Alter Natives: the Singing Mamas natural voice choir is an example of "social prescribing" - better health through conviviality

We’re delighted to receive this piece from North London GP (and new A/UK co-creator) Grace McGeoch, which fits well within our strand on personal testimony, Alter Natives.

Grace wants us to hear about a natural voice choir that’s a textbook example of “social prescribing”. This is the use of forms of cultural and social participation and co-creation, to help generate better health outcomes (we’ve covered social prescribing pretty well on A/UK already).

Here’s how Grace pitched it to us:

Singing Mamas is run by a former paediatric nurse Kate who started a natural voice choir by accident in Sussex. There are now more than 20 choirs and there are plans for it to be introduced to the US. They have become a community interest company and have secured lottery funding to provide local natural voice choirs as part of social prescribing.

This is on the back of a successful pilot working with women who have experienced domestic violence in South London. The choirs are about women supporting other women in a non judgmental space and are very uplifting. They are actively looking to train new choir leaders and spread the word. 

Happy to help. Their link is at the bottom of Grace’s piece.

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Grace McGeoch: I am singing with a circle of women and children, my own voice lost in the collective sound. I seem to have been led inevitably to this moment. Maybe others feel the same way. I don’t even have children but it seems just right that I am joining in with Singing Mamas.

My sister kept telling me about this group of women she sings with, how it gives her energy and strength, and she kept asking me to come along. I was wary. How would I, a 37 year old who is unintentionally childless, feel in a group of women who are in their element as mothers?

Having experienced a weekend singing with Kate Valentine and her Singing Mamas, I now know that this circle of women is about non-judgement and building confidence. The light in one woman shines out to the others and is reflected right back. We are all strengthened by the experience and buoyed up. I seem to have unintentionally stumbled upon a most unlikely way of coming to terms with womanhood.

Singing Mamas came about in a similarly accidental way. Kate’s friend nudged her into leading a group of mothers who had gathered together to sing. Kate freely admits she would never have been the sort of person to put herself forward as a choir leader or even to get involved with Singing Mamas. Yet somehow it happened and organically has grown into a network of more than twenty choirs.

Kate is reflective. She has iteratively learned from experience and come to understand the nature of the work. We share songs, we offer them up, and let the circle of women do the rest.

There are no auditions; this is a natural voice choir. We remain reverent to the power that is generated by women singing together. There is a mystery about where this is all going.

Anyone who sings knows it has a therapeutic effect. The benefits of singing are increasingly underpinned by scientific evidence [see here on A/UK - Eno and Byrne on collective singing - and this from the Conversation].

So I wasn’t surprised to learn that Singing Mamas has run a successful pilot in South London working with women who have experienced domestic violence. They now have lottery funding to expand as a community interest company, providing singing via social prescribing.

The vision is to use singing to bring communities together and embolden women. And because singing is such an accessible, low-technology solution, there's nothing to stop the movement growing.

Those like me who might be interested in starting their own choir receive training over a three day singing retreat and join a forum for ongoing support. Singing Mamas uses social media to help us find local women who would be interested in joining a new choir.

Kate and her team have carefully thought through issues like copyright and public liability insurance and provided a handbook with tips – for example, the choir leader always pours the tea! It's our job to find a suitable venue for women and children to gather, bring a blanket with some toys and tea and cake, and prepare some songs to share.

In the summer there is a festival to bring together singers and their families. Once you start song sharing with Singing Mamas you may find this evolves into further opportunities to bring people together through singing.

I haven’t started my own choir yet but the intention is there. Again it seems the most unlikely thing for me to do when I have a busy professional career. Yet it is perhaps the most important work I can do.

I already sing in a community choir so I know how it brings people who have different life experiences together. A shared love of music is a way into seeing the world from another point of view. We should all take steps to understand each other and build up meaningful discourse in our communities.

I can’t see how we will address the big issues of our time without shaping these building blocks first.

If you would like to learn more about Singing Mamas please click here.