Rockin' With The Oldies

dreadnut

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Went to visit some of our old friends in an Alzheimer's unit tonight, wow, what a choir! There were about 35 residents, we sang "You Are My Sunshine," "I've Been Workin' on The Railroad," "Let Me Call You Sweetheart," and a whole boatload of other old-timey songs, then in the second half of the hour we sang a bunch of old hymns; "Amazing Grace," "I'll Fly Away," "In The Garden," "It Is Well With My Soul," "Mansion Over The Hilltop," etc, etc.

One old gal came in and sat right in the middle in the front row. She sat there stone-faced for the first half hour, I figured she was just not expressive any more, but then she like came alive and started singing along with every song!

For me, this is like hitting a great golf shot; it keeps me coming back for more.
 

Stuball48

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Great blessing for both sides of the microphone (if you used a mic). Time is our greatest gift. Good your way Dred.
 

walrus

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Great story, dread! Excellent way to improve their lives if only for a while. Good on you!

walrus
 

dreadnut

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Actually, I never use a mic, I lead with the D-25 and sing along with the residents - I like to hear them singing and I think it's good for them to hear themselves singing too.
 

Guildedagain

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At least old folks know all the songs and olde proverbs, like "a stitch in time" or "don't count your chickens", etc. Younger people seem to know almost none of these things.

Playing for people is always awesome, if you make it so.
 

dreadnut

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The one-hour program I've developed over the years has many elements - not just singing, but deep breathing, clapping in time, foot stomping - they get a workout and so do I. Of course I mix in some slow melodic songs, old hymns, etc. so it's not all fast-paced, but they do seem to perk up with the faster songs.

I've been doing this now for 18 years, and it still amazes me that people with Alzheimer's remember the words to all these songs! What's up with that? It's good exercise for their minds as well to sing the old songs. What's cool is when the old songs come back into their minds, other memories that have clung to the songs come back as well. Quotes from my old friends: "My mother used to sing that song with me!" "That was my Dad's favorite hymn!" "We used to sing these songs around the piano in the living room." Yeah, all about 75 years ago! Mind you, this is coming from folks who usually can't remember their kid's names, or what they had for breakfast this morning.

Many of them attended church their whole lives, but they can't do that any more because they are locked up (for their own safety.) Singing some of the great old hymns of the faith allows them to reconnect with their spirituality.

So there you have it; music is good for the body, the mind, and the soul, simultaneously.

Anyone want to start a local chapter of Eldermusic, Inc.? I'll provide you with a copyrighted songbook. Get that Guild out of the house and go bless some people with it!
 

Guildedagain

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I love playing Amazing Grace. Very special and so much history behind it. I only wish I sang in a choir with people.

There's actually a lot of physical healing happening with the singing and playing. Certain vibrations are thought to be healing, and who am I to disagree?

The solfeggio frequencies, and the power of belief itself which we know is very powerful.

A book that ended up in my library in the last year of discovery; The Healing Forces of Music. McLellan
 

adorshki

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I've been doing this now for 18 years, and it still amazes me that people with Alzheimer's remember the words to all these songs! What's up with that?
Suspect it's a rhetorical question and you're aware of at least some of the research into it, but maybe from the "practical application" angle as opposed to the "brain physiology" angle.
Basically music impacts deeper brain function than speech memory so speech correlated with music "sticks" in memory more readily.
From here:
https://www.ucf.edu/pegasus/your-brain-on-music/#
"That means memories associated with music are emotional memories, which never fade out — even in Alzheimer’s patients.”
Music's also known to impact areas of the brain that affect us physiologically, like the brain function that recognizes rhythm and makes us want to do dance.
Pitch recognition, another one which occurs on a more basic level that speech recognition..and is stored "differently", and much more permanently.
And this one's particularly intriguing if you can hack the "Academicese":
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5618809/
"Somewhere along the evolutionary way, our ancestors, with very limited language but with considerable emotional expression, began to articulate and gesticulate feelings: denotation before connotation. But, as the philosopher Susanne Langer noted, ‘The most highly developed type of such purely connotational semantic is music’ (Langer, 1951, p. 93). In other words, meaning in music came to us before meaning given by words."
 
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dreadnut

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From an article I wrote:

According to Alzheimer’s research at Dartmouth College, Hanover, N.H.:
“Memory, in particular, is where music helps most. There is a part of the human brain where music stays indelibly. Called the rostromedial prefrontal cortex and centrally located behind the forehead, this portion of the brain processes and tracks music. It is also active during memory retrieval.” http://www.letstalkguild.com/ltg/#_edn1
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Research also shows that the prefrontal lobe is one of the last areas of the brain to atrophy in Alzheimer’s patients. This would help explain why even those patients in the advanced stages of the disease are able to recall song lyrics and music from their past when almost all other memories have faded away.
It also appears that music can actually help re-attach some brain synapses that have atrophied.
According to Alzheimer’s Disease researchers Claudio Bonanomi and M. Cristina Gerosa:
“The sensory and emotional areas can be considered as the field where the personality of patient can still manifest and express itself and also are the starting point for building up new structures which can open up new means of communication and interaction with reality. The response to the music therapy treatment has been considered as extraordinary by the medical team in spite of the poor health conditions of the patients. The responses obtained in all the areas prove that it is possible to treat patients in an advanced stage. [ii] (bold text mine)
Dr. Oliver Sacks, author of Musicophilia: Tales of Music and the Brain (2007), observes that for those with severe dementia, music -- particularly familiar music -- can bring back "emotions and associations that had been long forgotten, giving the patient access once again to moods and memories, thoughts and worlds that had seemingly been completely lost. The power of music is very remarkable... One sees Parkinsonian patients unable to walk, but able to dance perfectly well or patients almost unable to talk, who are able to sing perfectly well. I think that music therapy and music therapists are crucial and indispensable in institutions for elderly people and among all neurologically disabled patients.” [iii] (bold text mine)
Furthermore, researcher and Music Therapist A.M. Kumar found evidence that live music actually stimulates beneficial chemical production in the brain:
“Clinical reports suggest that music therapy may reduce wandering and restlessness and increase chemicals in the brain that enhance sleep and ease anxiety. For example, the chemicals melatonin, norepinephrine, and epinephrine increased in the brains of people with Alzheimer's after they listened to live music regularly.”[iv]


http://www.letstalkguild.com/ltg/#_ednref1 Vail, Jane. ""Music Therapy Helps Alzheimer's Patients"." Reuters Health 28 Jan. 2000. Web. 1 Feb. 2011.

[ii] Bonanomi, C., & Gerosa, M. (2002, August). Observation Of The Alzheimer Patient And Music Therapy [Electronic version]. Music Therapy Today.

[iii] Sacks, O. (2008). Musicophilia tales of music and the brain (First ed.). New York, NY: Vintage Books.

[iv] Kumar, A. M., Tims, F., & Cruess, D. G. (1999). "Music Therapy Increases Serum Melatonin Levels in Patients With Alzheimer's Disease" [Electronic version]. Alternative Therapeutic Health Medicine, 5, 49-57.
 

Quantum Strummer

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My auntie (mom's younger sister) could remember in detail all kinds of things about her past even after her cognitive facilities seriously declined in other ways. Quite a few times in the last few years of her life she accurately recounted stories about her kids' childhoods, not realizing that the people she was recounting them to were her kids.

Dread, what you're doing is a Very Good Thing indeed!

-Dave-
 
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