The Saratoga Singers Who Comfort the Dying

SARATOGA SPRINGS — What do the final moments of a person’s life on Earth sound like?

For those with the Saratoga Threshold Singers at their bedside, it could sound like the ethereal acapella music that drifted down the echoing halls of the SPAC School of the Arts one recent Monday afternoon.

“Oh, fold thy wings and seek thy nest now; Oh, shine the berry on the bright tree; The bird is home from the mountain and valley,” sang the choir, rehearsing the Gaelic lullaby “Hush Thee My Dove.” The folk song concludes with “Cadul gu lo,” which translates to “sleep on.”

The Threshold Choir operates more than 200 chapters across the globe, each of which offers bedside singing to those on the threshold of life and whatever may follow. The Saratoga Springs-based chapter has nine members and rehearses weekly at the SPAC School of the Arts.

“Six weeks ago, we sang at the hospice for a family where the wife and adult children were there, and they had all said their goodbyes and ‘you can go now’ to their father,” recalled Saratoga Threshold singer Avena Ward, a retired United Church of Christ minister. “We were asked to come in, and we sang several of our songs about being able to release and lay down your burdens. As we left the house, we found out that he had taken his last breath. To be able to communicate something that was needed in the moment is just a beautiful gift that we have with music that you can’t accomplish with words.”

“We sang, via telephone, to my sister as she was dying,” said Threshold singer Lizzie Mehrtens. “She was a Catholic nun, and she had just expressed to people, her friends, that she wasn’t feeling connected to God… That was in the afternoon, and she died the next morning. That, to me, was so special because I couldn’t be there with her.”

“We sang for a woman who was unconscious, or she didn’t appear conscious, but after we sang, she let out an [exhale], a beautiful sound, clearly relaxing with our music,” said Abigail Reid. “I think that [moment] really stuck with me.”

Reid initiated the Saratoga chapter of the Threshold Singers after she stopped teaching. She caught wind of the international Threshold organization, got in touch with them, and was soon provided with a mentor. Reid then found a handful of locals, all of them women, who were interested in volunteering. For about a year, this small coalition worked on a musical repertoire with their mentor. Then they officially launched, and in the past three years, they’ve sung for about 30 different individuals or families.

“The beauty of the greater Threshold community is, if you want, if you’re part of this community, you can travel to anywhere there’s a chapter, and you can sit in on a rehearsal and connect,” said Donna Sardone, a hospice volunteer and massage therapist. “It’s such a wide community of connection, and that’s what I love about it.”

Threshold Singers arrive at their respective chapters with different sets of skills and life experiences. But all members seem united in their willingness to, as ancient philosophers once phrased it, “Memento mori,” or “remember that you must die.” For some, thinking about death is not merely an unpleasant subject; it’s a way to make the most of their finite lives. 

“I am a proponent of talking about death,” said Elizabeth Conant, a professional musician who has also hosted local Death Cafes in which participants gather to discuss life’s final departure.  “[The Saratoga Threshold Singers] is a lovely combination of the two things I do… What we do here with this group is—I’m not a religious person, but I say it’s God’s work in the world. It really is. We’ll all nod to that. It feels like that. It really does. It’s a beautiful thing that we’re able to do. I feel so honored to be a part of it.”

Those interested in either joining the Threshold Singers or requesting their services can do so by emailing saratoga@thresholdchoir.org.

To learn more about the worldwide Threshold organization, visit thresholdchoir.org.