ArcaMax

The shower is where America does it -- in private, with no one judging, just because it feels good.

I'm talking about singing, of course, that once-universal pastime that uplifts the soul, reboots the body and doesn't demand a monthly fee. So why aren't we singing all the time?

I just spent a chunk of the day in synagogue -- it is the Jewish new year -- and found myself buoyed by the joy of singing when everyone else was singing too. Maybe that's because, in a group, no one knows where that off-key "hallelujah" is coming from. (Pro tip: Look around as if you don't know either.)

What religious institutions -- and Disney -- know is that we're all a-tingle with music, just waiting for the chance to explode. Singing is so basic to human happiness that some scientists believe it might have evolved even before language. It was the way stories were passed down before writing, because it's a lot easier to remember a song than a paragraph. And that's why kids still sing their ABC's -- our brains are built to embed music.

What's more, when actual language eludes us -- for instance, after a stroke -- sometimes music doesn't, since it is processed in another area of the brain. After my mom had lost almost all her memory, I could sing a few songs from her childhood, and she could, out of the fog, join in.

The power of music is mysterious. One study of cancer patients found that an hour of singing boosted their immune proteins. It also lowers blood pressure.

And, of course, it's bonding. Sing with a group and you are one -- a fact understood by anyone who has ever been in a choir, or the military, or the bus to summer camp.

But Americans -- heck, humans -- have been singing less and less ever since technology started to do it for us. Before Edison's time, most middle-class families had a piano around which to warble. The record player and radio made it easy to hear music anytime. Smartphones have made it even easier.

And since the people singing on iTunes (but not necessarily YouTube) sing better than the rest of us, we started to believe that this is a task, like neurosurgery, best left to the professionals. So, barring the occasional "Jingle Bells" or "Happy Birthday," most of us sing only to ourselves, if at all. This is a loss of such gargantuan proportions, it's as if we stopped walking.

What would it take for us to bring singing back into our everyday lives?

1. Make singing a regular part of school. By the time kids are in eighth grade, only a third are getting music. And there doesn't seem to be much agreement on which songs to teach. My own kids don't know "My Country 'Tis of Thee" or even "I've Been Working on the Railroad." Yes, we live in a wide and wonderful world, but all schoolkids learning a few of the same songs is an easy way for people to connect.

2. Stop trying to sing like Beyonce. Nowadays, we think we have to sound like the professionals. (See: karaoke.) But that's like saying anyone who wants to play basketball shouldn't bother unless they've got "Bron" somewhere in their name. Singing is actually a skill almost everyone gets better at the more they do it. (Not GREAT at, just BETTER.)

3. Around the country, people are starting informal groups where people get together and sing. This sounds so fun that I'm thinking of starting one myself ... provided everyone sings better than I do. Or just find a place -- church, community center, synagogue -- that is already doing this.

4. Start singing! Do it while waiting for the bus. If I happen to be standing next to you, I just may join you! (Sorry!)

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Lenore Skenazy is president of Let Grow, a contributing writer at Reason.com, and author of "Has the World Gone Skenazy?" To learn more about Lenore Skenazy (Lskenazy@yahoo.com) and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate webpage at www.creators.com.

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