Choir Gave Us A Voice Again

How one choir is using the power of singing to help stroke survivors recover their speech, find support and get their lives back.

- Katharine Wootton

Hark, the herald angels sing in a little room in Morley College, Lambeth. From Jingle Bells to Silent Night, this room is ringing with Christmas cheer as a gorgeous choir, all dressed up in their festive jumpers, sing out yuletide joy. It’s a picture mirrored across the country as hundreds of choirs practice their festive fare at this time of year. ut this is no ordinary choir as every single member in this room, singing out with such happiness, is recovering from a stroke.

Since 2013, the London Stroke Choir has been welcoming dozens of stroke survivors to get together for a few hours every week. Some members have all but lost the power of speech, while others have trouble walking, reading or remembering things, but here in the choir, none of that matters as everyone just gets together to sing.

Mondays are rehearsal days. Tutors come in to create a tailor-made singing session that helps everyone in the choir get as much out of it as they can – and also just enjoy a good old cathartic sing-song.

Manuela Gouveia, who co-ordinates the choir, says: “Our tutors put lots of effort into the sessions, for example they prepare a lot more warm-ups before we start singing to help people who might struggle to use the muscles in their face after a stroke. Unlike community choirs where the choir gets the words and music and off they go singing, instead we go through everything line by line, practicing saying the words before singing.”