How
Deathbed
Singers
Comfort
the Nearly
Departed
PHOTO OR ILLUSTRATION CREDIT TK
WASHINGTON —
Always face the person in the chair. Sense their breath,
the rising and falling of the lungs, the blood’s flush on the
cheeks. Watch the loosening and tightening of the muscles,
the movement of the eyelids, how the hair on their arms
straightens up. Don’t stand out. Speak softly. Blend in with
the voices. ¶ This was the advice of Ellen Synakowski to
members of the Washington, D.C., Threshold Choir, only
a few months into its existence. Their job: to use song to
comfort the dying through the end of life.