Musical Therapy Giving Voices Back To Tulsans With Aphasia

We all know music can be a powerful force; well for people with aphasia, music can give them their voice back.

Tuesday is the regular meeting day for the Tulsa Aphasia Choir. Its director, Sara Bennett, is a certified speech pathologist who also has a degree in music education.

Aphasia, she said, is a language impairment caused by a stroke or other brain injury.

"Often people with aphasia can sing more fluently than they can speak," Bennett said.

Speaking and singing are controlled by different parts of the brain, she explained.

Bill Kobsej has sung in the Asbury choir for years. On a Friday in July he went in for bypass surgery when something went awry.

"Saturday morning I wake up and somebody says, ‘Bill, you had a stroke,’ I said, ‘Oh, shoot,’" Kobsej said.

Actually, if he did say that no one could understand, the words just weren't working.

It wasn't until his choir director came to visit and sang Amazing Grace, and Kobsej sang along.

The sweet sound was his own voice; he could sing when he couldn't talk.

He's been in therapy ever since and he's getting stronger and more mobile. He sings with the group regularly, and the singing helps his talking.

Kobsej said, "Singing brings out something in us. To be able to sing correctly, and speak better...does that make sense?"

That makes perfect sense.

The choir has a concert coming up at Asbury United Methodist Church on Thursday, December 1st at 6:30 p.m. You can find more information here.