Results of the pilot project "Singing for health" for oncology patients
The “Singing for Health” project consisted of creating a choir for oncology patients and their families. Over the course of two weeks, 4 two-hour rehearsals were held (October 8, 11, 15 and 18, 2024), each consisting of warming up and working with the songs. A total of 12 people participated in the rehearsals.
During the rehearsals, well-known Polish songs were sung, but also songs from other countries, mainly 3-voice canons. After the classes, each participant received printed materials and links to the songs being developed. The classes were free of charge and were led by:
Gabriela Majerowska, a student of music therapy and choral conducting at the Karol Szymanowski Academy of Music. Karol Szymanowski in Katowice and volunteer of the Upper-Silesia Oncological Foundation (Górnośląska Fundacja Onkologiczna)
Justyna Dziuma, president of the Chórtownia foundation, experienced chorister and initiator of the campaign, seminarian of the Kodaly Institute of the Ferenc Liszt Academy of Music in Hungary.
Participant reports
Participant 1: During the rehearsal, I didn't think about anything and focused only on the classes. It was a very pleasant relaxation.
Participant 2: I didn't know I could sing such difficult pieces so beautifully! Coming back from the rehearsal, I sang in the car with a friend the pieces we had learned during the classes. The rehearsals really lifted our spirits.
Participant 3: I have a childhood trauma, from the school choir. The gentleman who led the choir discouraged the children and it was an unpleasant duty for me. During these classes, I saw how much depends on the leaders - I would like to continue singing in a well-led choir.
Conclusions from the pilot study
- It is very difficult to encourage people to take up choral activity, especially if they have never sung in a choir before, and in Poland this is a common situation. People are afraid and ashamed, which clearly shows that the system of music education in Polish schools and kindergartens needs to be changed. At the moment it is practically non-existent, because there is almost no singing (or playing instruments) in music lessons, and apart from the Singing Poland programme, there are almost no children's choirs. Culturally, we also have a lesson to learn - public singing is not systematically supported, but rather disregarded, and people singing in choirs are sometimes considered weirdos.
- The difficulty in gathering a larger pilot choir group also lay in the fact that often the people who wanted to come to the classes were not allowed to do so by their health condition. Volunteers of the Upper Silesian Oncology Foundation informed patients staying in the wards about the rehearsals and came across several people who wanted to take part in them, but for various reasons it was not possible - for example, they were too weak or did not feel well.
- Despite this, the Chórtownia Foundation considers the project a success, because the reactions of the participants clearly indicated their great satisfaction and improved well-being after the classes. Tomasz Sikora, a volunteer of the Upper Silesian Oncology Foundation and a psycho-oncologist working at the Institute of Oncology, spoke very positively about the idea of continuing choral classes in this format. GFO will take further steps towards the establishment of an oncochor.
We would like to thank Magdalena Krzakiewicz-Rospond from the Upper Silesian Oncology Foundation for the invitation to cooperate, and Dr. Elżbieta Wojarska-Tręda - the president of the foundation - for making it possible to carry out this important project. We would also like to thank all the volunteers for their commitment to their coordinator, Katarzyna Wieszałkowska. We hope that our activities will be the beginning of introducing group singing as an auxiliary element in patient therapy.
