Austria, since December 2019
The charity project “Singing and Making Music in Retirement Homes” started in December 2019 with a Christmas carol singing in a retirement home in Graz Mariatrost. After a second event in February 2020 in Graz Eggenberg, these activities were unfortunately interrupted for a longer period of time by the COVID pandemic.
Finally, in the summer of 2023, we resumed this project. Since then, we have sung and performed music three times in the Eggenberg retirement home, twice in the SeneCura in Söchau, and once in the Alzheimer’s Compass residential home in Bad Blumau.
During the year we sang and played well-known folk songs together. At Christmas time we added Christmas carols to the program and read poems and short stories between the songs. Some of the seniors only listened in silence, others sang along vigorously, clapped in rhythm or swayed to the music. At one of the events, we were all particularly touched by a lady suffering from dementia, who visibly blossomed while singing the songs and was able to sing along to all the lyrics until the last verse.
In personal conversations, the audience repeatedly expressed their gratitude and the directors of the retirement homes asked us to return soon.