WAVERLY — The singing group traveling to Ames this weekend for a music festival has a surprising admission: They really can’t sing.
Some of them have never sung in front of people, while others doubt their abilities. Others are slowly losing their voices as a byproduct of Parkinson’s disease, which robs sufferers of muscle control.
But that’s exactly what brings them to the Waverly Health Center’s Tendrils Rooftop Garden at 10 a.m. most Monday mornings.
“Everyone says they’re not singers or can’t carry a tune, but it’s not about that,” said Kara Rewerts, who runs the Waverly Warblers singing group.
Instead, Rewerts, a music therapist at the health center, runs the Warblers through familiar songs from their earlier years, with a focus on good posture, correct breathing, facial expressions and diction.
Those things matter a lot to people dealing with muscle loss as a part of Parkinson’s, said Elizabeth Stegemoller, a music therapist and assistant professor at Iowa State University, who first introduced the idea of Parkinson’s singing groups as part of a research study.
“When you get Parkinson’s, you’re told to go exercise, but we forget about those other muscles” in the respiratory system, Stegemoller said. “If you don’t swallow correctly, it could cause choking or liquids to seep into the lungs. And if you don’t have the muscles to cough that out — aspiration pneumonia is a leading cause of death in Parkinson’s disease.”
The idea came to her while at the University of Florida, and she sought and received a research grant to study the effects of singing on Parkinson’s disease at the same time she accepted a position at ISU. She found four groups willing to start singing groups as part of the 8-week study — three in the Des Moines area and one in Waverly.
That first-of-its-kind 2014 study found “significant improvement” statistically in respiratory functions among participants who were engaged in singing exercises, she said. She hopes to follow up with another study on how the groups reduce stress and inflammation associated with the disease.
Those studies — and the singing groups that have formed and continue as a result of them — aren’t free to run.
To help fundraise the $5,000 per group per year needed, Stegemoller is hosting a Parkinson’s music festival at 6:30 p.m. Saturday at First Baptist Church in Ames, which some of Rewerts’ Warblers will be attending.
Those at any stage of Parkinson’s disease are free to join the Waverly Warblers at the Health Center, Rewerts said — the next session begins Aug. 28. Call 483-4118 for more information.
“To see people come out of their shell — they’ve developed close friendships, and I watch them support each other all the time,” she said. “They’re working on things they might not even realize, but it feels like fun.”
http://wcfcourier.com/news/local/waverly-singing-group-to-perform-at-parkinson-s-music-festival/article_313f110c-8981-53aa-a653-907053259314.html
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