Sing to Beat Parkinson’s

Losing the voice can have a major impact on one’s quality of life.  There is a growing body of evidence that shows that singing can help people living with Parkinson’s retain their voice quality for longer.

Many of our session leaders have been trained by Sing to Beat Parkinson’s (STBP) and are thus Playing for Cake is affiliated with this fantastic organisation.

Come to one of our regular community groups or sessions and look through the information below to see how you can help yourself at home. Our Singing for Breathing courses would be particularly beneficial because they help improve your breathing and teach techniques that help retain and improve speech quality.

If you’d like to chat or ask us to start a regular, dedicated group for people with Parkinson’s and their carers, get in touch.

Practice at home:

Exercises you do regularly at home makes all the difference.  Here are some ideas to help you get started or keep going!

There’s an online singing group you can join, specifically for people living with Parkinson’s!

There’s a new singing app specifically designed for people living with Parkinson’s to help you practice at home and retain and improve speech quality.

See tips, advice and exercises for People with Parkinson’s to help improve speech (PDF) from our team Speech and Language Therapist, Louise Lim. You may also be interested in Louise’s Recommunicate Speech YouTube channel for breathing and vocal exercises to help improve voice quality and abdominal breathing (which supports the voice, reduces stress and anxiety and improves lung/general health) . YouTube Videos to help you continue your practice at home/between sessions published by the Sidney De Haan Research Centre.

Videos for singing practice at home are also available from Helen Barnes (Singing for Health Practitioner working in Suffolk): Sing with Helen on YouTube!

Search YouTube for karaoke songs – there are lots! This can be great fun and help provide some practice between group sessions. However, remember to warm-up gradually, don’t strain your voice, drink plenty of fluids and cool down gently afterwards to your normal speaking voice!

Search ‘Accent Method’ on YouTube for some good NHS resources for vocal practice, including diaphragmatic breathing, at home.

See our ‘Singing for Better Breathing‘ resources for lots of helpful advice and things you can do at home to help keep you healthy, active and retain and improve your speech (including links to the Asthma + Lung UK website).

Enjoy some online ‘virtual choir sessions’ produced by Voices of Aphasia.

Other resources:

Essential information about Parkinson’s and ways of helping retain speech quality by ‘speaking with intent’ developed by the Parkinson’s Voice Project.

Watch members of the Skylarks singing group in Kent in action and find out more about the benefits of singing for people living with Parkinson’s or find more detailed information from the ‘Singing and people with Parkinson’s’ report (PDF) published by the Sidney de Haan Research Centre for Arts and Health, Canterbury Christchurch University in 2012.

Find out more about STBP, research and the type of training our practitioners have attended here (video published by Sing to Beat Parkinson’s and filmed during a training event in 2018)

Our members tell us frequently how singing with others improves their  symptoms and quality of life. Here’s a report in  ‘Medical News Today’ (2016) that also evidences these findings!

Here you can view an inspiring short video produced by the ‘Sing Out’ project (YouTube)

Parkinson’s UK runs various support groups across North Norfolk. See here more information about the North Walsham and Aylsham group.