Sing Sure Community Choirs were started about 2 years ago by Lizzi Stephens. Some of the choirs had previously been weekly singing workshops as part of feasibility studies for research into Singing for Health.

 

 

Professor Stephen Clift and Dr Ian Morrison of the Sidney De Haan Research Centre For Arts And Health, Canterbury Christchurch, Folkestone, Kent, have conducted research projects into "Singing for Health" since 2009 and have very positive findings from these feasibility studies for people with Mental Health needs and Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease. The Sidney De Haan Research Centre has also conducted this research for people with Parkinson's Disease and people with Dementia.

 

For more information about the Sidney De Haan Research Centre Singing for Health projects, please contact Isobel Salisbury on 01303 220870 and her email is: isobel.salisbury@canterbury.ac.uk

 

When the initial research projects were successfully concluded, participants found that they felt so much benefit that they were keen to continue with the weekly sessions.  From then, most sessions were taken on by the workshop facilitators independently and continue to this day. 

 

 

ABOUT LIZZI

 

 

 

 

Lizzi’s professional background has been in nursing and social care. In 2009 though, Lizzi became self-employed as a community musician. Lizzi has been musical all her life, and although not classically trained, has maintained a musical lifestyle, playing with amateur bands of different genres over the years, writing songs and arranging music and becoming very involved with the folk scene from 1987.

In 2009, Lizzi became a singing workshop facilitator for a research project run by the Sidney De Haan Research Centre For Arts And Health, Canterbury Christchurch, Folkestone (see links page for more information).  Lizzi led up to 3-5 workshops a week for several years and when each research project came to a successful conclusion (yes, singing is good for your health) Lizzi kept some of her workshops going independently and Sing Sure Community Choirs were born.

Lizzi is a member of the Natural Voice Practitioner’s Network (see links page for more information) and has a strong work ethic that singing is a birth-right and nobody should be told that they cannot sing! Although our voices can be trained to sound a certain way or to conform to a certain style, this should not be the only way. Singing can and should bring great joy to both singers and listeners and no-one should be excluded because they cannot make a sound that conforms to someone’s idea of good!

Sing to live and live to sing!