alison talmage
Alison Talmage is a co-founder of CeleBRation Choir, a music therapist, teacher, musician and PhD candidate at the School of Music, Waipapa Taumata Rau, University of Auckland.
Susanna Purdy
Dr Suzanne Purdy is Director of the School of Psychology in the Faculty of Science and Principal Investigator of the Center for Brain Research (CBR) at Waipapa Taumata Rau, University of Auckland.
Health Science
The University of Auckland Celebration Choir showcases the mental and physical benefits of group singing for people with neurological conditions.
As most of us know, there is something about music that moves us, uplifts us, brings us together, makes us feel better about ourselves. Music is an important part of most people’s lives, and our ability to make music, to sing, often survives when other abilities fade.
That singing is good for our well-being is well known, and as members of our Celebration Choir – created for people with neurological diseases such as stroke, Parkinson’s and dementia – would testify.
Celebration Choir was started by the University of Auckland Brain Research Center and was the first neurological choir in the country. Through our team’s research and advocacy by choir members, similar choirs have now been formed across the country, in Orewa, Tauranga, Christchurch, Wellington and Nelson. These initiatives reflect local and international interest and growing research investigating the potential of singing in neurorehabilitation.
Mental Health Awareness Week 2022, which runs through October 2, is themed “Reconnecting with the people and places that lift you up,” and for that, we highly recommend joining a choir.
Our choirs survived and thrived during the pandemic, and members used Zoom to sing together. Our various choirs are now attracting new members as well as answering inquiries from people who would like to join said choir.
Whether they sang in community choirs when they were younger or haven’t sang with others since they were kids or were told as children they couldn’t sing, our choir members are finding their voices and advocating for more choirs for more people. like themselves.
A neurological condition can affect mobility, communication and all aspects of daily life. The Celebration Choir brings together people who are experiencing the same fears and challenges in a community of mutual support.
Neurological choirs are not your average community choir: they are social singing groups specially designed to address voice, speech and language difficulties. We include warm-ups, breathing and vocal exercises, less complex arrangements, and part-singing songs to enjoy and work on our members’ voice, speech, language, and memory goals.
Our research has shown that our choir members value choir for improving their mood, speech, communication, and breathing.
There are psychological and well-being benefits of bringing people together for fun, but there are also physiological benefits. Singing and speaking share overlapping neurological networks and use the same physiological processes of breathing, vocalization, and articulation. Many stroke survivors struggle with aphasia, a problem finding words and speaking. Some new choir members are surprised that they can sing or learn a new song, when conversation is so difficult for them; others have not been able to speak fluently but retain the ability to sing.
People with Parkinson’s often develop dysarthria, an inability to control the muscles used in speech, resulting in a low voice and unclear speech, but research has shown that singing regularly helps those people maintain or improve the strength of your voice.
Our research team recently published a study of 90 adults who belonged to a community choir or neurological choir and were pleased to find that choir participation benefits both people living with a neurological condition and those without . As expected, people with neurological conditions scored lower in the physical domain than other participants when they completed the World Health Organization’s quality of life questionnaire. However, scores on psychological, social relationships, and environmental questions were similar among all participants, supporting links between choir membership and general well-being.
Neurological choirs bring together researchers from different disciplines: music therapy, speech sciences, psychology and neuroscience. As neuroscience researchers expand their knowledge, understanding, and treatment options for neurological conditions, allied health professionals, including music therapists and speech-language therapists, play an important role in rehabilitation and psychosocial well-being. .
Our research has shown that our choir members value choir for improving their mood, speech, communication and breathing: for friendship and social interaction, for the pressure-free environment and the challenge it offers, for learning lyrics, melodies and then sing. to them.
Neurological conditions can affect people of all ages, but predominantly the older generation. Changes in population demographics around the world mean an increase in the proportion of older people and an increase in the prevalence of acquired health conditions.
In an ideal world we would have neurological choirs in centers across the country, to offer people living with neurological illnesses the psychosocial and physiological benefits of coming together to sing together, to help people who may face an uncertain future live as best they can. , and with joy in their lives.
