The “Capital With Heart” Munich is well known for it’s culture, history and musical traditions.

Embedded between lakes and close to the Alps with magnificent castles, there really are an abundance of reasons to participate in “Cantat Bavaria” from March 18-21 2010. Your choir will see the most interesting parts of Munich and it’s surrounds and meet choirs from all over Europe.

The following highlights are awaiting participating choirs during this festival weekend:

Friendship concerts with several choirs in Munich or surrounds or church services.

·         A concert of all participating choirs in the St Michael’s Church in the centre of Munich, the largest church from the Renaissance period north of the Alps, which is a well known concert hall and the tomb church of the Bavarian dynasty of the Wittelsbacher.

·         A farewell dinner with music and dance for all participating choirs, which fosters international connections and provides the perfect finale to your stay in Munich.

En   Enjoy, together with your choir, unforgettable spring days in the Bavarian Capital. Taste Bavarian food and peer in one of the town’s famous beer cellars. You can res  rest assured that the organizers, the international network of Music and Friends^tm, will provide you with a pleasant and professional framework for your performing

Detailed information is available at the partner of Music and Friends^TM, Music and Friends Australia, PO Box 674, Wyong NSW 2259, Australia, tel (+61) 0280045495, fax (+61) 0243904716, Email info@musicandfriends.com.au. You can also fill out  the reply form on www.musicandfriends.com.au

We are looking forward to welcoming your choir in Munich next year with a “GrǘB Gott”!

The repertoire draws mainly on polyphonic vocal works of the Western European Renaissance period (particularly Italian and English). Additionally, the choir sings some of the most exquisite music of the 20th century and contemporary genres. The ensemble seeks to acquaint its audiences with modern Australian art music both at home and internationally.

Within the concerts, music of the church is included from the Gregorian chant tradition through to today’s sacred compositions, on top of a wealth of secular pieces

The New I Voci Singers

This internationally acclaimed choir has been honoured with the patronage of HIs Excellency Dr Ken Michael AC, Governor of Western Australia and Mrs Julie Michael.

 

  

 Singing has physical benefits because it is an aerobic activity which increases oxygenation in the blood stream and exercises major muscle groups in the upper body, even when sitting. But it's not just the physical benefits of singing that make it great for us.

According to Dr Dianna Kenny, professor of psychology and music at the University of Sydney, singing does for the soul what food and water do for our bodies.

"We know that singing has very positive affects on people's mood. It brings people together, it's used in a whole range of activities, both social and personal. But in all of the major events in our lives there is singing and music," Dr Kenny says.

"If you think about weddings and funerals and the call to battle, and the wailing of some cultures when people have died, it's how they express their grief," she says. "Babies love to coo and sing in response to their mother's voice so it's a very primal thing in many ways, it has an affect on our mood states and it has an effect on who we are."

There's no doubt that singing can affect our mood, but can it boost our health, too?

To put singing to the test, we enlisted the help of biological scientist Dr Sinan Ali and the Macquarie University Choir. The aim of our experiment was to test whether levels of the stress hormone cortisol would diminish in a one-hour singing rehearsal, and whether the protein immunoglobulin A, which is a marker of immunity, would increase.

Dr Ali collected a saliva sample from 10 choir members before they began rehearsals; and another saliva sample after the choir members had been rehearsing for about one hour.

Our singers needed to be in a relaxed state, as performance tends to cause anxiety and therefore could alter our results, so our samples were collected at their usual Monday-night rehearsal.

Dr Ali believed that the tests would, "show us levels of the hormone and levels of the protein and from that we can infer what the level of stress and what the level of immunity may be".

Results
So, did we see a reduction in cortisol and an increase in immunoglobulin A following the singing rehearsal?

Our test results revealed that there was about a 40 percent reduction in the level of the stress hormone cortisol overall. Dr Ali was impressed by the results. "Nine out of the 10 people actually showed a decrease in cortisol," he says. "There was one individual who showed an increase but nine out of 10, that's amazing!"

Results weren't as obvious in relation to immunoglobulin A, with our participants registering only a slight increase in immunoglobulin A. But Dr Ali believes this was not unexpected. "We've had a slight increase and that's not unexpected because it is a protein and it's going to take a longer time period for that effect to be seen."

Conclusion
It seems that singing really can do wonders for our health and wellbeing, as well as help relieve stress, so don't worry too much about what you sound like, start singing today!

Article Courtesy of Chanel Nine-  Written by Lyndsey Rodrigues.
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 ARE YOU IN THIS CARTOON??????
Cartoon courtesy of Dave Walker - Church Time News