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‘It brings you back’: the suburban choir helping people living with dementia reconnect


Music is stored in different parts of the brain than other memories, experts say, and potentially for longer. For choristers in the Good Life Chorus, communal singing offers benefits beyond memory

Most come in pairs, elbows looped together moving at a steady pace, stopping only to sign in, plop a gold coin into a biscuit tin and find their name tags, which take up an entire table at the back, all 50 of them. For example, studies have found that carers singing the steps of daily tasks, like dressing, washing and brushing teeth, may help people living with dementia maintain personal hygiene in a calm and fun environment. The added physical stimulation from the rehearsals – choristers are encouraged to “move and groove” from their chairs – is also beneficial to supporting abdominal breathing, posture and mobility of people living with dementia, says Capp, who runs a residential aged care choir in Brighton East, Victoria.

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