Aphasia-Friendly choir debuts song

For many of us; talking about a health condition might seem daunting, singing about it almost impossible. But that is exactly what the Cardiff and Vale Aphasia-Friendly Choir have done. 

The group is the first rehabilitation choir in Wales and began in 2019 as the inpatient aphasia-friendly choir. With the aim of bringing people together to sing collaboratively but also develop wider awareness of aphasia and neurologically related communication difficulties within our communities.  

The project is led by Esther Goodhew, a Speech and Language (SLT) Therapist who works in the Live Well Community Neuro Service at Cardiff and Vale University Health Board, Vicky Guise, a Neurologic Music Therapist from Chroma and Katie Earing, an SLT and Lecturer from Cardiff Met University.

Esther spoke about being introduced to Vicky by one of the Consultants in the Stroke Department. Esther said, “We Began exploring introducing music into the rehabilitation of our patients and the aphasia-friendly choir is the one we came up with.” 

Aphasia is a complex language disorder which can affect understanding, speaking, reading, writing and our understanding of numbers. This impact on communication can lead to reduced social participation, leaving people feeling isolated. 

Vicky added, “There’s a growing research base around how singing can help people with communication difficulties, with a range of neurological conditions including post stroke, but also with Parkinsons and those who have experienced a traumatic brain injury.” 

The choir aims to benefit communication skills by bringing people together to achieve therapeutic communication goals through singing, create a safe supported space to grow confidence and provide a sense of community and belonging for those with communication difficulties. 

One participant said “Since the choir doing a few things at the same time has improved, so it’s definitely helped me. It’s also allowed me to build confidence to sing.” 

With a piece of music kindly donated to the choir and the help of Singer-Song Writer Richard F. Jackson, the group set about writing lyrics that conveys what it’s like to live with communication difficulties and what they would like others to know about their experiences. 

The choir debuted ‘Give Me Time’ In December at Llandaff Cathedral.  

The Aphasia-Friendly Choir is based in the Speech and Language Therapy (SLT) department at Cardiff Metropolitan University, it is a collaborative project between the Live Well Community Neuro Service, Chroma and Cardiff Met SLT department and is generously funded by the Tavistock Trust for Aphasia. 

You can listen to ‘Give Me Time’ here.