Dementia-Friendly Choral Library
An ever-growing collection of choral sheet music specifically adapted to support and empower people living with dementia.
What is this library?
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The Giving Voice Dementia-Friendly Choral Library is a collection of sheet music designed to make it easy for choral leaders to select repertoire that supports their singers living with dementia.
It includes music developed for our Twin Cities Choruses and music submitted by other choral leaders and composers who are committed to making sheet music accessible and sharing their work with other choirs.
Check out "Daisy Bell (Bicycle Built for Two)" to see (and freely use) a free, public-domain example of the offerings in our library.
What makes the music
"dementia-friendly"?
The sheet music in this library is thoughtfully adapted to minimize frustration and maximize joy for people living with dementia. We have developed a set of standards based on what we know about how different forms of dementia affect the brain and based on years of feedback from singers in our Twin Cities Chorus program. Here are some of the main features of the songs in our library:
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No longer than four minutes.
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Familiar and/or specifically relevant to people living with dementia.
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Easy to navigate. The music reads from front to back like a book, with no repeats or codas.
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Large font and plenty of white space.
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Reduced clutter in vocal scores. Accompaniment and expressive markings are excluded.
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Limited range for each voice part.
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Lyrics-only option for singers who find sheet music unfamiliar or confusing.
These and the rest of the standards are outlined in our Submission Guidelines.
Why isn't this music free?
We're all about reducing barriers to access, but sometimes there are limits beyond our control. Like copyright!
The Dementia-Friendly Choral Library is a curated collection of songs that are available for purchase on websites like Sheet Music Direct and Sheet Music Plus. When you purchase a song, a portion of the cost goes back to the original copyright holder and a portion also goes to whomever arranged the song.
A few songs in the library are freely available because they are in the public domain (the original copyright has expired) and the arranger has chosen to make the work freely avaialble rather than collect a fee.
You might also wonder why you have to buy a minimum of ten copies of a piece of music. That's a limit set by the online sellers to prevent people from purchasing only one licensed copy and distributing it to an entire chorus.
How can I add an arrangement to the library?
We want to include everyone's dementia-friendly arrangements! And we want to make sure that people who use the library can expect each piece of music to work well for their singers living with dementia.
The first step is to read our Submission Guidelines. These include a checklist to help you ensure that your arrangement will be accepted, and they also outline the entire process.
The Library
Song Title | Voicing | Difficulty | Arranged By | Submitted By | Written By | Link to Purchase |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Sing (Sing a Song) | SATB | Medium | J. David Moore | Joe Raposo | ||
Daisy Bell (Bicycle Built for Two) | 2-part | Easy | J. David Moore | Giving Voice | Henry Dacre |
Sing (Sing a Song)
Written by:
Joe Raposo
Voicing:
Arranged by:
J. David Moore
Difficulty:
Submitted by:
Daisy Bell (Bicycle Built for Two)
Written by:
Henry Dacre
Voicing:
Arranged by:
J. David Moore
Difficulty:
Submitted by:
Giving Voice