A MARTÍNEZ, HOST:
A dementia diagnosis can be isolating, as people often retreat from activities they love. However, in Denver, a new choir helps people stay involved. Here's Ryan Warner of Colorado Public Radio.
JONI BECK BREWER: (Singing) Imagine me and you, I do. I think about you day and night. It's only right.
RYAN WARNER, BYLINE: Seventy-one-year-old Joni Beck Brewer of Golden is a singer at heart. But after learning she had dementia three years ago, she left the choir she was a part of. The pace no longer suited her.
BECK BREWER: When my diagnosis was given to me and it started getting really too hard for me to continue, it made me very sad. I mean, that was something I just love to do.
WARNER: Along came the Second Verse Choir, a new dementia-friendly choir in Denver.
KRIS BOGGS: Second Verse, our tagline is the song continues.
WARNER: Choir co-founder Kris Boggs.
BOGGS: In music, a second verse is a repeat back to do the same thing again, maybe with different words.
WARNER: Second Verse is part of the Giving Voice Network, with choirs like this one all over the world.
JACQUELINE MCCURDY: We're going to sing through our vowels again, but I want you to think about filling your mouth with a vowel. Here we go.
(SOUNDBITE OF PIANO NOTE)
MCCURDY: Fill your mouth with a vowel. Go.
SECOND VERSE CHOIR: (Vocalizing).
MCCURDY: Good.
WARNER: Choir director and speech language pathologist Jacqueline McCurdy is leading a rehearsal. Second Verse's first performance is coming up April 18, Feelin' Groovy: Songs Of The '60s.
MCCURDY: Let's just run through "Daydream Believer." Let's see what happens. Here we go.
(SOUNDBITE OF PIANO)
SECOND VERSE CHOIR: (Singing) Oh, I could hide 'neath the wings of the bluebird as she sings.
ANNE RIGLEY: We absolutely want to have music that people remember, and for our next season around, we want them to choose the music, so they'll - they will have a voice in our next season, which starts in May.
WARNER: Co-founder Anne Rigley insisted the choir include caregivers and loved ones. Spouses sing together, a man and his health aide, a brother and sister.
SECOND VERSE CHOIR: (Singing) Cheer up, sleepy Jean. Oh, what can it mean to a daydream believer and a homecoming queen?
RIGLEY: We want to make this accessible to people. We not only have sheet music that we can help them highlight their parts if they'd like. We also have large-print lyrics only for people who don't read music. They can have the binders with them the entire time, including our performance. So there's never a pressure to remember.
WARNER: Again, Kris Boggs.
BOGGS: What we know about music in the brain is for all of us, music enhances mood. It cheers us up. For a person living with a dementia, they may be losing language skills, the ability to speak. And our music memory lasts longer. People are able to recall that music memory. It's kind of held deeper in our brains than language. So people may not be able to speak, and they may be able to sing.
WARNER: Singer Joni Beck Brewer has made friends along the way and feels like she belongs.
BECK BREWER: We were very lucky to find this new group where I can still sing. And they understand what's happening with me, and, yeah, it's just been great.
WARNER: Beck Brewer tells me she isn't nervous about this first big show. She's just grateful music's in her life again.
For NPR News, I'm Ryan Warner in Denver. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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