The health benefits of singing - Page 2

Southbank explores impact of singing on mind, body and spirit, reports Hannah Nepil

In fine voice - and health too: singers at the Southbank (photo: Sheila Burnett)

Where singing can really make a difference, however, is in the management of specific conditions. Chreanne Montgomery-Smith, founder of 'Singing for the Brain' - a music programme for people with dementia and their carers - mentions one patient who no longer recognised members of her family, and was only able to remember them through song. ‘She had lost her memory of how people looked today, she only remembered how they looked a long time ago, so when the family sang songs from that time long ago - her childhood songs for example, and the courting songs that she and her husband used to sing to each other - she recognised who they were.’

Singing can also help to restore communication. Mr John Rubin, president of the British Voice Association and specialist in voice disorders and laryngeal surgery, says that he has occasionally sent patients with vocal weaknesses or vocal fold paralysis to singing lessons if he feels that speech therapy hasn’t given them enough benefits. Likewise, singing plays a useful role in stroke rehabilitation. Mary King remembers working with one particular stroke victim who had lost the power of speech. ‘He had been a keen amateur singer and when you sang him a song that he knew well you could see that his mouth was making the vowel shapes that were attached to the tune, so through singing he was able to access some part of his linguistic skill.’ Similar benefits have been noted in patients with Parkinsons Disease, which causes the voice to become defective. ‘You often see people with Parkinsons whose voice is very soft and hard to hear,’ says Dr Rubin, ‘but if you get them to speak a little bit beyond their comfort range they suddenly become a lot more audible. Singing is really good for that.’

It is arguably in its power to lift depression, however, that the value of singing for dementia sufferers really lies. Initiatives such as ‘Singing for the Brain’ provides these sufferers with the opportunity to socialise with those in the same situation. It also rebuilds a sense of self-belief. ‘There’s a huge stigma attached to dementia,’ says Montgomery-Smith, ‘But singing provides a chance to restore people’s confidence in learning new things.’ This confidence in itself, she claims, is a powerful protection against the effects of deterioration: ‘Helping people to believe in themselves allows for greater self stimulation. Greater self stimulation creates new neuronal connections, which in turn help to restore function.’

King is also keen to emphasise the confidence-restoring properties of singing. ‘I’ve done [singing] work in prisons in the past and have been told countless times that this is the first time that somebody has had their families witness something from them that was good. These are people who have been in trouble for their entire youth and adulthood and finally they’ve done something they can be applauded for,’ she says. ‘You can’t buy that.’

Chorus! takes place at the Southbank Centre, London, May 13-15