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Music and Memory
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| As more and more people are diagnosed with Alzheimer’s, medical experts continue to seek effective treatments. It appears that there is already one low-cost therapeutic tool that can make a difference for patients. As reporter Pat Woodard explains, sometimes it’s as simple as a song. | |||
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Cindy Baum / Life Enrichment Coordinator: “This is Alterra Clare Bridge. It's a memory care facility.”
For people with Alzheimer’s disease, there is little that can cut through the fog. Yet after only a few notes, melody kindles memory.
Cindy Baum: “It brings back a lot of the past for them.”
This is one of the rare activities that bring a flicker of recognition.
Cindy Baum: “Music brings back usually good memories you know. As you noticed when they were in there listening to the music, you saw their toes tapping, their hands going.”
The people who make this happen are not therapists. They're the Grace Notes, a singing group from Sunrise United Methodist Church in Colorado Springs.
Angie Hughes / Grace Notes Director: “What's kind of interesting for us is looking at the Alzheimer’s patients as we sing and watching the expression on their faces. And what's even more meaningful is when we watch the residents try to communicate as best they can, which sometimes is not in words for an Alzheimer’s patient. But sometimes we see tears and we know that we've connected with them somehow.”
From spiritual to just silly, the songs of the Grace Notes bring the healing gift of music to those who can be touched no other way.
Darlene Woods / Grace Notes Singer: “It's a very rewarding experience for us. We always feel that we get more out of what we're doing than what we give.”
For the audience, this performance will end all too soon, because for a brief moment, the fog is lifted, and it is once again a time of happiness and health.
This is Pat Woodard reporting.
TAG:
Scientists say music can act as a key to unlock other memories associated with specific times in our lives.