"We're helping to stave off dementia. Improve brain health. Fight isolation. Even things like breathing and seeing—these are all de-stressors"
Harold Deweaver has choir practice three times a week. When he's not practicing sixties pop songs or turn-of-the-century spirituals, you might find him playing Beethoven as a second-chair violinist. Or at home running through his major scale.And none of this mind you is for college credit. Deweaver is 65, and a student and performer in the Music Settlement's Creative Aging program, a suite of orchestras and ensembles dedicated to teach the fifty-five-and-over crowd music performance. And not just a senior's edutainment: the Settlement's four groups are designed for, as they say, "lifelong learners" seeking an earnest exploration of music theory and principles."It's tough sometimes," Deweaver said, after he finished up practice with his fellow Settlement Singers on Wednesday morning. "You have to have a love for the music."
Harold Deweaver has choir practice three times a week. When he's not practicing 1960s pop songs or turn-of-the-century spirituals, you might find him playing Beethoven as a second-chair violinist...