Estelle Erasmus, journalist and CALA instructor, recently published an article in The New York Times, “Singing My Dad Back to Me.”
A beautiful narrative of Erasmus and her father — who lost much of his memory to Alzheimer’s disease — she recalls the childhood opera lessons that fed both, her love for music and an immeasurable bond with Dad. Now, as the Covid-19 pandemic keeps her from visiting her father, Erasmus’ fear of him forgetting her is overcome every time she sings Dad’s favorite songs to him over the phone. “He remembers my voice,” Erasmus writes. “Not my speaking voice — my singing voice.” From tunes such as “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star” to “Summertime” from the show Porgy and Bess, Erasmus shares how music enkindles her father’s memory and, for that singular point in time, allows them to feel together again. “For a moment we share the same space in our minds, though it’s only as temporary as the memory occupying his,” Erasmus writes.