St. Andrew’s Terrace partners with school to create intergenerational choir

Residents and students to perform first show at Tait Street Public School on Dec. 8
12/5/2016  - Deron Hamel
 

St. Andrew’s Terrace and Tait Street Public School have partnered to create an intergenerational singing program that will provide concerts to both the Cambridge long-term care home and the school.

While there have been events that have brought together St. Andrew’s Terrace residents and Tait Street Public School students in the past, both the home and the school decided they wanted to collaborate on a project that would be “more substantial,” says St. Andrew’s Terrace life enrichment manager Sara Byma.

So, they decided to form an intergenerational choir made up of St. Andrew’s Terrace residents and 18 Grade 2 students from Tait Street Public School that will perform at both the home and the school.

Since October, music teacher Allison Lupton has been bringing her students to St. Andrew’s Terrace every other week. The first part of the project was aimed at developing relationships between the residents and students. The children did a presentation for residents to introduce themselves individually. The students and seniors also spent time in October making Halloween crafts.

From there, they began singing together, rehearsing favourite Christmas songs such as Frosty the Snowman and Jingle Bells.

On Dec. 8, the residents and students will be performing at Tait Street Public School’s Christmas concert.

“It’s really neat the way the residents and the students know the same songs, so they have that common ground,” Sara says. “It seems like the energy that the kids bring through the doors has rubbed off on the residents. They are livelier, they are more animated, they’re singing with more zest and at a higher level of engagement when the kids are here.”

St. Andrew’s Terrace residents and the students will continue to sing together in January, Sara says. St. Andrew’s Terrace music therapist Jean Galbraith will be helping with the rehearsals, she adds.

Because 2017 marks Canada’s 150th birthday, the seniors and students will be singing songs written by Canadian composers and Canadian music in the new year.

“In the spring we will be having another concert at Tait Street Public School again, and then the kids will come here and we’ll do a concert at St. Andrew’s Terrace as well,” Sara says.

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