What a busy four weeks it has been for me, with additional classes to teach, and additional admin to see to. The Celebrating Age group did not happen, due to lack of interest. One person turned up the first time, nobody turned up the second time, and one person turned up the third time. It is either the wrong day, or time of day, or perhaps the wrong time of year.
However the Hilda Ross Glee Club is growing by leaps and bounds. I held a 'come and talk to me' meeting to which all of the villa residents were invited. Five members of Glee Club were at the meeting, and they answered questions, while I gave quotes about the researched benefits of singing. One of the delightful pieces of feedback that has occurred is that some people think that they are not good enough now that the Glee Club sound so good. As a result we had six new people join us, and our roll is now 26, with 6 men!!
Alex and Tui and Brian accompanied me as I went to have an interview on Hamilton Community radio. Initially I was going to have 45 minutes, but then it was just over 20 minutes, so the interview with me turned into an interview about this research and the Hilda Ross Glee Club, and went very well according to those who listened. I will try to get a sound file onto this site for you to listen to the interview, if interested. I could put a link to the radio station, but given that I am the last 20+ minutes of a 2-hr recording, I don't think that is practicable.
There has been an interesting comparison for me the last two weeks. With school holidays, sickness, and grandparent responsibilities, I have had a fairly high absency rate at Hamilton Chorale Rehearsals, such that I have more people at Glee Club than I do at Chorale, for now!
Showing posts with label participant voice. Show all posts
Showing posts with label participant voice. Show all posts
Thursday, October 1, 2009
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
young@heart
The content of the movie young@heart is matching experiences happening here in Hamilton, New Zealand. The Hilda Ross Glee Club has been active now for two years, not the 15 years that the Young@heart group had been functioning. But in that time the Glee Club has performed for their peers, and for outside audiences on average of 4 times a year. In 2007 they were guest performers at the Gerontology Conference in Hamilton, and were featured on National Radio. This group is formed from the people who occupy the villas at this Ryman Healthcare facility.
I also work with the Resthome Singers at the same facility, and the joy that they show in their singing is heartwarming.
Tomorrow I go to speak at the Auckland branch of the New Zealand Association of Gerontology's annual meeting, and my topic is my Hilda Ross groups. To flesh out this presentation, I asked my Glee Club members last week to tell me the benefits they found in singing in the Glee Club, and in the process found out so much more of their back-stories:
* Harry sang as a child, then spent 3 years in a prisoner of war camp and didn't sing afterwards. He moved, with his wife, to New Zealand, and never sang in church. Now he can sing higher than before, and his wife reports that he sings in church now!
* Wally stopped singing 20 years ago when his wife of 48 yrs died. he has just turned 90 and he thinks that he sings better than ever now
* Keith has always been interested in music and being involved in the Glee Club has broadened his knowledge about music and has improved his singing.
* Cecilia has Parkinson's disease which has affected her voice, and the singing has helped her control those effects.
* Pauline has found that her lung capacity has improved greatly after losing part of a lung, and she has a wonderful uplifted joyful feeling at the end of our practices.
* Ngaire takes Glee Club as her time out. She has a husband with multiple sclerosis, and she enjoys this time and thoroughly enjoys singing.
* Betty finds the rehearsals are wonderful therapy, 'fantastic, it just does something for you, you feel a bit blue and you start singing and it's wonderful'.
* Elizabeth has a chronic lung complaint, and it is really a joy to sing and it improves her breathing.
* Tui has had her enjoyment of singing renewed, and she leaves the rehearsal feeling like she has had a tonic.
For my first post I will leave you with their voices.
I also work with the Resthome Singers at the same facility, and the joy that they show in their singing is heartwarming.
Tomorrow I go to speak at the Auckland branch of the New Zealand Association of Gerontology's annual meeting, and my topic is my Hilda Ross groups. To flesh out this presentation, I asked my Glee Club members last week to tell me the benefits they found in singing in the Glee Club, and in the process found out so much more of their back-stories:
* Harry sang as a child, then spent 3 years in a prisoner of war camp and didn't sing afterwards. He moved, with his wife, to New Zealand, and never sang in church. Now he can sing higher than before, and his wife reports that he sings in church now!
* Wally stopped singing 20 years ago when his wife of 48 yrs died. he has just turned 90 and he thinks that he sings better than ever now
* Keith has always been interested in music and being involved in the Glee Club has broadened his knowledge about music and has improved his singing.
* Cecilia has Parkinson's disease which has affected her voice, and the singing has helped her control those effects.
* Pauline has found that her lung capacity has improved greatly after losing part of a lung, and she has a wonderful uplifted joyful feeling at the end of our practices.
* Ngaire takes Glee Club as her time out. She has a husband with multiple sclerosis, and she enjoys this time and thoroughly enjoys singing.
* Betty finds the rehearsals are wonderful therapy, 'fantastic, it just does something for you, you feel a bit blue and you start singing and it's wonderful'.
* Elizabeth has a chronic lung complaint, and it is really a joy to sing and it improves her breathing.
* Tui has had her enjoyment of singing renewed, and she leaves the rehearsal feeling like she has had a tonic.
For my first post I will leave you with their voices.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)