Grants at Work - Sing for Joy

Sing for Joy AFCC Grants at Work

ith all apologies to laughter, it may be singing that is indeed the best medicine. And inside the Cape Conservatory, a group of more than 20 residents living with Parkinson’s disease are proof of that. W They meet nearly every Monday, coming together to sing such familiar tunes as “The House of the Rising Sun,” “La Vie en Rose,” and “Blue Bayou,” all under the watchful eye of music director Joe Dudzinski, who accompanies them on the piano. During their final session in June, Dudzkinski led them in these and several other selections that included “Tomorrow” from the play “Annie.” Looking at sheet music, the week’s contingent of 13 sing in unison: The sun will come out tomorrow, Bet your bottom dollar that tomorrow There’ll be sun The group has been gathering since 2015, taking part in a program that has been appropriately titled Sing for Joy.

“Our mission is to inspire joy through the arts,” said

Conservatory Executive Director Stephanie Weaver.

“If this program doesn’t do that, I don’t know what does. It’s the best example of joy I can think of at the conservatory.”

This past year, the Arts Foundation of Cape Cod partially funded the program, understanding its importance to the community and those it serves.

They are people like Dr. John Tudor of Falmouth, who started developing symptoms of Parkinson’s in 2007. He has been singing with the group for nearly a year and a half. “It is tremendous to see people having the same kinds of difficulties as

I do and how well we can do together,” he said.

“It is very supportive.”

Yarmouthport’s Peter Lipp termed the group “a fellowship… It gives you a sense of community.”

He also noted the health benefits of singing, especially for those with Parkinson’s. It was a sentiment shared by both Weaver and Dudzinski. “In some studies, there have been instances that showed singing one hour a week for a 16-week session delayed any further decline in voice, speech, and swallowing,” for those with Parkinson’s, Dudzinski said.

Whether the singing is delaying the disease for anyone in the group is unclear. But what is abundantly clear is the joy it gives to those who participate in it. It can be witnessed, Dudzinski said, in the smiles he sees on a weekly basis on the singers’ faces. “This is not evidence-based stuff, but you can see people are happy doing it,” he said.

“I love to sing,” Lipp said, supporting that notion.

Standing next to him, his caregiver chimed in that Lipp constantly talks about the singing group. He is constantly thinking about Mondays at the Conservatory, where he can sing about such things as the sun coming up tomorrow.