When I first moved to Vancouver, I lived in Kitsilano for many years.
The long-established vegetarian restaurant The Naam was a real novelty for me, and I used to go there a lot with friends. There would inevitably be a person playing guitar or ukulele, softly crooning Joni Mitchell or some other experimental folk to the diners.
Years later, I took my dear writer-musician friend Jeff there, a Welsh curmudgeon without much of a filter, who wondered loudly why there was “damp string” on his meal. He was referring to mung bean sprouts. Despite this tragedy, we enjoyed the background live music and the laid-back vibe.
We’re fortunate that we have so much live music dotted around our city, from the underground downtown gigs to outdoor events. Some of us will have gone to the Vancouver Folk Music Festival earlier this month, one of the most stunning venues for a music festival in the world. It’s a homegrown, happy vibe.
Wherever we are, a beach, a dive bar, a hippy café, live music is good for the soul. We can sense it, but what does it really do to us, and how?
When we listen to live music, we not only hear it, but we feel it too. We absorb all the feels from other people, from the music itself, and from reactions and energy around us. It all counts towards a kind of cathartic experience.
We take in the creativity of the artists who perform in front of us, sharing their talents. It’s a tension reliever, despite extraneous factors like damp string on our meal or an over-excited crowd member. You know who you are.
It’s the imperfections that make it unique. We’re now immersed in the digital revolution, where AI is taking over, or at least trying to, and it feels good to hold onto what’s real whenever we can.
The Shipyards on the North Shore features an eclectic mix of bands through the summer, culminating in the Shipyards Festival on Sept. 20. All gigs are free to attend in one of the most beautiful settings in the world. We can listen to music looking across Burrard Inlet to the downtown skyline, with glimpses of the mountains around us. I mean, that’s not bad. I bagsy one of the yellow Adirondack chairs. A silver lining of the pandemic is that it bestowed upon us some handy outdoor seating areas.
I’m looking forward to Harmony Arts festival Aug. 1-10 at West Vancouver Millenium Park. Live music paired with great food and drinks, all with a backdrop of the Pacific Ocean, is a unique experience.
One of my favourite memoirs of all time is Oliver Sacks’ Awakenings. An Oscar-winning film was inspired by it, starring Robert de Niro and Robin Williams. It’s a remarkable account of the neurologist’s use of a miracle drug that pulled out his patients from their “sleeping sickness,” a frozen state that had stricken them for decades. At first he viewed his patients as composite, bodies to be treated. But when they were suddenly awakened to life again, albeit temporarily, and began to rediscover joy in music, dance, art, and community, he softened. In his other book, Musicophilia, Sacks explains that we have more than 20 networks in our brain that interpret different parts of music, including pitch, rhythm and melody. When we listen to music, we use our whole brain, and it turns into a full-body experience.
Next time you’re at the Shipyards, Harmony Arts, or any live gig, know that the music will speed up your blood flow as your heart leaps to meet the rhythms. As your circulation increases, your cortisol levels, or stress hormones, decrease. You are being soothed without realizing it.
The strum of a guitar or the beat of a drum causes vibrations that help with pain, fatigue, depression, and memory loss. And your brain will flood with dopamine.
Ever get the goosebumps when someone starts to sing? It’s called frisson. Enjoy your summer of live music and don’t overthink it. Go ahead and dance, sing, and sample some damp string.
North Vancouver’s Jackie Bateman is an award-winning author, screenwriter, copywriter, and extremely nosy if you get too close. [email protected]
