Six months prior to my Father’s death, my Brother and I were visiting him at his Memory Care home. At this point, my Father did not know either of us. He was happy to have a friendly visit, but you could see him wondering who we were and why we were there. On this day, we had brought pizza and were eating in a small dining room with a piano. My brother started playing a variety of old fifties and sixties songs. All of a sudden, my Father started singing along with the music. He then looked over at me and called me by his pet name for me when I was a child and told me a couple corny jokes. It felt like the music brought him out of his late-stage dementia and gave him back to us for a few minutes.
Most of us know music can change the way we feel. A study in the Journal of Positive Psychology found that people who listen to upbeat music can improve their moods and boost their happiness in just two weeks. Conversely, studies have found that for some people, sad music can cause negative feelings of profound grief.
“Nothing activates the brain so extensively as music,” said Dr. Oliver Sacks, Professor of Neurology and Psychiatry, Columbia University.
Music Therapy has been found to be extremely effective in working with elders living with dementia. Music therapists who work with patients describe seeing people “wake up” when the sounds of loved and familiar music fills their heads. Often, after months or even years of not speaking at all, they begin to talk again, become more social and seem more engaged by their surroundings. Some begin to remember names long forgotten.
An extraordinary example of the power of music can be seen in a 6-minute video clip of Henry taken from the documentary film “Alive Inside” and found at https://youtu.be/Hlm0Qd4mP-I. In this video, Henry has lived in a nursing facility for ten years. He appears to be completely withdrawn and is hunched over in his chair. As Henry listens to music, his face lights up, his eyes open wide, and he starts humming and dancing in his chair. After listening to music, Henry is able to answer questions and tells the interviewer that “Music gives me a feeling of love, romance… I feel band of love, of dreams.”
The Rebecca Center for Music Therapy in New York promotes the use of music therapy to help stimulate communication and memory skills. Its founder, John Carpenter, cites the benefits of music therapy to include:
- memory recall;
- positive changes in moods and emotional states;
- a sense of control over life;
- non-pharmacological management of pain and discomfort;
- stimulation that promotes interest even when other approaches are ineffective;
- promotes rhythmic, continuous movement and vocal fluency;
- opportunities to interact socially with others.
When used as a sensory and intellectual stimulation, music can help maintain quality of life or even improve it.
Recently, a caregiver spoke with SeniorCare about using music to help take care of her Father and Mother, who both have dementia. They listen to Bing Crosby, Tony Bennett, Rosemary Clooney, Patti Page and Louis Armstrong. She plays personalized music for them during caregiving, and calms her Father during long doctor visits with an MP3 player and headphones. “For us, this gift of music has been an absolute delight,” she says. “And for me as a caregiver, it has been an absolute lifesaver.”