By Daisy Au, Seniors Club Coordinator
As we mark Seniors Week in British Columbia from June 6-12, MOSAIC’s Multicultural Seniors Choir is celebrating a momentous occasion: their first in-person practice in more than a year since the COVID-19 lockdown. Last week, a small number of the Choir was able to gather in person while wearing masks and ensuring social distancing, while the remaining Choir members joined on Zoom.
The Choir has been diligently learning new music and rehearsing weekly on Zoom over the past year in anticipation of re-engaging as Music Ambassadors to isolated seniors in the community. The excitement of practising again in person, hearing harmony for the first time in months, singing rounds without the requisite Zoom delay, and safely enjoying a room filled with friends marked a long-awaited first step on the road to recovery and restoration of the Music Ambassadors Program. The energy was palpable, and the voices reflected the growth of the last year.
In place of their usual stretching and exercise, the practice opened with a Zoom session on laughing yoga led by special guest Ruby Mohan. Laughing yoga is a form of exercise initially started in India that promotes the use of laughter as a form of physical exercise.
During the past year of lockdowns and isolation, the Choir also worked on recording a CD and creating a manual about our program, about dementia and Alzheimer’s Disease, and about the integral relationship between music, movement and memory. The Choir members learned to record and mastered listening on one device while recording on another. June 1st also marked the beginning of the Choir’s engagement in the Senior’s DISCovery Network, a project funded by the Government of Canada’s New Horizons for Seniors Program. The Choir is focusing on learning musical theatre and is eager to take on new challenges and practice new skills. The Project will continue throughout the year culminating in a filmed performance that will be aired at a celebratory event in February 2022. We will keep you posted in the coming months!
For more information about services for seniors at MOSAIC, click here.
