Singing for the brain..my way

Sunday at the Coalhouse a micro pub/Real Ale bar. Open mike night every other Sunday starting at 3pm. Home by 8.30 or 9pm!

Of course my friend Lynn and I visit this, our local to enjoy the atmosphere, have a drink and listen/join in with the excellent artists singing.

I sound like an advert don’t I, or a drunken mate trying to get you to join us for a jolly good time

What I am getting at is that singing is good for the brain, and Dementia Choirs are an excellent way to enjoy a pleasure we can all do which is sing. It stimulates lovely memories of music you have enjoyed as a teen/mum/dad, on holiday, a celebration, or a time in your life you associate with a loved one. I am not talking war songs or music from the 40’s here, I am talking music from the 60s, 70s, 80s and so on. As more people are diagnosed with a memory or dementia related illness younger it is important that music is age appropriate.

I am not keen on joining a choir, I don’t have a particularly good voice, not that matters one bit, but I think I don’t like the organised bit of it.

For me I like to hear a live band, or a live singer. Music in the Coalhouse can range anything from folk, Snow Patrol to Creedance clear water, even a bit of Hendrix. Now there’s my type of music at times! To these I sing my head off! Lynn and I are occasionally give a Tamborine and Maracas and we go for it.

Lynn took a picture of me and my daughter singing, playing and having fun. This for me, is my singing for the brain. Suck it up Dementia singing loud and out of tune!!!

So don’t stop going to the pub when live music is on, stay for as short a time as you want, choose an ‘open mike’ event, where singers with a guitar, or singer songwriters just get up and sing. Staying even a short amount of time is invigorating. If classical music is your thing, then how about finding lunchtime concerts? I find it difficult to cope with loud noise or too much background noise, but this is something I find immensely enjoyable because in a small place the level of sound is usually pitched correctly and not enough to blow your ears off. Everybody is singing, you are so engaged that any other background noise simply disappears.

So get your positive pants on and go for it …