Raising Voices:
​Music for Individuals with Dementia and Their Caregivers

with Bob Anderson, Conductor, Raising Voices
​& Ruth Watkiss, Music Therapist, Alzheimer Society of Canada

Raising Voices is a choir for individuals with dementia including Alzheimer’s Disease, their caregivers, youth volunteers from Cawthra Park Secondary School in Ontario and Mississauga Festival Choir volunteer mentors. Raising Voices is an initiative of Mississauga Festival Choir in close cooperation with Alzheimer Society Peel. The program is offered free to all participants. Raising Voices was featured in a spotlight on CityTV Toronto. 
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​Bob Anderson is a renowned music educator and choral conductor. Bob holds Bachelor of Music and Education Degrees from the University of Western Ontario, where he studied choral conducting with Deral Johnson, and a Master’s Degree in Vocal Performance from the University of Cincinnati.

Bob performed with the Elmer Iseler Singers for four seasons, and his choral arrangements and compositions are published with several Canadian publishers. He taught vocal and instrumental music in the Regional Arts Program in the Peel District School Board in Ontario for 25 years, joining the staff of Cawthra Park Secondary School in Mississauga 1999. 

He conducted the Cawthra Park Chamber Choir, which performed with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, Cirque du Soleil, the Elmer Iseler Singers, Mississauga Festival Choir, U. of T.’s MacMillan Singers, at Festival 500, and at the Toronto Vocal Arts Festival. In 2013 the choir performed at the Air Canada Centre in Toronto with The Rolling Stones. Bob also conducted Cawthra’s 350-voice concert choir, “The Ritz”.

In 2015, Bob was invited by Choirs Ontario to conduct the Ontario Youth Choir, a one-week program of intensive choral training for high school and university students from across Ontario.

​Ruth Watkiss is a Music Therapist with Alzheimer Society of Peel in Ontario. Ruth has extensive experience working and caring for people with dementia.

Ruth specializes music therapy to stimulate long-term memories associated with music, provide cognitive stimulation through activity, provide motivation for participation and endurance, improve mood and quality of life, reduce anxiety and provide a relaxing stimulus, provide a creative outlet for emotional expression, provide motivation for physical activity and to improve self-esteem.

Ruth works closely with the Raising Voices leadership and volunteers to develop and deliver a carefully planned music and movement program for individuals with dementia including Alzheimer’s Disease, their caregivers, youth volunteers and choir mentors.

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