Buxton opera singer launches dementia music service with free concert

Burbage resident Katy Allan, 23, was inspired to begin performing for people with dementia while working at Haddon Hall Care Home, on London Road, as she paid her way through a degree in vocal and opera studies at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester.

She said: “I moved to Buxton to be with my husband, and worked as a hostess at weekends and during my holidays, serving three meals a day from the trolley.

"The pandemic made it a very tough, very sad time to start in August 2020 but it was wonderful to see families reunited later on.

“Some of the residents I served had early onset dementia, and that was really my first experience of it.

“I made a few mistakes in the beginning but I gradually learned how to connect with them and realised I absolutely loved working with older people.”

After graduating with first class honours this summer, Katy worked her last 11-hour shift at Haddon Hall just a few weeks ago.

Instead, she has taken up a position as assistant director of Manchester’s prestigious Hallé Children's Choir, the group with which she got her first taste of performing aged ten.

Katy is juggling that with rehearsals for her debut with Preston Opera in Die Fledermaus in December – but she is also busily building a portfolio career around those leading roles.

As part of her degree, she had to devise a community music project and chose the care home as her focus, delivering music sessions as part of the health and wellbeing activity programme.

She said: “Eventually I became known as the singing tea lady, and I’m now developing the idea into a small business.

"The diary is filling up and I’ve got bookings from care homes across Derbyshire and Cheshire for the rest of this year.

“I’ll turn up with my backing tracks and sing songs which help residents to reminisce.

"It might be wartime songs like Very Lynn, or Doris Day and Frank Sinatra, or themed sessions about something like the seaside, with a bit of Cliff Richard, O Sole Mio and Here Comes the Sun.

“I have picture cue cards and I’ll chat to the audience between songs about their memories, and get them to join in with the singing.”

Chelsey Mazari, who works at the Argyle Care Home in Buxton, saw the impact of Katy’s work when she visited the home last week, saying: “She’s brilliant, she’s been to all three of our group’s homes and residents loved her.

“The sessions are very interactive and Katy has such a beautiful voice she made our staff members cry.”

Not everyone in Katy’s care home audiences will be living with dementia but, for those who are and their carers, music is seen as having a valuable role to play in enhancing quality of life.

The way the brain handles musical information means that it can stimulate some of the cognitive processes which deteriorate with the disease, like autobiographic memory and communication.

It can also help to alleviate the symptoms of depression, anxiety and other behavioural problems which often arise in patients.

Still, for all the benefits, there are challenges which come with the work.

Katy said: “I’ve got a friend who is a music therapist who has given me lots of advice but the experience of working at Haddon Hall has taught me just as much.

“A lot of it comes down to instinct. You can tell when someone wants you to sing and when they want you to hold their hand.

"Sometimes people might not seem present, but you have to remember that somewhere inside they are still listening, whether or not they’re engaged.”

She added: “It’s a wonderful privilege to see the effect it has. It can be heart-warming or heart-breaking.

“Yesterday I had a gentleman who kept crying until his shirt was wet through. He didn’t wipe away the tears, he was just feeling all the emotions the music conjured up.

“You get such honest reactions. I remember one lady who looked me in the eye and said I was rubbish. Another said I was too loud, then a few minutes later said it was so beautiful.

“It can be magical. You have to stop yourself crying sometimes. The smiles you get give me a feeling that matches anything I’ve got from doing a big opera.”

A whole new audience can see Katy perform at a free dementia-friendly concert at Buxton Methodist Church on Thursday, November 3, 11am to 12.30pm. Accompanied by coffee and cake in a relaxed café setting, the programme will feature songs spanning the 1930s to the 1970s.

The concert is open to anyone to attend and no ticket is required.

Katy is inviting her care home clients to bring along groups, and is also making connections with local councils and community organisations to reach those still living in their own homes, where the experience of dementia can be even more isolating.

She said: “It’s my first time organising an event like this, so I’m a bit nervous but also excited to meet a lot of new people, especially those who might still be living at home with a carer or loved one. It would be lovely to perform for them too.”

For more details on Katy’s musical and care home work, go to www.katyallan.com.