Deathbed Singers, Threshold Choirs, Grow To Comfort Sick And Dying

"Always face the person in the chair. Sense their breath, the rising and falling of the lungs, the blood’s flush on the cheeks. Watch the loosening and tightening of the muscles, the movement of the eyelids, how the hair on their arms straightens up. Don’t stand out. Speak softly. Blend in with the voices. This was the advice of Ellen Synakowski to members of the Washington, D.C., Threshold Choir, only a few months into its existence. Their job: to use song to comfort the dying through the end of life. As if repeating a mantra, they sang in unison as they rehearsed: “It’s alright, you can go/ Your memories are safe with us/ It’s alright, you can go/ Your memories are safe with us.”"

Deathbed Singers, Threshold Choirs, Grow To Comfort Sick And Dying