hannah anderson
42.1K posts
@sometimesalight
Seeking all that's true, good, and beautiful https://t.co/WQpqQmnbYT https://t.co/eCcOF1MQRx @DukeDivinity '25
Researchers at UC Irvine took saliva samples from a choir before and after performing Beethoven. One antibody, the most abundant in your entire body, spiked 240%. That antibody is called secretory immunoglobulin A. Mouthful of a name, but it does a simple job: it coats your throat, gut, and airways and acts as your body’s first barrier against every cold, flu, and respiratory virus you breathe in. Your body makes more of it than all other antibody types combined. The 2000 study found this antibody rose 150% during rehearsals and 240% during the live performance. A separate 2004 study from the University of Frankfurt tested what happens when choir members just listen to the same music instead of singing it. The antibody barely moved. And their mood actually got worse. Marathon runners show the exact opposite. A study of 98 competitive runners found this same antibody dropped 21 to 31% after the race. 17% came down with colds or throat infections within two weeks. Cross-country runners tracked over a full season saw it fall to 40% of their starting level by November. Running was suppressing the same antibody that singing was tripling. It works through the vagus nerve, the longest nerve in your body. It runs from your brain down through your chest to your gut and controls your “rest and digest” mode. When you sing, your vocal cords physically vibrate against it where it wraps around your voice box. You’re also breathing from deep in your belly with long, slow exhales, which tells your nervous system to calm down. Your stress hormones drop. Your immune system responds. A 2016 study from the Royal College of Music and Imperial College London tested 193 cancer patients and carers across five choirs in South Wales. One hour of group singing lowered cortisol (the body’s main stress hormone) and raised five different immune signaling proteins. The people with the worst depression scores improved the most. You don’t need to be good at it. The boost comes from the physical act, the vibration and the breathing, not the melody. Trained soprano or shower singer, your body responds the same way. One caveat: that 240% number came from a live performance, where adrenaline and emotional intensity were at their peak. Singing along to the radio probably produces a smaller spike. And these are temporary boosts, not permanent changes. But the 193 cancer patients in the 2016 study weren’t performing Beethoven on stage. They were just singing together for an hour in community choirs.
This morning @scratchyjohnson tweeted an important factoid. Squanto, the Indian who spoke English and helped the pilgrims survive, was sold by John Smith to a Spaniards and the deed exists in the city we're in for Excursion. Rather than rolling our eyes, Alan, Gavin & I went to the state archives in Málaga to see if we can find said recorded deed of 20 Indians sold by John Smith to Juan Bautista Reales. We get to the Archives (see Alan's picture below), and a small genial white lab coat wearing gentleman who speaks no English says this is impossible to find. His new boss, the head archivist, Carmen, comes in and says it certainly exists but may be difficult to find. If you only had the year. We tell her it was 1614. She pulls up a list of the books from 29 notaries whose work they have from 1614. She asks who the notary was. We have no idea. They say they can't go through 29 archives to look for it. Also it's all in old Spanish which nobody speaks and it'll be hard to locate even if they know the Notary. So Alan and Gavin get to work. Gavin finds an article in the internet archive that seems to have a partial picture of the document. Carmen and the other archivist decipher the name after 15 min. They find that name in their cross reference. Carmen goes to the vault to look while the lab coat gentleman asks for my life history, driver's licence number and a lien on my grandchildren. Totally worth it. Carmen comes back to say she found the volume. It is tremendously delicate. Opening it may break some pages. Does it have to be today because if so the answer will be no. We ask her if this is interesting to them. Both very seriously nod their heads. We tell them this is very important to the United States and many of our friends. Carmen tells us she will find it but that it takes time. White linen gloves and patience. We tell her to take her time. She says she will take a picture and email it to me. So here's why all this is important: after Squanto was sold by an Englishman to a Spaniard names Reales, said Spaniard brought Squanto and 19 other "inios" to Málaga. He recorded the deed in the state archives. Then a Franciscan priest ransomed Squanto. Squanto became Catholic. Was baptized and confirmed in Málaga. He then made his way to England where he worked and learned English. He paid his passage back across the ocean and found his Wampanoag tribesmen. Then when the Pilgrims landed they found a Catholic English-speaking native who helped them survive their first winter. It is entirely possible that but for a Franciscan priest who ransomed Squanto, the Pilgrims may not have survived their first winter in New England. That's history. American history. And the record of it is in Málaga. In a book. One of 29 books kept by notaries in Málaga in 1614. That are still searchable. This image, when it comes, belongs in the US National Archive. This is Cultural Debris. x.com/i/status/20349… cc: @alancornett @gwbled @Gonnassaurius_ @wrathofgnon
Currently on an unexpected treasure hunt.
L’homme explique que le chant a disparu parce que le tracteur a remplacé le cheval. Ce n'est pas seulement un changement technique : Le rythme : Travailler avec des animaux imposait un rythme plus lent et plus "organique", propice au chant. Le bruit : Le moteur du tracteur couvre la voix humaine, rendant le chant individuel ou collectif impossible pendant le labeur. Le travail quotidien : Aller chercher le trèfle à l'aube. Les grands travaux : Les moissons ou l'arrachage des pommes de terre. C'était l'époque de l'entraide entre voisins, où la pénibilité était évacuée par la musique. Les veillées : Avant la télévision, le chant et la danse (notamment la gavotte) étaient les principales sources de distraction. La conclusion de la dame est frappante : "On a été heureux parce qu'on a chanté". Elle lie directement l'expression artistique populaire au bien-être psychologique, malgré la dureté du travail de l'époque.
