“We can be heroes just for one day.”
The David Bowie song, Heroes, rings out in Mercer’s Medical Centre GP practice on the site of the old Mercer’s Hospital in Dublin city centre.
A group of about 12 men and women, members of the Mercer’s Melodies patient choir, meet here to sing every Tuesday morning, led by music therapist Jessica Harris.
John Breen (49) has chronic asthma and finds that singing helps his breathing. “I was in bands years ago and took music very seriously,” he says. “It was all about performing perfectly, but here it’s about social interaction.”
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Eddie Finlan (71) says the choir has lifted his spirits. “I was very ill last year and have lost a lot of weight. I was never in a choir before and it has done me the world of good,” says Finlan, who, after years of homelessness, now lives in Beggars Bush in Dublin.
The initiative began when GP Dr Una O’Neill discovered an opportunity to help patients with their physical, mental and social wellbeing.
“We had a room in the centre of the building which wasn’t being used,” she recalls. “I came across the SingStrong singing and breathing retraining programme, set up by University of Limerick physiotherapist lecturer, Professor Róisín Cahalan, to help people with respiratory problems. We ran it for 10 weeks last year.”
The SingStrong programme of breathing and vocal exercises was first delivered in 2019 to community groups of people living with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) in Limerick, Clare and Tipperary. The programmes continue, both online and in person. SingStrong teachers help participants manage feelings of breathlessness by teaching them to breathe more slowly and deeply. Together with work on posture, this improves their sense of control over their breathing.
The Mercer’s Melodies choir decided to broaden out their criteria for entry and now have people with respiratory conditions such as asthma and emphysema as well as some with obesity or chronic neurological conditions.
O’Neill began to notice the benefits to patients soon after the programme began. “For some, there has been a massive improvement in mental health. For others, it’s given them an informal way to feel more comfortable about coming to see the doctor,” she says. Some patients pop into the GP, or have their bloods done, before or after their singing session.
Coming to the group gives me a bit of peace and an hour to myself
— Deirdre Gannon
Following tests which showed improved lung capacity and enhanced mental health (using the Warwick Edinburgh Mental Wellbeing Scale), O’Neill ran another programme earlier this year, with Harris at the helm. The criteria was further widened to include patients with dementia, cancer and heart problems.
Many enjoyed it so much that a third 10-week programme is under way, with the Royal College of Surgeons of Ireland (RCSI) community outreach programme funding Harris’s fees.
It’s heartwarming to observe the eye contact, laughter and banter between participants. They met as strangers but have become friends through their weekly gatherings. They have even created a WhatsApp group to organise meetups for coffee between sessions.
O’Neill, a former member of a choir herself, is keenly aware of the physical health benefits of singing. “Holding the note of a song or singing a phrase helps control your breathing and improves lung capacity,” she says.
Harris, who plays the keyboard and leads the choir with her mellifluous voice, adds that we also engage so much of our brain when we sing.
She says: “Singing is like setting off fireworks in our brains. Playing music and singing link the right and left frontal lobes through the corpus callosum which engages the emotions, language, auditory processes of rhythm and pitch. It’s a lovely workout for the brain.”
Jimmy Smallhorne, who grew up in Ballyfermot in Dublin, lived in Stoneybatter for a time and now lives in Carlow. He joined the choir because O’Neill is his GP.
He says he enjoys the craic and the company. “I drive up from Carlow. I’m an actor and I enjoy doing the breathing exercises. I quit smoking when I joined and I also walk and do meditation to look after my health.”
Tom Singleton is also an actor and has directed musicals throughout Ireland. “I have asthma and sarcoidosis (a condition in which lumps form in the lungs and other parts of the body),” he says. “The more you use your breath, the better it becomes. And when you learn a song in a group, you are more likely to sing it at home.”
O’Neill adds that, according to research, group singing improves concentration and memory as well as helping to reduce stress.
Maureen Madigan (77) says that when the last of her siblings died in 2024, her life was turned upside down. “My sister and I were so close, I needed something to fill the void. When I’m singing, I don’t think about my grief and loss,” she explains.
Deirdre Gannon (57) says there is a lot going on in her life and coming to sing every Tuesday gives her a break. “My partner is sick and I have emphysema. Coming to the group gives me a bit of peace and an hour to myself.”
Elizabeth Kavanagh, receptionist at Mercer’s Medical Centre, phones all the participants in advance to check that they are coming and co-ordinates the group each week. She says: “It’s very loosey-goosey and free-flowing. This choir brings music into a [medical] space which is often about bad news. The social health benefits are as important as the physical ones.”
And it’s not just the singers who benefit. O’Neill adds: “I can hear the music through the vents in my clinic and there is a buzz in the waiting room every Tuesday morning. It’s very satisfying.”
