German choir helps singers with lung disease breathe better with song

Singing lifts the spirits and is also good for lung health, which prompted a German medic to start a choir specially for people with lung diseases.

The singers gather to improve their lung capacity and breathing control, alongside enjoying the sense of community, thanks to the gatherings set up by lung specialist Thomas Dapper and his wife Martina.

The members suffer from lung diseases such as asthma, pulmonary fibrosis or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).

Patients often use devices to improve their lung capacity but this is not an option for all as some have orthopaedic restrictions, says Dapper.

They can, however, help their lungs by singing as it strengthens auxiliary respiratory muscles, especially the diaphragm.

Singing “helps to alleviate symptoms such as breathlessness and to learn to manage your breathing,” says Dapper, himself an amateur musician.

Deep breathing also brings oxygen to parts of the lungs which may not be getting oxygen, and that way protect them from bacteria.

The choir looks like any other, with 25 men and women over the age of 60 who meet up weekly and sing folk songs, spiritual hymns and music from abroad.

But a closer look reveals there are no distinctive soprano voices. Some choir members pause for a few bars to take a deep breath or a sip of water. Some, like Rudolf Becker, are connected to mobile oxygen devices.

“I never used to have anything to do with music,” says Becker, 74. What he loves about this choir is the sense of community. “And that I’m doing something for my diaphragm,” he says. He suffers from stage 4 COPD, a severe form of the disease that causes symptoms such as shortness of breath and a persistent, chesty cough.

Ilse Justen, also 74, has scoliosis, or curvature of the spine, and is a big fan of the choir too. “It just does me good,” she says. “Everything is wonderful here.”

She feels at ease thanks to the group’s special cohesion. “I’ve always loved singing,” she says. “But most choirs have high standards, and my voice probably wasn’t that good.” Thankfully, at this choir, everything is “very relaxed.”

Claudia Kemmerer, the choir director, also an opera and concert singer, has high expectations when it comes to musical performance, but the focus of the project is on inclusion.

“It’s very easy to join, anyone can sing with us. The main thing is to enjoy it and to join in at all!”

A further difference to other choirs is that there are more breathing and warm-up exercises at the beginning.

Sometimes, Kemmerer has to tell them to sing a little more quietly, such is the enthusiasm of the group.

Dappper, as a lung specialist, focuses on the body. “I always say: it’s not so important to me that you sing beautifully, but that you sing loudly and hold the note for a long time” he notes.

The choir recently sang with a brass orchestra led by a pulmonologist in the state, Michael Kreuter, who heads the Mainz Lung Centre.

Kreuter has been organizing regular benefit concerts for people with chronic lung diseases for 15 years to raise awareness as patients “suffer greatly from their illnesses, but unfortunately are not always heard and seen.”

He is a big fan of the choir. “Because we have known for years that a good airflow can be learnt through singing and playing brass music.”

Studies show people with lung disease feel “much better and have significantly fewer problems” when they make music, he says.

The idea came to Germany thanks to Norbert Hermanns, Honorary Chairman of the nationwide Singing Hospitals network. He went to Canterbury, England, in 2011 to learn about the Singing with COPD programme.

He says much depends on the leader of the choir and says it is key to create a protected environment. “If patients trust her, which is obviously the case, they can open up more easily and anxiety and the associated muscular tension can be released.”

Dapper says the choir is sponsored by two pharmaceutical groups but says if such voluntary projects were recognized, they could be funded by health insurers, beyond member contributions.

His singers pay around $10 a month for the choir.

After all, Dapper says, health insurers fund rehabilitation so why not singing?