The choir singing
One, two, three, four, one. Rise up for the rosy light.
Jo Ferguson-Allen
We're not just a singing group, we are a community.
Jordie Howell, ABC
Jo Ferguson-Allen, she runs a group for people with Parkinson's and it's called Singing with Jo, previously known as ParkinSong.
Jo Ferguson-Allen
Somewhat stupidly, I said, now if you've got a song that you like, why don't you just ask me and I'll see if I can get it up and running, which opened the door and so our repertoire now is about 360 songs. I came
The choir singing
I came from the dreamtime, from the dusty red-soil plains.
Jo Ferguson-Allen
We now have this fantastic group of people that is comprised not only of some of our early ParkinSongers, but also we've had anyone from the community who has chosen to join us. Some of our participants have other neurological conditions, some have, we've got people with MS, we've got people who are physically disabled, we've got people with dementia, we've also got people who just wanted to come and sing. And so what that has created is this amazing community and everyone is so welcoming and loving of one another.
The choir singing
I am, you are, we are Australian.
Jo Ferguson-Allen
If you're unfamiliar with Parkinson's disease, two of the things that are most quickly affected are breathing and speech. Breathing and speech are very, very quickly affected and so of course anybody who's sung knows that our lungs get such a great workout when we sing. It's such a fantastic way of exercising and very important for people with Parkinson's. And as far as their speech goes, their speech gets very, very quiet and the way that we speak and the way that we interact with one another speaking is such a strong way of connecting and so you can imagine anyone with Parkinson's who hasn't been exercising their voice and breathing, their world, which has already become so narrow through necessity, gets narrower again as they lose that capacity. Use it or lose it. And so I learned very quickly that what this provided, this singing with Parkinson's people, was an opportunity for them to exercise what was so necessary in such a fun way.
The choir singing
We wake up in the morning feeling kind of slow. We're going to Singing with Jo, which gives us a reason to get up and go. We're going to Singing with Jo, which gives us a reason to get up and go
Male choir member
Why do we all like coming to Singing with Jo? Well, what better way to start a day than with a tune in the air and a song in our hearts. Sharing the morning with amiable, like-minded friends and led by a talented and humorous young lady who selflessly gives us her time to start our new day feeling groovy.
Jo Ferguson-Allen
(choir clapping) Beautiful. All righty, thank you everyone.
Jo Ferguson-Allen
So this sense of community and joy is such, it's almost on par, if not more important than the physical benefits that they gain from just singing. That community, that mood, it combats depression. So many people with any form of disability or impairment finds their world narrowing so dramatically. So to have something where you come together, where people know you and you celebrate together in song is just glorious. One of the things that I think stands out for me is that if we know one of our gang are not there and we know why, it's a very big tradition that we have to sing a song for them. So my phone comes out and I press record and today we were sending a message to one of our gang, Deb, who's having a hard time. So I say, everyone say hi to Deb. And everyone says, hi, Deb. And then we all say, we're going to sing one of your favorites. And so today we got to sing the Yellow Rose of Texas for Deb. And we send that off to her and hopefully it brightens her day.
The choir singing
two, three, four, one. Rise up for the rosy light. Lay down for the long, sweet night.Gather up the world in your own two hands and try to feel joy when you can.
Jo Ferguson-Allen
One of my earliest experiences was with a lovely man, Stuart, who came who was predominantly non-verbal. We knew that he had Parkinson's and we knew that he had Alzheimer's, but he very rarely spoke. He was there. He was listening. And I took the time one day to say to him, is there a song, Stuart, that you would like? And he looked at me and he thought and then he just said, Mockingbird's Windowsill. And that was it. And I thought, wow. And I said, OK, leave it with me, Stuart. Let's see. And of course, the joy of Google, I went onto Google and found this song and it's a beautiful song, which I don't know if you'll know. It's when the sun in the morning peeps over the hill and kisses the roses round my windowsill. And so I brought it to the group the next week and I said, Stuart, I don't know if this is it, but we're going to try it. And we started singing it and he just started crying and he started singing and it was the first time he'd sung and we all started crying as we were singing. And that, to me, cemented that this is where I needed to be.
Every Thursday morning, a choir called Sing With Jo belts out an array of tunes.
The choir began as a support group for people with Parkinson's and has now morphed into a supportive community, opening up the world for other people with disabilities along the way.
Jo Ferguson-Allen knows the power of music and sees its magic every week.