After years as a singing teacher and having warbled through a series of top-notch coaches and competitions, I feel the urge to finally share the world of singing with others.
Singing, for all it's worth, seems like an easy matter. You've simply got to produce a string of elongated noise from your mouth, and there you have it.
To be a good singer, however, is no mean feat. Every evening, I'd head to our guest room, which also served as the "singing" room, and spend a good four to five hours perfecting my pitches and belting out pop classics, Broadway and the blues, from Lea Salonga's On My Own to Renee Olstead. I'm more of a keen amateur than a wannabe soloist, whose girlish dream was to become a voice coach. So that was what I did: practice, practice and practice.
As far as singing goes for me, I cannot tell you how much tears and effort were required before finally having my dreams turn into reality.
But even despite all of that, as with the occasional late night practices, sore throats, audition rejections or fierce competition within the musical world, it was never enough to detract from how good singing makes me feel, nor my increased love for it. I leave every session buoyed up, revived by a stream of endorphins and contentment spiralling through my body.
Of course, it came as no surprise when researchers, alongside lead scientist Dr Bjorn Vickoff at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden, found that singing not only makes you feel good, but it also has health benefits, bringing about a calming effect on a par with yoga.
Researchers got a group of teenagers to perform three singing exercises _ humming, hymn singing and chanting as a group _ monitoring their heart rate throughout. Results showed that singing had a dramatic effect on each individual's heart rate, which in turn lowered the risk of heart disease.
Singing involves a regular form of controlled breathing, as does yoga.
Having done both, I can readily attest to this, though panting through a body contortion of "the cobra" or "the crane" may not make you feel quite as good as belting out The Sound Of Music.
Though as relaxing as singing is, it's still a discipline.
My singing coach once described the art of singing as a sport and singers as athletes. Good maintenance of body and mind is essential. I equate singing to my Friday workout at the gym. Singing requires your whole body, the repeated use of core muscles and an immense focus of inner energy.
A 2012 study conducted at Cardiff University into the effect of choral singing on quality of life and lung function in cancer survivors and their carers found that lung cancer patients who sang in choirs had greater expiratory capacity than those who didn't.
Research by the University of Frankfurt in 2004 went one step further, claiming that singing also has been shown to boost the immune system, reduce stress and help with chronic diseases.
Nowadays, singing is widely used in hospitals and care homes for the elderly. According to Sarah Teagle, co-founder of the Cardiff-based Forget-Me-Not Chorus, a charity for dementia sufferers, singing can enable the sick to access memories and joy in times when communication proves hopeless.
So get your microphones and vocal chords ready, because the science doesn't lie _ singing sure does bring more beneficial health than yoga. As the late great Queen of Jazz Ella Fitzgerald said: "The only thing better than singing _ is more singing."
Tammarin Dejsupa is studying at Chulalongkorn University. She is doing an internship with Life.