This video shows Paul Wiggin, the founder of MUSE, discussing the MUSE organization founded to provide quality music to shut-in elders. The MUSE singer not only provides entertainment and comfort for many most in need, but also provides startling results for those with Alzheimer’s disease and dementia, giving not just the resident but the caregivers advantages of better social interaction, memory improvement and has a calming effect. The video also points to moving MUSE forward with new MUSE singers and a scholarship aimed at teaching the MUSE-style of performance. KnoxworX multimedia followed Paul with the help of Maddie Sifantus and Susan Wiggin to document the concerts and discussions about MUSE with Paul and others over several years in Eastern Massachusettes.

When I turned 44, the call to serve came, loud and clear! My minister, the Reverend Boyd Johnson at Union Church, Waban called to say, “I know you’ve left teaching at Rhode Island School of Design, to begin a singing career – and that you might be available tomorrow on Ground Hog day to lead the hymn singing in my ecumenical worship service at local Brae burn Nursing Home.” In addition to the two hymns we sang, that day, the residents got quickly into my “interactive poem-song.” One woman, Mrs. Dunmore, stood out, laughing, and energetically calling out words and phrases on the theme of “husbands”. Energized by a story from the morning newspaper for our “group poem,” Mrs. Dunmore had a great time, and consequently, so did everybody present. Later, as I was leaving the nursing home, Barbara Lidmann, the Activities Director, caught me at the door, and said, “Mr. Wiggin, you may not realize it, but the woman in the second row who had such a good time practically inventing the whole poem with you, and then singing it with you, has not spoken since she entered Braeburn 6 months ago!”

I was delighted at those early MUSE concert-visits, watching the enthusiasm of my new MUSE elder audience friends, as they sang along with me! My mother told me early on, “music is a magic gift you have – share it with all”. My father, a mason and a medical doctor, advised me at age twelve, “Son, the best life is a life of service to others!” In my mid-life, singing in the quartet at Temple Sinai, Coolidge Corner, Cantor William Kopans shared his favorite Hebrew Midrash with us, “Tikkun Olam” which means “Heal the earth!” This is what MUSE has meant to me and many others for 35 years.

Recent statistics indicate a significant rise in the numbers of centenarians, from 15,000 in 1965, to 600,000 today. Also, the numbers of shut-in elders is forecast to DOUBLE over the next 40 years. Something’s happening here. What it is is exactly clear! MUSE 35 year track record with popular public support all along the way, has positioned us to be of help. The need for a proven quality solo concert-visit service for elders is something we know we can provide. It’s not so much of a problem, as a healthy challenge, and it’s not going away. MUSE stands ready, with its continuing program of concert-visits and with new scholarship to help move MUSE into the future. Please help us to be able to continue to knock the socks off any song, to the joy and jolly satisfaction of their large, demanding and deserving shut-in elder audiences.

MUSE was very excited to have five Andover Newton student applicants for this first scholarship: Joe Cleveland, Nan Gibbons, Emilia Halstead, Christopher Lanzara, and Martell Spagnolo. As one judge said, “I wish we could award them all!” We hope that they will pursue MUSEsinging along with their ministerial studies, bringing the joy and spirit of music with them. They are encouraged to apply again next year.

From the talented applicants, MUSE is pleased to announce the selection of Martell Spagnolo to receive the MUSE Scholarship.

Martell Spagnolo has been singing professionally and semi-professionally for over forty years. He has performed as a soloist for mid-Atlantic choral societies, opera houses, and churches. He enjoys a full range of music including jazz, musical theater, oratorio and opera. He has sung in many of the world’s cathedrals and halls, as well as in churches and for other worthy causes.

Martell is also an ordained minister. He stared his ministry as an activities director and then as a patient care coordinator for a nursing home in northern Delaware. For the past ten years he has been serving the communities of southern New Jersey as a pastor.

Martell is currently a Doctorate in Ministry student at Andover Newton Theological School. He is thrilled to be back in New England where he spent many summers during his youth. He is honored to be the first recipient of the Paul W. Wiggin “Gift of Song” scholarship.

Martell will be doing two performances on behalf of MUSE in the coming months, in addition to performing at Forever MUSE on November 21.

Greetings of the fall and approaching holiday season to all MUSE friends, old and new! This is the time of year we think of what we are thankful for and who makes a difference in our often hurting world. For those who have supported the mission of MUSE over thirty-five years, we say thank you! For those of you who are new to MUSE and its mission of song and friendship to elders and under-served populations, we hope you will join us in supporting this important work. MUSE was founded thirty-five years ago when Paul W. Wiggin, a lyric tenor, poet, and man of great compassion and enthusiasm, noticed the great power of music to reach elders, including those who seemed beyond reaching. He brought his ministerial and musical studies together with his many other gifts to create the mission which became MUSE Inc. From the original MUSE singer to the many professional singers Paul recruited to his mission, MUSE provided 30,000 regular concert visits in 300 nursing homes, located in 100 cities and towns in and around Boston.

We celebrate your gifts that help MUSE’s solo circuit-riding singers deliver song and celebration to audiences of shut-in elders. MUSEsingers have a strong desire to serve in song. They form a bond a friendship with their audiences, with a warm hearted dedication usually found in the healing arts. A MUSEsinger brings friendly offerings of regular themed concert-visits featuring familiar songs, both secular and sacred, and varying from popular to classical music. Visits end with songs of faith and hope tuned to the multicultural, multi-ethnic and diverse religious backgrounds of audience members.

MUSE has evolved as an organization over the thirty-five years, currently entering a new phase of its existence to position itself to continue serving its mission into the future and past the leadership of Founder Paul Wiggin. A new board was formed in the spring and the launching of the new Paul W. Wiggin “Gift of Song” Scholarship took place at a concert at Andover Newton Theological School in May. This fall the auditions for first scholarship award took place and the winner will be awarded at a special concert to be held at Wilson Chapel at Andover Newton Theological School on Saturday, November 21 at 3:00 PM: Forever MUSE—A Celebration of Thirty-Five Years.

Forever MUSE will feature the diverse offerings of MUSEsingers, from the cabaret style of the long-time Boston cast of Forever Plaid with longtime MUSEsinger Duane Sullivan to former MUSEsinger Jane Hively of Mountain Streams Music to founder Paul Wiggin and others, come enjoy wonderful music and support MUSE moving into the future. See more details elsewhere in this newsletter.

In our difficult economic climate, I am aware that resources are limited and the needs are great. I am also aware of the increasing number of elders who need the mission of MUSE and the opportunity we have to locate and train new MUSEsingers. And nursing homes and other elder audiences are still in the need of inspirational concert-visits which address the whole person’s needs, making a difference in physical conditions, as well as meeting spiritual and emotional needs. “Music is food for the soul.”

How can you help? Come to the Forever MUSE concert on November 21! Check out our new website. Donate to our ongoing program which continues bringing concert-visits to shut-in elders. Donate to the new Paul W. Wiggin “Gift of Song” Scholarship. Or have us decide where your funds are most needed. Please join with us as we bring the gift of music.

- Maddie Sifantus, Acting Director