Terry Sarten: Live life and live longer

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There's plenty of advice on how to live longer and prosper. Some are obvious and well supported by research; stop smoking completely, stop drinking too much, avoid illicit drugs, get up early or get up late, run-walk-stagger, limit ice cream intake, reduce screen time, coffee /not coffee, love plus hugs (Falling in and out of love doesn't qualify as exercise nor does chasing your dreams).

Take note: There is a new health kick that is very easy to adopt. A study has found that regularly going to see live music can contribute to life expectancy.

Patrick Fagan from Goldsmith University looked at the association between going to a gig and a sense of wellbeing and found that just 20 minutes into a concert subjects felt a 25% lift in self-worth and 25% increase in wellbeing gained from being amongst others sharing a music event.

The study identified a 75% rise in mental stimulation with two thirds of those surveyed saying watching live music provided a stronger sense of happiness than listening to music at home. The author of the study even goes as far as to say "we arrive at a prescription of a gig a fortnight which could pave the way for almost a decade more years of life."

As a musician and regular gig goer I can see how that might work. Watching listening, dancing to a live performance is like going to another planet without needing a space suit. Sometimes you might see alien life-forms from far away across the galaxy of stars.

Sometimes it might be the a talented local from a planet near you. Either way the trip into live music can be a life support that boosts health and wellbeing.

So, improve your health and wellbeing and go see some live music sometime in the coming two weeks and every fortnight thereafter. There is certainly plenty of that around here as the Whanganui live music venues crank up the gig- a- go-round.

We get some world class musicians playing here. I suspect that locals sometimes don't recognise the talent that crosses out stages. Maybe we think small towns means small-time but in fact many of the musicians who perform here are incredibly good.

These musicians deserve our support and respect. They work hard at their craft and becoming a skilled performer is no overnight magic trick. Next time you hear someone mumble about the ticket price remind them of the years of lessons, practice and then rehearsal time it will have taken to get to the stage that they could bring that to the stage.

Last week was Darren Watson at Lucky Bar plus Club Night at the Whanganui Musicians Club and Dan Bolton at the Whanganui Jazz Club in the RSA. In the coming weeks the list of performances has something for everyone. Jazz from Bruce Forman & Larry Koonse on May 31, 2018. The Stage Ready Rock Quest Bands are performing at the Whanganui Musicians Club May 26th. Lucky Bar has Dick Tracey, Super Narco Man, Opium Eaters May 12th and Lord Bishop May 15th. The Sarjeant Gallery has the River City Big Band performing on May 13th.

To all those who grumble "there is nothing to do around here" - I say go out and see some great music. Think of all the great gigs you will get to see in the extra 9 years of life that comes from living life with live music.

Terry Sarten (aka Tel) is a Whanganui based musician, writer and social worker. Feedback welcome: tgs@inspire.net.nz