Rachel’s Blog

A couple of weeks ago I ran a session which went really well. Looking back on the session plan – which is happily written in purple felt-tip – I could see why:

• I thought very carefully about each song
• I experimented with soundscapes, and vocal sounds, not just on songs and song-words
• Many of the songs used very simple guitar chords so I could concentrate more on interacting with the participants
• We varied dynamics, speeds – almost resulting in seasickness during What Shall We Do With the Drunken Sailor?
• I introduced simple descants over well-known songs
• Participants were encouraged to think of their own words for verses

All of these things, as well as other elements relating directly to the singing and the use of percussion instruments, I feel helped the participants feel more confident about their musicality and the range of sounds they can produce. So, why can’t they all be like this? As I gather new repertoire, inevitably, some of it might be a little shaky – it may take me some time to develop the activities around a song. The key is to keep things relatively simple and to rely on the range of emotions we can employ and convey with our voices.

It was good to see another hospital embracing singing as an aid to people’s health. I find it interesting that it is referred to as singing ‘therapy’. Yes it is therapeutic – but isn’t it simply singing?

I’ve been at the Substance office today in Manchester near the beginning of an exciting collaborative learning project, bringing together a variety of creative and cultural organisations in a partnership to share learning on leadership. Included in the core partnership are Substance, Greater Manchester Music Action Zone (GMMAZ), Music Leader North West, and Performing Arts Network and Development Agency (PANDA). My role within this project is to facilitate the online sharing, provided on a web-platform. I want to use this post to explore how I use technology, and its potential for freelance artists and arts organisations.

My experience of distance learning and online forums has been, most often, frustrating. People did not respond to each others’ posts, content was messy and badly presented/described, and in the case of distance learning, the obligatory contributions to online discussions were so forced as to hardly be worth writing. This is why I am really looking forward to getting started on the leadership Lab project, where I will be providing online facilitation. Just as a discussion is most often useful when effectively facilitated, so too online discussion needs to be guided, especially as online discussions will be at a slower pace, as new comments are added over days and weeks.

Blogging can be equally frustrating at times, especially when no one comments – how do I know anyone is reading it, or that it is worth writing? Blogging is definitely worth the effort as it is a wonderful method of documenting publicly any influences, ideas, learning, project development, anything, in a concrete, yet informal way. And as someone running a small business, it’s a cheap (free with Wordpress) way of having a website which is more than just an online poster.

Twitter is another tool which I have found incredibly helpful, mainly because it has greatly improved my google rating (yes, I admit, in my vainer moments I occasionally Google myself). Twitter is also great for seeing content I may be interested in. I follow people I am likely to be interested in such as musicians, community arts organisations, my friends, people in my local area e.g. local hospital as I am interested in health issues, local journalists and some newspapers. Twitter etiquette means you can follow as many people as you like. The Twitter question is different from Facebook, which is more about status/state of mind etc, where as Twitter asks the question ‘What are you doing?’. This can be useful for businesses as it is less personal, you only have 140 characters, so a ‘tweet’ might be “at the Substance office in Manchester meeting the orgs involved in Leadership Lab with @timdavies”

All of these different technologies have required a fair investment of time to get set up – the blog being the most time-consuming, although quite straightforward, and Twitter being very easy indeed. They are definitely worth doing as once they have been set up, they are easy to update and show everyone what you are doing/thinking, which is where the conversations should start. Tim Davies has written a series of one-page guides to help people start up with these different web-tools.

I want to draw attention to this wonderful choir based in London. Called Sing for Joy, it is made up of people with Parkinson’s Disease, and their friends and carers. It was initiated by two women who were diagnosed with PD and did not want to sit back and be medicated.

I heard these women speak at a conference last year, and there was something so inspiring about them. I felt they refused to be pathologised in a way so common in the healthcare system; you are your disease. And I felt it must be so empowering to feel, as someone with a life-changing condition, that there is a way of self-medicating, that something you are doing is helping, and you’re not just sitting back and letting someone prescribe drugs for you to passively swallow.

In fact, there is something about singing which is the antithesis of ‘passively swallowing’. Singing is powerfully life-affirming; I am still breathing. This is my voice. My voice. Do you hear me? Listen.

On the BBC Headroom site, there is a section all about alzheimer’s disease. It is from here you can watch again Terry Pratchett’s documentary ‘Living With Alzheimer’s’- but there are also a number of other short videas made by different people, ordinary people, about alzheimer’s in their lives. It’s really interesting that many of the people being interviewed actually have the disease (is diagnosis getting better/earlier?) as most of my work is with people in the later stages, and therefore they do not communicate a great deal, let alone about themselves or their condition.

There is a disturbing message from many of those with dementia that somehow they will become less themselves, lose their humanity, or as one woman put it become ‘just a shell’.

I don’t know how I feel about this. I see the pain caused watching a loved-one increasingly struggle with daily tasks, and experience non-recognition, or unpleasant, or even violent behaviour from that loved-one. However, Alzheimer’s should not result in the slipping away of someone’s humanity. Just as disability campaigners argued against a medical model of disability, it is absolutely crucial that communities ensure an individual’s sense of personhood. Speaking to a carer at a residential dementia home, she expressed how she felt she knew a resident, even when they were very late stage dementia. There is more to our personalities than what we think, do or say. It’s our humanity talking.

Research released today by the Alzheimer’s Research Trust suggests that staying active later in life may delay the onset of dementia. In an interview with the BBC World Service, Rebecca Wood of the Alzheimer’s Research Trust stressed the importance of “keeping minds active and bodies active and keeping those social networks going”.

The full BBC article can be found here.

An interesting report from Channel 4 News showing the growing recognition of the importance of using arts as part of the treatment of dementia – and momentum too as the government pledges £150million to improve dementia care.

I was delighted to see this article blogged on MindApples

In a move to build on the success of Singing for Fun in Witney, I am rolling out more Singing for Fun sessions in Oxford and the surrounding area. The Witney group has steadily grown to a good number of participants, and the feedback received is very encouraging. People feel ‘uplifted’ by the sound the group creates, and it is my belief that as people develop their singing and make new friends, self-confidence will also grow.
If you are interested in hosting a Singing for Fun session, below are some frequently asked questions, and here is a flier for download.

What is it?
Singing For Fun does exactly what it says on the tin! It is a participative singing session, covering a wide range of songs, mostly well-known, with some songs which may be new to participants. Booklets of song words are provided and no prior experience is necessary. Singing for Fun aims to create a happy, relaxed, social atmosphere. It is an opportunity for people to find their voices, to stay active and to try something new.

Who is it for?
Singing for Fun sessions are aimed at the over-50 age group, but everyone is welcome.

How do I Book?
Rachel is available to deliver Singing for Fun sessions at flexible times throughout the week – please contact. Sessions cost £25 and they can be booked on a weekly, fortnightly, or occasional basis (e.g. every 3-6 months). A discount is available when 10 sessions are booked together. Please contact Rachel to book your sessions. Free taster sessions are also available.

Do participants need to be physically fit to attend?
No. Singing for Fun sessions are run with everyone sitting down. Sessions begin with a brief physical warm-up – this is very gentle and completely optional. There are also sometimes actions which go with some of the songs. This is a very gentle form of exercise which many people find beneficial.

How long do sessions last?
Sessions generally last one hour, but can be tailored to the needs of different groups.

What kind of songs do you sing?
When sessions are run as part of a series, each session has a theme, and songs are chosen linking to this theme. Because songs are gathered by theme, they are drawn from different styles and traditions, so whilst there may be some songs which are unfamiliar, the vast majority will be familiar to people. We sing pop, rock, folk, country, African chants, music hall, war-time songs, blues, jazz… Songs are chosen that will be most familiar to the over-50s.

Can you give an example of some of the songs sung in a session?
Of course. A recent session themed ‘Seasons and Weather’ included the songs Singing in the Rain, Over the Rainbow, Here Comes the Sun, You are my Sunshine, Tulips from Amsterdam and Sumer is icumen in.
We sing different songs each session, and occasionally have a session dedicated to the groups’ favourites.

What are the benefits?
Benefits of singing are widely documented. Singing for Fun is designed to be a fun and positive activity for older people (over 50s). Broadly speaking, group singing has numerous social, mental and physical health benefits. You can read more about them here.

I wanted to track all the potential health benefits of singing, so this post will be updated as I come across more evidence. The World Health Organisation describes health as “A state of complete physical, mental and social well-being, and not merely the absence of disease” (WHO’s Website) For this reason, I’ve divided up the page into 3 categories: Physical Health, Mental Health and Social Health, although of course, they are all interlinked and one aspect of health is bound to determine another aspect of health.

Physical health benefits include:

• Increased lung capacity through developed breath control (singing can help strengthen and tone the diaphragm, a muscle which sits beneath the lungs, and the intercostal muscles. These muscles are essentially what dictate thoracic capacity)

• Improved co-ordination e.g. through rhythm games

• Increased circulation

• Aids speech ability by exercising the mouth, toning facial muscles, and developing ability to project the voice with improved breath control

• Improves and maintains posture

• Stronger immune system – some research suggests that singing promotes the production of two body chemicals that are part of the body’s immune defence system – immunoglobulin and cortisol.

Mental health benefits include:

• Relaxation and release of tension through deeper breathing

• Engaging in positive activity helps alleviate mental distress by offering a distraction and diverting the participant from day-to-day worries

• The boost in self-confidence and self-awareness that comes from opportunities for creative self-expression.

• A sense of joy that comes from feeling part of something larger than oneself.

• Singing produces the same ‘happy’ brain chemicals produced by sex and chocolate

• Improved mental alertness as a result of learning new songs, and new challenges such as singing in a different language or singing in harmony.

• Chance to think or explore issues that are perhaps too difficult to talk about, but which can be examined in a song.

Social health benefits include:

• Meeting new people

• A relaxed atmosphere, conducive to conversation

• Songs which may jog people’s memories, providing a way-in to reminiscence dialogues

• Opportunity to discuss difficult issues in a supportive environment, should these issues arise.