I like tranquility and quiet as much as the next guy.  I really do!  In fact, I have told boy scout leaders they ought to teach their scouts how far sound travels and respect other wilderness travelers. 

That said, I admit that I sometimes enjoy singing while paddling. On a perfect blue-sky day, with wind at my back, food in my belly, good friends around me, and life seems like it can't get any better, I gotta sing! 

I only wish I knew some of the bawdy voyageurs songs. 

prouboy

My opinion?

If it were windy, and I heard you in the afternoon, I wouldn't have much of a problem. Same deal with everyone I hear before I see.

If on a still night and you were on a distant shore, you better be damn good and play one songs and at the most two that fit my mood perfectly.

If you were on a lake all by yourself, oddly enough, I do carry two spoons with me on every trip...

If, oh let's say James Talyor (since he's been in the news) was was musing with his fingers in a canoe on MY lake and within earshot at dusk or after, I'd be very offended but for the (once in a lifetime) novel experience.

I "sing" hymns when I portage.  Always have.  But I sing them silently.  They are the cadence to my steps.  I have several favorites, and have all of the verses memorized, so that it doesn't get too monotonous.  Some examples are "Christ is the King, O Friends Rejoice", "On Eagles Wings", and "The First Song of Isaiah" (which is sometimes called Canticle 9 and is a setting of Isaiah 12: 3-6).  These are slower, for a more "slogging" pace, but the texts are very encouraging.  When I was younger, I used more upbeat marching style hymns like "Lead On, O King Eternal".

So. . .it isn't that I don't sing.  I always sing!  You will just never hear me singing in the wilderness!  I like to think that God hears me, and the cadence encourages me to keep my feet moving.  The outward silence still allows me to hear the rustle of a squirrel (or a moose/bear?) in the woods, or the song of the white-throated sparrow in the trees.  Accompaniment to my inner song!

I've been able to pick up the distant sounds of the drumming from the Indian Village during their Pow Wows. That was OK by me. Not so loud I couldn't get to sleep.

Hope others wouldn't mind if I tried getting the wolves to howl. That's about the only loud sounds I'd be making.

One year I had "Look on the bright side of life" from Monty Python in my head while I was portaging. You know the song where they're all hanging on a dungeon hall in chains. 

Interesting...didn't know if I'd even get a response. Perhaps I struck a chord    with some folk who want their own journey to be quiet. I think I'm much more in that camp too,
and I'm not really a Kum Ba Yah, sing along kind of guy anyway.

So for me I think I'll leave the guitar home and get my kicks playing on my front porch and annoying my neighbors.