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At a gathering in Amsterdam, support for people with neurodegenerative diseases comes in the form of song. The “singing circle” is run by opera singer Maartje de Lint at the landmark concert venue, Concertgebouw. It’s aimed at people with what de Lint calls “vulnerable brains,” many of whom have a form of dementia or Parkinson’s disease.
“The singing circle is a place for people with a vulnerable brain and their partners or family members. And where we show them in a kind and safe space that there is actually a perspective if you are ill in your brain, if you have challenges in the brain. And the part of music in the brain where we experience music hardly ever gets sick. So, this is our working material,” says de Lint.
Megan Worthy still recalls singing in a choir in Canberra, Australia, as she was growing up. Now, as a rare form of early-onset dementia called posterior cortical atrophy chips away at her vision and other brain functions, the 58-year-old is transported back to her musical youth as she and her daughter, Bronte, sing with the group.
“It’s pretty brutal,” Worthy says of her rare neurological condition. “I’m starting to lose everything, you know, and this is really rewarding, and seeing all these people, yeah, it did make me have a lot of memories.”
Megan’s daughter, Bronte Henfling, says that even getting her mother to a new environment that is not a medical appointment feels good. “Just hearing everyone come together and sing … It reminds us that we’re all human and there’s a humanity out there, which is really pleasing and nice to be a part of.”
The singers, who each pay 20 euros ($23.50) to attend, are arranged in a circle of chairs under a ceiling hung with 14 crystal chandeliers in the venue’s ornate Mirror Hall.
The hour-long session clearly has an emotional effect on the singers and their carers.
Helpers regularly hand out paper tissues for people to dab away tears as they sing traditional folk songs.
Neurobiologist Brankele Frank, who is not connected to de Lint’s project, agrees that singing could be beneficial to people with dementia and/or other kinds of neurodegenerative diseases.
This article was provided by The Associated Press.