These four minutes are part of a longer 1-hour talk , and are really, really worth our time. In four minutes, Talia Sheehan expertly describes why people are often terrified of singing. Two reasons:

• they are afraid of being rejected,
• they afraid of the powerful emotions unleashed by singing: pure joy, defined as a mix of grief and elation,

In a previous post, titled “they went to their death singing“, we heard of that joy, which was witnessed until the moment of death. Christian martyrs have always been known for their singing.

But now Catholics seem afraid of singing. Yet fear of singing is rarely discussed.

Singing in worship is supposed to be safe. The safest place to sing, in fact. The place where we learn to experience that overwhelming, intimidating joy. Thanks to the simple dialogues of the mass, also called the first degree of participation, singing in worship is “incremental exposure therapy”, group therapy!

She also explains in simple words the Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD) and why learning to sing in worship is like being trained into courage. To do so, “battle-tested” leadership is essential. It is up to experienced singers to lead new singers.

Ignoring this ZPD, or bad leadership, can create fear, shame, anger, and detachment, or outburst.

Please, please watch these 4 minutes…

You can also watch the full 1-hour talk by Talia Sheehan at this link.