SongShine founder Ruthanna Metzger (far right) led a few Taste of SongShine demonstrations late last year at the Senior Activity Center. After attending one, Miriam Fein attended training to become a SongShine instructor.
People dealing with Parkinson’s disease, stroke or other neurological conditions will soon be able to regain their voice — and their spirit, according to Miriam Fein.
Fein will be leading SongShine from 12:30 to 1:30 p.m. each Friday beginning Jan. 5 at the Senior Activity Center. Admission is free but donations are accepted.
SongShine, an internationally known program based in Anacortes, focuses on gaining strength of voice through the power of music.
The program has been without an instructor for several years. Creators Ruthanna Metzger and Peter Harris held a few Taste of SongShine workshops in town to find a new instructor and Fein, who also leads the Singing with Soul classes at the center, knew it would be a perfect fit.
“I thought ‘this feels like something I can do and do well,’” she said.
She has a history with healing and music, so the purpose of SongShine really drew her in.
Fein has used resonant silence, which combines singing and silence in a healing partnership, to help those dealing with stroke, dementia and other health issues.
So it was an easy transition into SongShine, and she said she will introduce some of that silence work to her SongShine group.
SongShine works for anyone with Parkinson’s disease, traumatic brain injuries, stroke or losing the voice due to aging, Fein said.
Often, people who cannot speak loudly enough to be heard can get frustrated and embarrassed and will choose to stay silent.
Not communicating leads people to feel depressed and alone.
“Their will to live is lessened,” Fein said.
SongShine helps them regain their voice, which can help them get more engaged. She named the class “Strengthening our voices and our spirits.”
Healing happens in a group, so there is already a connected piece to the puzzle when people come to SongShine, Fein said.
As someone joins in, there are people on every side of them doing the same thing. There are people pulling for each other and supporting each other through their healing.
That is accomplished in part by teaching people to speak again. The group will learn different elements of speech through the sounds they are making in the songs. That can be especially beneficial for people who have suffered a stroke, Fein said.
The group sings together and recognizes the different sounds they are making. Then, they can put those together to make different words.
Singing the songs is fun, Fein said, so people want to participate.
“The beauty of SongShine is it takes those elements of speech and puts them into songs, which helps people practice and makes those elements come alive,” Fein said.
The speech center is in a different part of the brain than the one used for melody.
So by singing instead of speaking, different parts of the brain are working, and people can actually build a new speech center in their brain.
Through singing, people can train themselves to speak again, Fein said.
“That’s pretty marvelous,” she said.
Metzger was a music teacher for many years and was asked by the Eisenhower Medical Center in Rancho Mirage, California, to create a program that used music to help people with the symptoms of Parkinson’s disease.
Metzger agreed, as long as she could open the program to more neurological diseases and other people who need help.
A few years later, Harris joined in and brought an element of his acting background into the program.
https://www.goanacortes.com/article_04bc04ba-f00b-11e7-ad84-6326c84a9477.html
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