“He who sings scares away his woes.”

This title quote by Miguel deCervantes Saavedra describes how we felt today!

Twenty people came to the first of five newly created weekly August group singing sessions today in Beverly. For an hour, we sang and laughed and shared and learned together. Our creative, engaging director, Emily Interrante, led us in vocal exercises that can help counter the affects Parkinson’s has on voice projection, swallowing issues, facial muscles and breathing.

Try one of the tongue-twisters we practiced using different rhythm and tone scales: “Mommy made me mush my m&m’s!” Faster and faster, higher and lower we went…pretty much like being on a roller coaster ride, as one participant described it! Maybe we’ll try Frank Sinatra’s “That’s Life”, especially the verse that begins with “I’ve been a puppet, a pauper, a pirate, a poet, a pawn and a king….” Run those words together with emphasis on puffing a breath out through the lips when singing the words that start with the letter “p” – do it a number of times, as it makes good use of the lip muscles that aid in making regular speaking conversation.

Lots of music titles were suggested and we’ll be busy printing lyrics for the upcoming weeks. So much joy-full (spelling intended!) sound filled the room today. We’re all looking forward to returning to see what comes next!