WS Chronicle

By Martha Murphy

The power of music to stimulate brain activity and impact other parts of the body in positive ways is well documented. The Arbor Acres Retirement Community’s resident show choir, Sharps & Flats, with more than 70 members, validates this research in a number of ways that differentiate its approach to music from other retirement communities.

The Sharps & Flats recently recorded a video that played before the first two opening season concerts of the Winston-Salem Symphony in conjunction with World Alzheimer’s Day, which happens in September. The chorus performed a parody of George Gershwin’s “I Got Rhythm,” accompanied by one of the symphony’s string quartets, with lyrics written by Arbor Acres’ previous president, Davd Piner. The song selection reinforced the featured piece in the opening concerts, “Rhapsody in Blue,” Gershwin’s masterpiece for solo piano and jazz band.

Sharps & Flats is an all-volunteer show choir complete with costumes, choreography, soloists, instrumentalists, high-energy repertoire, and a focus on fun with some camp thrown in. Residents in all levels of care – independent, assisted living, memory care and skilled nursing – participate under the leadership of volunteer director Art Bloom. No auditions are needed and previous music experience is not necessary. Bloom finds ways for all members to contribute whatever talent they wish to share.

The Sharps & Flats perform two seasonal concerts – at Christmastime and in the spring – and offer smaller performances throughout the year. Bloom creates the concepts for each concert, selects music, assigns parts, rehearses the choir every week for 10 months of the year, and handles the myriad of details that comes with the staging of a major production, including marketing and administration. 

In 2023, the United Methodist Association, now the Methodist Ministries Network, recognized Bloom and the Sharps & Flats with its Mission Award for production of a 50-minute movie musical, “The Sharps & Flats: A Not-So-Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Future,” that documented, in protocol-safe ways over a two-year period, the challenge of cancelling the chorus’ planned concert for Arbor Acres’ 40th anniversary concert in 2020 due to the pandemic. The movie premiered to the Arbor Acres community in September 2022.

Bloom has long been intrigued by music’s ability to affect the brain in positive ways.

“The Sharps & Flats chorus has actually helped residents remain independent, and memory-challenged residents are able to connect with things forgotten,” says Bloom.

“Music evokes long-held memories. In some cases, residents appear less confused and more focused when they are singing, because they are happy, can remember words to songs, and are fully engaged.”

Rev. Bert Sanders, Arbor Acres director of spiritual arts, has a unique perspective on the Sharps & Flats, given his responsibility for ministering to the spiritual needs of residents across the Arbor Acres campus.

“The Sharps & Flats is a community within a community,” Sanders says. “The group provides folks who would never have a chance to meet each other with the opportunity to get to know one another in a safe, supportive environment. The Sharps & Flats allows people to return to a very joyful place and not be self-aware or afraid to perform. They can simply be themselves while having fun.”

Martha Murphy serves as marketing arts specialist at Arbor Acres Retirement Community. For more information about Arbor Acres, please visit www.arboracares.org.

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