The lifelong benefits of making music

Sarah Alley, a music therapist who leads a community choir in Limerick, shares a story about this emotional power of singing in a group. A young girl whose mum had recently passed away became “really upset” when the choir began singing the hit song Bohemian Rhapsody, with its lyric “Mama”. “But all of the other choir members comforted her,” Alley recalls, “and have become like a support network”.   

Still, despite the many anecdotes and scientific results around the healing power of music, McGlynn says she rarely receives referrals to her choirs from doctors. “The research is there and the benefits are there, but there is still a disjunct between medicine and these kinds of therapies.”  

Some choir members, like Gerry Garvey of Parkinsongs, are thus taking matters into their own hands. After Garvey joined the group in 2022 – nine months after his diagnosis – he became passionate about encouraging others. Now, as chairperson of the Mid-West branch of Parkinson’s Ireland, Garvey has helped to secure funding for the group, and seen it nearly double in size, from 15 people to 38.  

“People with Parkinson’s have a tendency to just recede and quietly disappear in the background, but this group enables people to come along for some fun and games, sing some songs, do some shows,” he says. “The music transports you to a different place.”

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