As the students voices rise with the melody of old favorites, the eyes of Good Shepherd residents light up with memories.
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St. Cloud State Women’s Choir singers have been working with the facility’s Memory Lane residents and Memory Cottages clients since early March.
Visiting each Friday the students sing with the residents to help reawaken memories as they learn about the therapeutic benefits of music in preparation for the 15th annual Her Story, Her Song concert at 7:30 p.m. April 26, at Bethlehem Lutheran Church, 4310 County Road 137, St. Cloud.
Featuring the Women’s Choir, Cantabile Girls’ Choir and faculty Her Story, Her Song gives performers and audience members an opportunity to explore life from the feminine perspective.
Gina Brown, Bemidji, works with a resident at Good Shepherd Community in Sauk Rapids.
This year the concert is partnering with Good Shepherd Community’s Music and Memory Program, which strives to use music as a tool to reawaken memory loss residents through the gift of personalized music.
With this rich collaboration as a catalyst, music and readings for the concert revolve around the themes of remembrance, connectedness and the role that music holds in everyone’s life.
Faculty performers include: Marion Judish on violin; Melissa Krause on the flute; Shannon Sadler on piano; soprano Catherine Verrilli on vocals; and Emeritus Marcelyn Smale performing readings.
Admission is $10 for adults, $8 for seniors, $5 for students or free with a St. Cloud State ID.
The performance is part of the School of the Arts’ 2015-16 Creative Art Series. The 10 events in the second-annual series are designed to expand students’ experiences and the public’s perspectives by introducing them to new concepts and perceptions in the School of the Arts four disciplines art, film, theater and music.
iPod Collection
As part of the collaboration with Good Shepherd, Her Story, Her Song is collecting new or gently used iPods for use by Good Shepherd residents.
Staff members at Good Shepherd are trained to create personalized music playlists on iPods for residents.
The therapeutic benefits of music are profound and have been well-studied and documented by researchers.
New or gently-used iPods will be collected at the concert.
