The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #51464 Message #2867943
Posted By: katlaughing
19-Mar-10 - 10:21 PM
Thread Name: nursing home gigs, info please-neat article added
Subject: RE: nursing home gigs, info pleas
Fascinating and heart-warming article by a woman who sings in nursing homes. Well worth reading HERE.
Here's the beginning:
By Patricia Hammond Published: 6:19PM GMT 19 Mar 2010
Mezzo-soprano Patricia Hammond sings to the residents at Byron Lodge, south Yorkshire.
There is a way of singing so that tears won't interfere with your technique. You learn how to isolate those muscles that send the air from your lungs to your lips, and use the music to hypnotise your throat into staying open. The sound becomes an almost independent entity, and all you have to do is keep its path clear. When I was growing up in a small town in western Canada, music and drama teachers would often send students to the local care home to have a sort of dry run before going in front of a 'real' audience.
The first time I did it there had just been a scandal. An amateur dramatics society had put on a test production of Jesus Christ Superstar, and Jesus had run away. He had looked out at all the pale, gaunt faces attached by tubes to various life-supporting machines, smelt that unmistakable odour of decay and antiseptic, and screamed, 'I can't take it! Get me out of here!' With that he had raced back to his VW Beetle, Jesus-robes and sandals flapping, and driven off into the night.
I didn't have that problem. I would focus on the most outwardly healthy residents and pretend the others were just making faces. Then, as I grew older I slowly let the denial recede. Technique took over. Now, no matter how choked up I get, I can still sing. I have sung for a man as he lay dying, and the voice flowed out calm and clear.