through the music. He also pointed out rightly that singing requires deep, slow breathing, which prevents hyperventilation and its attendant stress. More practically, his recommendation for bad drug trips is to sing or hum a low and slow tune. I can unfortunately attest to the effectiveness of this technique.
- Taylor_OD 6y ago+1 for singings your way out of a bad trip. To paraphrase McKenna, If you find yourself in hell start singing. It will take you all the way to heaven.
- yters 6y agowhat happens in a bad drug trip?
- uryga 6y agodepends on the substance, but usually stuff like paranoia and in general being stuck [seeing / thinking about] unpleasant things
- danharaj 6y agoIt feels like a combination of a visceral nightmare and a panic attack, if you've had one of those.
- Taylor_OD 6y agoIt depends on the trip/person but typically paranoia and panic attack type feelings. Toss in some bad/scary hallucinations as well.
- hutzlibu 6y ago"He also pointed out rightly that singing requires deep, slow breathing" I would generalize that "breathing is the most accessible stress reliever". Breathing consciously is the single thing you can do always to relieve stress and get your hormons in balance again. Singing and chanting and drumming can be even more powerful obviously, but you cannot always do that, but you can (and should) always breathe the right way.
- vick89 6y agoI absolutely hate singing and listening to music that I don't like is like torture.
- 1e-9 6y agoThere's evidence it may also reduce snoring and sleep apnea by strengthening the pharyngeal muscles[1]. [1] https://file.scirp.org/Html/5-2460085_31850.htm https://file.scirp.org/Html/5-2460085_31850.htm
- gowld 6y agoCamelot did it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fiJvAcbxKlU#t=3m10s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fiJvAcbxKlU#t=3m10s
- irrational 6y agoHeh, nothing stresses me out more than singing. Mainly because I'm a really bad singer. But, I also have an issue where music does nothing for me - I have no emotional response to songs, music, etc. So I don't really have an incentive to improve my singing. It is sort of a catch-22.
- jmiskovic 6y agoThere is a VR application called SoundSelf, which makes interesting visualizations derived from your voice and singing to put you into meditative state. It seems like intriguing take on using biofeedback to achieve specific mind states.
- dagav 6y agoSinging to reduce stress is a great exercise because it feels like your voice comes straight from your heart. Find a song that speaks to you, sing it, and see what emotions come up. It can help to uncover some unconscious emotions you've been holding on to.