Making Music with Heart
(Courtesy of Making Music Magazine Nov./Dec. 2008)
by Laura DeJoseph
More than 20 years ago, construction manager Tim McHale, 54, started caroling with his wife, Jane, 58, and friends at local nursing homes during the Christmas season. For years they would see the holidays as a time to enjoy two of their passions: music and volunteering.
The group looked forward to the time of year when they would give back to the Boston, Massachusetts, community. In 1991, they decided to spread the joy of music all year long. McHale sought out shelters in the greater Boston area to sing at with his friends. As the performances became a regular occurrence the group continued to grow, and the Boston Minstrel Company was born.
The Boston Minstrel Company is a nonprofit group of amateur singers and musicians eager to share their music. They perform what they call "songfests" at correctional facilities and homeless
shelters around the Boston area. Through word of mouth, the group has grown to more than 100 members. Each week, Minstrels uplift the spirits of Boston's less fortunate with their upbeat and interactive performances.
The Minstrels arrive for songfests, ready to involve all who attend. “Our goal is to get as many audience members up to the microphone as possible during the night," says McHale. Through money raised at an annual fundraiser, instruments are provided for Minstrels, as well as the participating audience. The group's instruments include drums, piano, and harmonica. Audience members receive hand percussion to play along. "We start with something really lively to get people going," says McHale, "By the third or fourth song everyone is into it."
The Minstrels feel that everyone deserves some time on stage. Audience members may place requests, but there is only one rule: If you make a request, you have to sing it. "You never know what the song set is going to be like. I have given up on set lists." McHale says that, once audience members are invited to sing on stage, they rarely turn down the opportunity. "I work the room with the wireless microphone and guitar, roaming and engaging," he says. "I put my hand out and say 'What's your name? Come with me.'" He says participants often start out shy but by the end of the night they are singing and clapping along with everyone. “It's like they dip their toe in the water and see how cold it is," McHale explains. "By the end I want them swimming. I want them diving off the high board."
Every January, McHale calls volunteer directors from local shelters to set up a calendar of songfests for the year. Among McHale's contacts is Scottie Wait, the volunteer coordinator for the Pine Street Inn homeless shelter in Boston. The Inn provides basic services for Boston's homeless such as food and shelter, and also job training programs.
“It can be very routine, staying in a shelter," says Wait. "Dinner is at a certain time; lights out is at a certain time. It's nice to have a break in their evening." The tenants at the Pine Street Inn may have psychological difficulties, or problems with drugs and alcohol.
“I know it helps their spirits because we have tenants and residents who ask us all the time 'When is the next Minstrel group coming in?'" says Wait. "Having something to look forward to is such a positive thing in this environment when you are struggling with your life."
Although the Pine Street Inn has many volunteers each year, the Minstrels truly stand out. With other volunteers, there is not as much interaction with the guests, asserts Wait. "With the meals it's a pretty quick interaction: 'Here's your tray, have a good night.' The Boston Minstrels connect with the guests."
Wait says this is not always easy to do. Volunteers are not always necessarily comfortable with the tenants. "I don't think that it's easy for everybody to make that connection to someone who
is homeless. Some haven't changed their clothes in couple days or may be intoxicated," she explains. "I've never seen a Boston Minstrel member who feels uncomfortable. Their comfort puts
all the guests at ease. It makes the night just that much more pleasant."
Wait says that McHale and the Minstrels are so engaging that even the Pine Street staff participates. "I've been known to get up and sing, and I don't sing! Being in that atmosphere just makes you want to get up and sing. Tim is such an amazing leader and coordinator. We have a love for the group as a whole. They mean so much to us."
Making an Impact
In addition to giving back to Boston's homeless at the Pine Street Inn, the BMC has gained more Minstrels. "Some of our tenants have since joined the Minstrel singing group, which is really nice
for them," says Wait. "It's a great opportunity for them to get out and interact with people and be involved."
“We have four or five members who have been through the system," says McHale. A number of audience members take part in songfests, reconnect with music, and want to continue the experience and join the group. Many more wish they could participate but are limited by their living situations. "I know what our impact is when we leave," he says. "They all say they want to come sing with us, but there are logistic restraints." Shelter curfews even interfere with Minstrel performances. "Lights out is 9 p.m. and they have to be at the shelter by 4 p.m. or they don't get a bed," he says. "They also need special permission and transportation."
McHale invited professor of music therapy, Dr. Peggy Codding, of Berklee College of Music to join the Minstrels and to serve as a member of their board of trustees. Codding has been studying the therapeutic effects of music since the 1980s and has taken a particular interest in mental health in correctional facilities. Berklee's music therapy department allows her to continue research on the subject, as well as to train others to practice music therapy.
“We know through research that music, used in a therapeutic way, is a nonthreatening way to activate, motivate, and sustain positive human behavior and to provide personal meaning," she
explains. "Music influences us psychologically and physiologically in healthy ways. It is known to alter endorphin levels in the brain, not unlike running. The resulting chemical changes can alleviate depression giving relief for a time."
Codding says that the Minstrels actually build a community by pulling residents from isolation and bringing them together. “During the music, hope thrives," she says. "Positive personal change is evident in participant energy, social interaction, and singing with and for others. Participants comment afterward about the meaning the event has had for them. Minstrel nights matter. The uplifted spirit is visible to the eye."
Joy Reo, 41, a software marketing professional, heads up the Minstrel's Board of Trustees as president. She has been singing with the Minstrels for eight years and now works with McHale primarily on projects and fundraising. "We're not music therapists but what we do has a therapeutic effect," she says of the Minstrels' work. "It's a real gift to be able to change someone's mood that way without anything formal. It's not talk therapy, it's not medicine, but it sure does soothe the soul."
Positive Outlook
Along with entertainment and a positive outlook, she says, the Minstrels provide audiences with hope. "There's a tremendous openness and vulnerability in singing together," she asserts. "People will ask for help to stay sober, to reconnect with a son or daughter, or to help them find the next place to live. They say, 'Thank you so much for coming here tonight. I didn't think I'd ever smile again. I had a really hard day.'"
Reo says they are always seeking new musicians and they hope they can pass on to some of them the gift to lead like McHale. There are only so many Tim McHales to go around and she hopes that the Minstrels can carry on for years. "The common threads among Minstrels are a love of music and good hearts that want to do community service," Reo says.
The Boston Minstrel Company now has more than 1,000 gigs under its belt. Members touch 4,000 lives and volunteer 10,000 hours each year. "We're a very playful group," says McHale. "We're amateur singers but we have big hearts." Though they do not have to be professionals, potential Minstrels do need to be able to carry a tune. "Everything is sung from the heart," he says.
Even McHale's job as a construction manager allows him to incorporate his volunteer work with the Minstrels. "I work in the nonprofit sector and on affordable housing projects -- building shelters, schools, churches. I hire the architects and contractors, and I see it from inception to completion," he says. "One shelter I worked on for three years. We made $7 million in improvements. I got to know everyone and sang there every few months."
McHale is considering some changes to the organization. He wants to make a greater impact, including possibly cutting back on the number of locations where they perform, in exchange for a more intimate relationship with shelters and the audience members.
“We do the closing of the songfest in a circle," he says. "We instantaneously hold hands -- 50 to 100 people -- and play inspirational songs and we let the spirituality kind of unfold." McHale says the participants experience a change in attitude from the music, whether it is from sorrow to joy, from withdrawal to participation, isolation to awareness, or self-abasement to self-esteem. The songfests help lift spirits and inspire change.
