well, ted, if it eases your mind at all, know that i rarely walk anywhere with out singing...nothing like a good rebel song to stride along with...and i don't sing quietly. i do agree with you that most people don't sing as much as they need to (it's kind of an imperative with me).

maybe it's because there's some sort of good-enough complex (just pulling this out of my arse now...we'll see where this goes). with so many recorded people everywhere whom record companies have deemed good, perhaps that's shattered the confidence of voices in the common people. when people were singing as they worked, walked, played, whatever, everybody would sing regardless of how "good" they were. the people all sang together. whenever that stopped, and left remaining just the performance singers, suddenly the voice was exposed and its quality was judged. less confident voices stopped singing.

i know a whole bunch of people who swear that they can't sing. after pushing and prodding and finally persuading them to open their mouths, they do just fine! they may not be the sweetest songbird in the forest, but damnit, they can sing! and i think what has happened is that people think singing is that solo thing, that my-voice-all-by-itself scary thing, when in actuality, some of the most fulfilling times are when your voice contributes into the group.

i get this image of 200+ people singing shape note music in an aluminum sided sheep barn, the sheer power of sound vibrating the corrugated metal. not everyone there is an incredible singer, but they are a person, with a voice, using it. and every time, it brings me to tears. powerful stuff, that singing.

okay, wow, went a wee bit crazy on that one. wonder if it made any sense?