Last night, a friend arranged a special treat for her mother-in-law, a mega music lover confined to her bed. A group of singers stopped by to sing a selection of dear-to-her heart hymns. Today, a group of youngsters surprised Jane, Max & Shareen with a reprise!
Inspiration on inspiration. My guess is the wonder of it all has only just begun.
Our little hometown is chockablock with singers & musicians. Envisioning a new Pay It Forward initiative - people could sign up as soloists duets trios ensembles & if someone in the community longed to have some singing in their lives... Voila!
It would have meant the world to Mom to have heard some of her most beloved hymns sung LIVE in her room. What joy & satisfaction it brings the singer(s) and/or musician(s). Really pretty simple to do. All that's needed is a connector between those eager to give & those happy to receive.
Another great use would be for one or more singers to plan a monthly event at our local retirement residence, ideally after the Tuesday or Thursday dinner event. A hymn-along! Residents could put in requests for particular songs, with the actual choices picked ahead of time, at random - a songfest lottery where everyone is the winner. It wouldn't take a lot of time, nor a lot of effort, just a desire to sing in community. A lot of the residents watch church Sunday morning church services on the big social room monitor, which is wondrously convenient but means they don't get to be part of the vibrant singing that's part of our church's heritage. A hymn-along would restore that blessed experience!
A distant memory stirred, an article read some years back. An old Huffington Post piece on Alive Inside, a documentary about the therapeutic effects of music on the elderly. The film shows what happens when nursing home patients are handed iPods loaded with music from when they were young.
Her memory is a stark contrast to the Henry we first see in the film, an old man who's been in the home for ten years and who now sits hunched over in his chair, incapable of answering questions beyond a yes or no.
But when social worker Dan Cohen and (the great!) neurologist Oliver Sacks put their Music & Memory theory to the test, handing Henry and other patients suffering from degenerative diseases an iPod full of music, a different person emerges.
"Immediately he lights up. His face assumes expression, his eyes open wide...he's being animated by the music," Sacks says, describing Henry's reaction. He can even engage in dialogue with an interviewer who asks about the effect the music has on him.
"It gives me the feeling of love, of romance. I figure right now the world needs to come into music, singing. You’ve got beautiful music here," Henry says, before breaking into a version of "I'll Be Home For Christmas" by an artist he says is one of his favorite -- Cab Calloway.
My little hometown overflows with people, very young to very old, who love to sing. Imagine what, building off of Jane's idea, we could offer our friends & neighbors who are unable to get out, who would love to hear hymns they grew up with or songs from the swing era, rock & roll, classic rock. What a swinging lab for informal music therapy we could become!
Take if a bit further - imagine if some singers form a hospice choir. While choirs like JourneySongs focus on " singing at the bedside for the comfort of people on their final journey, for the terminally ill and for their caregivers and loved ones," there's no reason that couldn't be expanded in a small town like ours to include anyone who is home-bound or, like dear older friends of mine, just love music. Expand it from hospice to healing!
Blessings, dear Jane, for your inspired & inspiring idea! This is a concept sure to take wing, to lift spirits & transform, to combine earthly voices & heaven choirs.
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