Rachel’s Blog

A few months ago I received an email from  the Age Concern community development worker I work with, asking if I would like to take the Singing for Fun group to a festival in Long Wittenham, near Abingdon. This year was the 10th annual Wittfest, or Long Wittenham’s Charity Music Festival.  It is free to go along, and any money raised is divided between 2 charities. This year the charities were Pets as Therapy and Age Concern’s Singing for Health programme.

We were given a room from 4.30 in the afternoon, but the weather was so warm and beautiful, and the room a little small, we all decamped to the front garden of the pub….

Now, this side, you sing this bit....

It was great fun to be singing outside – many of the passers-by stopped to join in, and as we continued the crowd grew. At it’s height there must have been between 30 and 40 people, all singing in 4-part harmony.

As well as the act of singing together being a truly wonderful community activity in practice, it also serves as a living metaphor of Diversity + Unity = Harmony.

I was very pleased with the way our session went – the Singing for Fun and Health group from Abingdon really enjoyed themselves, and it was great for them to meet the Witney group, who were still on a high when I saw them on Wednesday. They all had a wonderful day out, and described Wittfest as ‘their own Glastonbury’. A great deal of credit is owed to Lucy Quinn and the proprietors of The Plough for the fantastic organisation that went into the weekend.

I think we’ve signed up for next year! You can view the photos here.

When I’m out and about I am quite open to chatting with random people on the street (obviously the ‘stranger danger’ message passed me by). The past couple of days I’ve chatted with various different people – mainly older people – and the contrast is sometimes astounding – and makes me realise what a big age range ‘older people’ cover – 30 years!

Walking on Port Meadow, and passing through a gate an old woman said to me “don’t grow as old as me, you won’t enjoy it… I’m past my sell-by-date” - I beg to differ.

Yesterday at a bus stop I had a brief conversation with a woman who said she wanted to get her karate black belt by age seventy (she was sixty-nine) and an A* in GCSE Science. Refreshing.

last Thursday I had so much fun leading a singing session with 20 65+ year-olds. It took place at a fortnightly coffee-club, run by a church in Dean Court. We sang old favourites, some old favourites with the odd twist, as well as some more challenging medleys of songs, the classic O When The Saints, layered with Swing Low, This Train, and I’m Gonna Sing, and the ‘Folkestone Sea Shanty’ which I picked up at the Arts and Heath Conference in Folkestone in September.

I think it went down well, and I’ve been invited back. I think I was able to stop singing at different points during the session and listen to the groups’ voices which was good, and I think possible mainly because they were 20 people present to support each other. I was particularly pleased that chatting afterwards, one woman, nearly 90 said ‘ I’ve never sung before in my life, but I’m too old to try new things’ – I was pleased she enjoyed the session and found it easier than she thought she would.

A few things I need to improve are:

• giving clear instructions – thinking more carefully in advance how to describe different activities.
• expanding the repertoire, although it was useful to cover the same repertoire with different groups
• thinking about how to include the men more. Out of 20 people, only 2 were men. I don’t feel the songs are at the wrong pitch, as many older women have lower voices and sing an octave below me, but I do feel they need encouragement and affirmation in a different way from the women. Answers on a postcard please.

And there was cracking cake. This generation really know how to bake!

I had a milestone day today as I conducted my first independent singing session with a small group of over-60s at an activity day organised by Age Concern Oxfordshire. The event took place in a Methodist church centre in Witney, which was hosting a range of different activities including a creche, a coffee bar, as well as the hall being used by Age Concern.

The purpose of the activity day was to provide information for older people about services they are entitled to or may need to access, as well as giving them taster sessions of different activities: seated exercise, singing, movement to music etc.

My session lasted about 30-40 minutes and covered a range of music, starting with a gentle warm-up, and moving onto some favourites from shows and musicals. The actions for Edelweiss caused a fair amount of confusion and hilarity, and engaged the participants with the song and with each other. It is so important to give the participants something to ‘do’ with the song, be it actions, singing the song in an exaggerated style or accents, or simply encouraging the participants to make a sound in a particular way, e.g soft and quiet, or precise, staccato etc.

I finished the session with a pared-down medley of African-American Spirituals: Oh When the Saints and Swing Low Sweet Chariot. This received a round of applause from other people in the room who were not participating.

A few learning points for me:

- remember to sing more quietly and listen to the sound the group is making

- think about the pitch – is it too high or too low for participants?

- how do I cater for people with particular needs? for example, there was a man there who was blind and so could not read the words, although I deliberately chose short songs, and could not see the actions

Today in the news it was announced that significant numbers of older people suffering from depression are not able to access the mental health care they need. Age Concern have said this is often down to “ageist attitudes in health care professionals” and have launched a campaign ‘Down – But Not Out’.

I’ve been having a few thoughts about this issue today:

1. Older people need to be more empowered about asking for what they need – I was frustrated with my Nanna, who, after a knee replacement operation was sent home from hospital to an empty house with no painkillers because she didn’t want to make a fuss.

2. It can be difficult for older people to feel confident, especially if they live alone, or have just had a knee operation, or feel unable to manage with some activities of daily living such as bathing or paying an electricity bill.

3. The examples of difficulties sometimes faced by older people outlined above should be no barrier to accessing services if a strong community network is in place to support and champion older people.