Northwestern University and the Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago are collaborating to explore how music instruction might benefit children and teenagers with Fontan circulation, a congenital heart condition involving a single functional ventricle. The initiative involves 16 young patients from Lurie Children's Single Ventricle Center of Excellence, aged between 8 and 16, who have been participating in singing sessions with coaches from Northwestern's Bienen School of Music.

These sessions aim to evaluate whether singing and breathwork can improve the physical health and psychological well-being of children who have undergone multiple open-heart surgeries, including the Fontan procedure. This procedure is typically the final surgery in managing single-ventricle defects.

The culmination of this study will be marked by a performance on December 4 at Northwestern University's Ryan Opera Theater. Media are invited to attend and document this event, which will include interviews with instructors, clinicians, and choir members. The schedule for the day includes final data collection at 4:30 p.m., a choir warm-up at 6:15 p.m., followed by the performance at 6:45 p.m., and concluding with a reception at 7:15 p.m.

Researchers hope that this "singing as therapy" model can be expanded to other children's hospitals nationwide. According to them, singing might enhance both physical health and mental well-being among children diagnosed with single ventricle physiology after undergoing the Fontan operation.