Easing the final moments through music

WORLAND – For most people the final moments of a loved one’s life are the most traumatic, not only for the people still living but for the dying one as well. The Worland Threshold Choir will soon be able to make that moment easier for both sides.

Sherryl Ferguson and her co-director Marcia Hill are working to make the transition between life and death easier right here in the Big Horn Basin. Ferguson said that her incentive to create a Threshold Choir in Worland came from a Facebook post. “I was taken with it. I was looking for a way to use my musical abilities and I just connected with this,” Ferguson said. She added that she has sung at many funerals, to people in the hospital and to people in their own homes and that she is looking forward to using her talents to help people.

The Threshold Choir contains groups across the nation that voluntarily come to a dying patient’s bedside to sing them into eternity or at the very least help people who are living their last days and their family to have a few moments of peace.

According to thresholdchoir.org, “Our goal is to bring ease and comfort to those at the thresholds of living and dying. A calm and focused presence at the bedside, with gentle voices, simple songs, and sincere kindness, can be soothing and reassuring to clients, family, and caregivers alike. 

“When we are invited to a bedside, we visit in groups of two to four singers. We invite families and caregivers to join us in song or to participate by listening. We choose songs to respond to the client’s musical taste, spiritual direction, and current receptivity. Many of the songs we offer are composed by Threshold Choir members specifically to communicate ease, comfort, and presence. Because our songs are not religiously oriented, our singing is appropriate for those who are deeply spiritual, whether religious or not.

“A session typically lasts about 20 minutes; if there appears to be benefit, we might sing longer. Using soft, lullaby voices, we blend in harmony or sometimes in unison, if that provides the most comfort. We offer our singing as gentle blessings, not as entertainment, and we are honored when a client falls asleep as we are singing. Most of our songs are very short, so their repetition is conducive to rest and comfort.”

At this point the Threshold Choir in Worland is not ready to be singing at anyone’s bedside. Ferguson stated that she hopes the choir will be ready by the first of the year. She added that the group is just starting and that there are many requirements the group has to meet before singing at someone’s bedside. She stated that one thing that the group will have to prepare for is the sadness that comes with the job. But there is also peace, for the family, the loved one and the group itself. “Families have said that our presence helps them to ‘be’ with their loved one after the ‘doing’ is done. Often they will continue to sing for their loved one after we have departed,” thresholdchoir.org says.

Anyone interested in becoming part of the choir can go to one of their many rehearsals which are held every first and third Thursday and second and fourth Tuesday at 7 p.m. at 1507 S Flat Road or call Ferguson at 307-388-2004 or Hill at 347-4933.