An inspirational Edinburgh choir is hosting a Christmas concert at Edinburgh’s Festival Theatre on Friday.
The ‘Forget Me Notes’, a choir for people living with dementia, is welcoming the festive period by performing a range of Christmas classics as part of their ‘Together in Song’ concert series.
The choir supports people living with the illness by tackling isolation and challenging public perceptions of sufferers.
Choir member, Avril, said: “It doesn’t matter who you are, it doesn’t matter whether you’ve got your full brain or if you’ve got part of your brain or whatever, anybody can come along and sing.”
The choir started several years ago, when choir master and founder, Alan Midwinter, ran a music session at a local care home.
Midwinter noticed that one resident, whose advanced dementia had left her non-verbal, sang along to every word.
He realised the transformative power of music for dementia sufferers and decided to start a choir.
The choir grew, taking on a pianist and guitar player and now has 26 members who meet fortnightly to rehearse in song together.
“You really have to see it to believe it”
While many choir members have been diagnosed with the illness, the group is not dementia-exclusive.
“We believe very passionately that people with dementia have a lot to offer. If our choirs were all simply for people with dementia, then people without dementia wouldn’t understand the abilities of those with the illness,” Midwinter added.
The choir’s upcoming performance at the Festival Theatre on 1 December will combine personal stories of the group with Christmas carols and timeless classics.
The performance is free to attend and will also be broadcast throughout care homes in Scotland to allow those who can’t attend in person to join in the festivities.
Avril said: “Everybody can come to Together in Song. People bring along their loved ones with dementia and we all sing together as one big community. It’s just amazing – you really have to see it to believe it.”
Community is an essential part of the choir’s work and the group not only work to support people diagnosed with the illness, but their families as well.
Midwinter said: “We recognise that dementia is a terminal illness. We hope to support those families from the time that somebody starts to come to come to the choir to the point that they can no longer be here.”
Free tickets for the Together in Song Christmas Concert can be obtained from the Capital Theatres website.
