Musical response to MS focus of master’s project

By Alejandra Pulido-Guzman - Lethbridge Herald on May 13, 2023.

Herald photo - Jaimee Jarvie directs from the centre of her choral group during a rehearsal of "Responding to MS through song" as part of her master's project performance set for tonight at the University Recital Hall.

LETHBRIDGE HERALD apulido@lethbridgeherald.com

A local musician is sharing her university master’s project “Responding to MS through song” with anyone who is willing to listen, especially over the weekend when it will be presented to the public.

Local singer and graduate student at the University of Lethbridge, Jaimee Jarvie was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 2019 and shortly after started to look for ways of using it to her advantage and in a way that could benefit others.

“When I was being diagnosed, I had to sing a concert and a wedding gig, and I was doing all of these things during this really scary health time in my life. But I started to notice that when I was singing my symptoms didn’t feel as bad or I felt like I was doing better in those moments,” said Jarvie.

She said it was then, after realizing how music was helping her, that she reached out to her dear friend and now her graduate supervisor for her masters degree, professor of music Janet Youngdahl and they discussed what they could do with it.

“I started doing some research on singers and musicians living with multiple sclerosis and basically, this project is a compilation of interview footage from six people around the world who are singers or musicians living with MS,” said Jarvie.

She said it is compiled with live music as a performance piece that has a choral work by Emmy Award winner composer, Jeff Beal who is a Hollywood film and TV composer, as well as featuring music by alt-rock band Everclear frontman Art Alexakis.

“We have MS advocates Britt Quiroz, who is known as A Hot MS and Kathryn Ferguson, who are singing and talking about their lives, and we’ve got a trio at the end – three singers in Lethbridge who have MS and we found each other when we were singing in a choir and started to put together music,” said Jarvie.

The trio is called Nerve Damage and showcases Jarvie, Randi Martens and Tiffany Badiuk.

She said the whole premise of the project is to discuss the connection between music and wellness.

“There’s been tons of studies done on that before, but I decided to look at it from a very specific point of view just using my own diagnosis,” said Jarvie.

She said she had multiple conversations with people living with the disease and they told her their stories, and the things that they live with like symptoms and medications.

“But as soon as we turned the conversation to music, it was like this light switch went off in every single person, and every single one of them told me that music has become a form of therapy, because I mean music does things to the brain, we know that. There are intensive studies about it,” said Jarvie.

She said it was really interesting to hear first-hand from people who live with a pretty serious disease, and how they can almost put that on pause for a moment when they’re making music.

“It’s almost as though this idea of singing kind of takes over the body and allows us to focus on that rather than pain and fatigue and all the other things that go along with this,” said Jarvie.

She said the project involves six participants and herself sharing their stories.

“It’s a really meaningful piece to me and the others who were involved that are living with MS, because it gives us a voice as artists, and it allows people to see us as these artists as opposed to just someone who’s living with MS,” said Jarvie.

Youngdahl said she was excited that Jarvie was able to do a project that was both very important in addressing a serious concern, but also one that allowed her to continue to sing.

“I thought it was ideal and useful for the world. I think it is important research what she is doing,” said Youngdahl.

She said her role was one of encouragement and support, as well as musical and research guidance, but Jarvie has done most of it on her own.

“I think that what has really had an impact on me is identifying how to turn hardship into beauty, facing difficulties head-on and embracing them is amazing,” said Youngdahl.

Jarvie’s project will be presented to the public tonight at 7:30 p.m. at the University of Lethbridge Recital Hall. Free admission.

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