Singing the praises of music to help the brain
When Parkinson’s robbed Jim Oliver of his speaking voice a year ago, he didn’t know he would gain a singing voice.
He joined the SoundsWell Singers – a Wellington choir for people with neurological conditions – and now, far from being tongue-tied, he’s busy tuning up for SoundsWell’s first birthday celebrations.
The event is a showcase for the diverse group, who will be performing six pieces incorporating several musical styles in several languages, with an open rehearsal for anyone to join in.
Their first birthday coincides with the inaugural national Music Therapy Week in New Zealand, which runs this week until May 29.
Oliver says he has been rehearsing ‘‘like mad’’ for the event.
‘‘It’s special, and will be a celebration. We’re learning a series of new songs we haven’t sung before, some quite challenging to perform.’’
He hadn’t sung in years when he joined the group, but signed up after being diagnosed with Parkinson’s and noticing the effects. ‘‘I just started losing my voice.’’
Oliver cannot believe the difference SoundsWell has made to his voice. ‘‘In terms of volume and intonation, it definitely helps. When I get home at night after this, my wife says, ‘Your voice is miles better’.’’
He says the symptom of voice loss is not one the public usually associates with Parkinson’s.
‘‘People discount it – it’s quite common for Parkinson’s sufferers to shake a lot. I don’t, so people sometimes say: ‘Oh, have you got Parkinson’s?’
‘‘But Parkinson’s consists of whole lot of different things, including loss of muscle tone, affecting all muscles in your body, including your vocal folds. It’s sort of important for Parkinson’s patients to use their voice often and a lot, because you lose the ability to project your voice. Singing mends that, corrects it, to some degree.’’
SoundsWell regular Chrissy McGhie has seen the positive effects on one of her friends, Robin Smythe, who had a stroke at the end of 2015.
‘‘He found it hard to get words out,’’ she says. ‘‘He has a lovely singing voice, and before the stroke he used to play the piano.
‘‘This has been really good for him – when everyone else is singing, it helps him. We all enjoy it.’’
SoundsWell songleader Megan Berentson-Glass agrees.
A classically-trained musician and a therapist, she formed the group after noticing a gap from diagnosis to recovery for neurological patients.
‘‘I found that people get a lot of support while they are in the hospital, but when they move on, often there’s not so much happening for them to continue with.’’
Berentson-Glass has witnessed first-hand the effect of physical coordination for singing on the voice and body.
‘‘Singing is one of those things that uses so many aspects of our brains.
‘‘It helps over time in building neural pathways or linking to other areas of the brain that can help strengthen them.
‘‘We have people who have known the music before the stroke, so it’s in there, it’s in their memory and their musical memory, and it’s much easier for them to produce those sound patterns together with the rhythm helping them.’’ See stuff.co.nz for video SoundsWell Singers’ 1st Birthday celebrations will be held tomorrow from 10.30am to 12.30pm. St John’s Church Hall, Bassett Rd, Johnsonville. Visit musictherapy.org.nz.