The paw of a 13-year-old sleeping collie named Neva started twitching last Tuesday evening—a telltale sign of dreaming—as a small group circling her sang a cappella.
“She’s running. She doesn’t run so much anymore,” said Neva’s owner, Veronica Kleinberg, a Woodacre artist. The group was the Creature Comfort Choir, which formed three months ago in the San Geronimo Valley.
The nascent choir sings for animals in need, whether they are suffering from trauma, a terminal illness or some other stress. It’s the brainchild of Sage Lewis, a Wisconsin native who works as a professional animal communicator and animal hospice consultant.
Back in Minneapolis, Ms. Lewis sang with the Morning Star Singers, who sing to people who are ill or struggling. After moving to West Marin a year and a half ago, she sought out a similar group in the Bay Area.
At a performance of a chapter of the Threshold Choir—a group founded by Kate Munger of Inverness that sings to dying people—she and her husband, James, had a realization. “He said, ‘We should do this for the animals,’” Ms. Lewis said.
She had some personal experience doing just that. When her dog, Java, was dying, she sang it an old hymn called “Sanctuary.” “I sang Java into the other world,” she said. Afterward, she and James held a three-day vigil.
The choir holds regular rehearsals in participants’ homes, where they typically sing to a pet. The repertoire ranges from hymnals to children songs to folk songs, almost all of them calm and soothing. Sometimes they swap words with canine terms or the pet’s name. The choir not only visits animals in need, but will email recordings of its songs to anyone, anywhere.
Ms. Kleinberg heard about the group from the valley’s listserv. The appeal wasn’t a stretch for her; she has fostered many dogs over the years, including Neva, whom she eventually adopted, and she paints what she calls unorthodox pet portraits.
She also understands the pain of losing a creature. “I know that when I lost my shepherd, I would have loved to have this choir sing to him. He was so special,” she said. “I’ve been accused of caring more for animals and people. It’s probably true.”
Some studies have found that music has a measurable calming effect on canines. For instance, a 2012 study from researchers at Colorado State University found kenneled dogs slept more when listening to classical music compared to no music or to heavy metal, while heavy metal appeared to cause more shaking in the dogs.
Creature Comfort Choir’s first official sing was for a pony rescued by Alane Freund, a Woodacre resident who does equine-assisted psychotherapy with a herd of about a dozen horses. About 11 years ago, the pony was abandoned in Nicasio. A friend of Ms. Freund’s noticed that it had been in the same place for several days; they discovered it had been grazing on grass that is toxic to horses, and had become so sick it was unable to move.
The pony recovered and, though it is now mostly retired, still participates in the therapy Ms. Freund facilitates. “He loves doing therapy,” Ms. Freund said. “He’s just really deep and really profound.”
But the pony still suffers from lingering health issues, and is also quite elderly—about 35 years old, the equivalent of a centenarian. “He feels he’s not ready to die and yet he has a lot of health issues,” Ms. Freund said. “I decided to have the Creature Comfort Choir come to support whatever his end-of-life is.”
To join the Creature Comfort Choir, or to request a visit or digital recordings, contact Sage Lewis at (612) 817.4473 or [email protected].