Victoria Hart is the Founder and Director of A Gathering of Minds, an innovative, online program for people with early stage memory loss. A Gathering of Minds meetings provide fun and intellectually stimulating programs that engage, intrigue, enliven, and reconnect people with their authentic selves.

QUOTES

On the connection to voice and self

“Losing one's voice is much more than losing the ability to sing.You lose your orientation to yourself. And I had not been informed that this was going to happen.So it was quite a deep dive into feeling desperate. I could have left singing, I could have gone into musicology, but I wanted my voice. I wanted my voice back, and I was willing to fight for it."

On voice health and wellbeing

“I'm not interested in the prettiest sound you could make. I'm interested in the healthiest sound you can make. And if that's uglier today, I don't care, because the potential for the healthy voice is limitless. But if you are 17 years old and stuck on making the prettiest sound you can make as a 17-year-old, you're not gonna grow.”

On working with people with dementia

"As a musician, as a singer, as a teacher, the deepest listening that you can do, listening for something that I can grab onto and pull forward in these people, and it's like buried treasure. I mean, the stuff that comes out of people is, and sometimes a witty, witty comment.” 

LINKS

Find Vicky at A Gathering of Minds or on LinkedIN

Alive Inside documentary

PODCAST TEAM

Production Support and Audio Engineering from Thomas Grayden

Theme Music Composed by Danna Yun

Theme Music Performed by Jasper Ly

Recorded on 30 August 2024