Transcript Music and Memories

Music and Memories
The Power of Memory and Healing
Gloria Hoffner
BA, ADC,AC-BC,CDP
Memory
• “Here we come, walkin’ down the street…”
• “You take the good, you take the bad, you take
them both…
• “Good night, sleep tight and pleasant dreams to
you…”
• “When I wake up in the morning, And the alarm
gives out a warning….
• “Who can turn the world on with her smile..”
• “Happy trails to you, until we meet again…”
Music and Recall
• Gene D. Cohen, MD, PhD, director of the Center on Aging,
Health and Humanities at George Washington University
and former acting director of the National Institute on
Aging, explains how the brain reacts to a familiar piece of
music.
• When you hear a catchy song your brain neurons light up.
Later, when you hear the same song again, those original
memory patterns are automatically strengthened. “The
more often a particular pattern is stimulated, the more
sensitive and permanent are the connections between the
neurons in the pattern,” Cohen writes. “Not only does
learning link neurons in new patterns, it also stimulates
neurons to grow new connections.”
Health Benefits
• Levine School of Music in Washington DC
studied 300 seniors. Over a two year period
those who attended the arts program had
better health while those who did not attend
saw their health deteriorate.
• The arts group used fewer medications, felt
less depressed, were less lonely, and were
more socially active.
Scientific Proof
• The National Institute of Nursing Research found that
listening to music reduced patient pain levels.
• The National Institute of Education and Health Sciences
found music tempo can improve mood and heart rate.
• Dr. Gottfried Schlaug, a neuroscientist at Harvard
Medical School, found stroke victims regained their
speaking ability through singing. The melody helped
the stroke victims’ brains rewire and bypass the
damaged regions of the brain and thus restore
communication skills.
Music and the Brain
• German doctors studied a 68 year old
musician, who suffered total amnesia except
he can remember and even learn new music.
They reported music is stored in a different
part of the brain from other memories.
• American doctors found that musicians ages
60 to 80 have improved their cognitive skills
by playing music.
Silver Song Club Study
• A study was conducted in England in September
2012 for 3 months in 45 music sessions for with
residents with moderate to advanced dementia.
• Participants listened and/or sang to familiar
songs on a computerized music box.
• Result: Behavioral problems among participants
dropped 76 percent where the music box was in
use. Staff and family members were ‘moved to
tears’ by the improved attitude of some
participants.
Activity Professionals Report
• Adrian Bawtree, Creative Director of Sing for
Your Life, who studied the positive benefits of
music in retirement communities and with
people with dementia, found music:
• Provides cognitive stimulation
• Reduces stress and anxiety while increasing
energy levels.
• Provides inclusive activity
• Accesses long term memory
Real Life Examples
• A resident in a wheelchair said, “I don’t want to be here.
My legs hurt. Take me back to my room and let me lay
down.” The nurse refused saying the resident needed time
out of bed and suggested the resident give the music
program a chance.
• The woman was clearly angry as the nurse left. I played a
couple of songs and the same resident stopped frowning. I
played a few more and she gave me a curious look. About
3/4th of the way through the one hour program, the
resident started singing along and at the end she was
leading the clapping motions in the song, “Bingo”.
• The resident wheeled herself to me as I was packing up.
She thanked me and asked me to return. She WHISTLED her
way out of the room!
Dementia
• I was playing a Frank Sinatra tune for a couple.
The wife suffers from dementia and had not
spoken in several months. During the music
she turned to her husband and said, “I
remember when we saw Frank Sinatra on our
anniversary…” Her husband and the
caretakers were stunned!
People with Disabilities
• A man in his mid-30s would walk over and
stood next to me, not speaking, but sort of
moving his body with the music.
• This didn’t surprise me – but it did surprise his
caseworker. The caseworker told me the man
sat in the corner all the time, never spoke,
never acknowledged anyone 99 percent of the
time. It was only when I came and played
music that this man gave any response.
Tips on finding Musical Success
• Music is NOT universal. Do a music survey of your
residents.
• Take the average age of your group, subtract to
when they were in their teens and twenties, try
tunes from these musical decades.
• Go back another 20 years in the past. Try these
tunes – the songs they learned as children. Study
found they also know
Their grandparents favorite songs
Music Memory Study
• Cornell University psychological scientist Carol Lynne Krumhansl set out to
explore -- or one of the questions. She wanted to see just how our early
musical memories intersect with, and shape, our other autobiographical
memories. She also wanted to see how music is transmitted from
generation to generation.
• To answer these questions, she took short excerpts from the top two
Billboard hits from each year, from 1955 to 2009. She recruited a group of
20-year-olds
• As she describes in a forthcoming article in the journal Psychological
Science, she found that personal memories associated with songs
increased steadily from birth to present day.
• There was a spike in personal memories associated with the music of the
early 1980s, and also a sustained spike in personal memories linked to
music of the '60s. Her listeners were born around 1990, which means that
they're experiencing reminiscence bumps for music of previous
generations, parents ands grandparents.
Intergenerational
• Music groups with mixed ages –
• Ex. Protest songs:
- Buddy Can You Spare A Dime
- This Land is Your Land
- Sixteen Tons
- Blowin in the Wind
- Ohio
- I Am Woman
Brother Can You Spare A Dime
• They used to tell me I was building a dream And
so I followed the mob When there was earth to
plow or guns to bear I was always there, right on
the job
They used to tell me I was building a dream With
peace and glory ahead Why should I be standing
in line Just waiting for bread?
Once I built a railroad, I made it run Made it race
against time Once I built a railroad, now it's done
Brother, can you spare a dime?
Sixteen Tons
• A poor man's made outta muscle and blood
Muscle and blood and skin and bones
A mind that's a-weak and a back that's strong
You load sixteen tons, what do you get
Another day older and deeper in debt
Saint Peter don't you call me 'cause I can't go
I owe my soul to the company store
I was born one mornin' when the sun didn't shine
I picked up my shovel and I walked to the mine
I loaded sixteen tons of number nine coal
And the straw boss said "Well, a-bless my soul"
Ohio
Tin soldiers and Nixon coming,
We're finally on our own.
This summer I hear the drumming,
Four dead in Ohio.
Gotta get down to it
Soldiers are gunning us down
Should have been done long ago.
What if you knew her
And found her dead on the ground
How can you run when you know?
Spiritual Ties
• Hymn sings – Ex. A man with dementia who
was combative and non-verbal. When he
heard hymns he became calm and joined in.
This former deacon remembered every word!
• Ex. Another only spoke at the Jewish Sabbath
where he knew ever word in Hebrew.
• Hospice – honor requests for specific hymns
and their special meaning to the listener.
Music in Resident Rooms
• Make CDs or set-up iPods with foreign songs for
non-American born residents.
• Set radio stations and CD players to the residents’
favorite station. *** Staff should be reminded not
to change the station. Even if the resident
appears asleep, or is in a semi-sleep state most of
the time, they can hear. Hearing is the last sense.
A former coma patient said she knew every time
her music was changed by the staff to the
staffer’s choice.
Music Games
• Music Memory Ball – Take a soccer ball and fill
in the sections with the names of songs. Toss
the ball – where your right thumb lands you
sing the song.
• Musical Hat – Seat residents at a table, place
music as they pass the hat, when the music
stops the person holding the hat is out.
Continue to the winner – last person with the
hat.
Music Trivia
• Play CDs by one artist and between songs ask
trivia about the artist. Ex. What was this
artist’s nickname (Sinatra – Old Blue Eyes)
• Guess who – Play a song and ask residents to
guess who is singing. (iTunes)
• Remember When – play a song and ask
residents who can tell a story associated with
the song? (iTunes)
Musical Instruments
• Jingle sticks, tambourines, spoons etc.
• Use them with residents who don’t like to sing
as well as those who do.
• This helps everyone engage in the music.
• You can make shaking instruments with
medicine containers and rice or beans; you
can make drums from cereal containers etc.
• Have staff use keyboard, autoharp, harmonica
Joy In Action
• Created by Linda Wilson and James Wagner this
is another version of a hand bell choir.
http://www.joyandaction.com/
• Different from a hand bell choir. You don’t have a
conductor.
• Play the musical beat to a song played by a single
instrument.
• Hand bells in key of G and C
• Ordinary hand call bells., wrist bells, jingle bells.
Chair Dancing
• Put motions to orchestra music – Theme from
Star Trek as a story of rain
• Chicken Dance
• Lord Don’t Move My Mountain
• Hokey Pokey
• Folk Songs – Boy and a Girl in a Little Canoe
Boy and a Girl Lyrics
• Just a boy and a girl in a little canoe with the
moon shining all around.
• He paddled his paddle so, you couldn’t even
hear a sound
• So they talked and the talked till the moon
went dim. He said you better kiss me or get
out and swim
• So what you gonna do in a little canoe with
the moon shining all around?
Boy and Girl verse two
• Just a boy and a girl in a little canoe with the
moon shining all around.
• He paddles his paddle so, you couldn’t even hear
a sound.
• So they talked and they talked till the moon when
dim. He said you better kiss me or get out and
swim.
• So what you gonna do in a little canoe with the
girl paddling all a, the boy swimming all a, the
moon shinning all around!
Drumming Circle
• Website:
http://drumaticinnovation.com/benefitsdrumming/seniors
• Drumming encourages teamwork and builds
skills in listening, communication, and
leadership.
• Make or buy drums
• Seat residents in a circle
• Have residents take turns being the leader
• Everyone repeats the drum pattern
Sing to the Music
• The United Kingdom under the health
ministry, has created 18 Silver Song Clubs for
seniors. Participants meets weekly in a local
pub or a retirement community to sing
favorite songs.
• There is no rehearsal. It is not a choir practice.
Instead, members select a song from a
computerized music box and sing-a-long.
Silver Song Box
• Plugs into a television or can be used with a
projector and speakers. Projects the lyrics on
screen and plays the music.
• Benefit over Karaoke machine – this device
does not have distracting background music or
visuals and the speed and even musical key
can be changed for participants.
• [email protected]; each machine costs
about $2,000.
Song Box Benefits
• Can be used with musical and non-musical
staff.
• Studies found the machine was very
successful for people with dementia, those
who had a stroke and people with Parkinson’s
disease.
• Can be used for intergenerational and family
interactions with residents.
Conductorcise
• http://www.conductorcise.com/
• Created by Maestro David Dworkin who leads
participants as they enjoy a natural, invigorating
upper body workout, learn basic conducting
techniques, improve listening skills, and find out
about the lives and work of the great composers.
• Play familiar music – Star and Stripes Forever
• Let residents conduct with straws, pompoms,
pool noodles, chopsticks, their hands!
Kazoo
• http://www.kazoos.com/
• Humming a song – anyone can make music!
• Write the name of the resident on the kazoo
and store in a Ziploc bag for each resident
• Have residents take turns as the leader and
others join in and/or name the song
• Let residents sing and play with entertainers –
harmonica players and whistlers are the best!
Resident Musicians
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Use the musical talents of your residents!
Friday afternoon piano, guitar, violin concert
Sunday church service organist
Form a choir –
Sidney De Haan Research Centre for Arts & Health, Canterbury
Christ Church University. [email protected] – Silver
Song Clubs--community-based singing groups for older people.
Seventeen individuals aged 60-plus from six clubs were interviewed
and a number of benefits were identified. These included:
enjoyment; better mental health and wellbeing; increased social
interaction; improvements in physical health; cognitive stimulation
and learning; and improved memory and recall.
• Make your own Mitch Miller slideshow
Sing-a-long themes
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Holidays
Artists
Decades
Names
Colors
Places
Flowers
Classic Sing-A-Longs
• Large print books – 24 point
• Use large flip books to show page numbers
• Song copyrights last 50 years after the death
of the composer; 70 years after 1978
• Songs that can be reprinted samples –
• Take Me Out to the Ballgame
• Let Me Call You Sweetheart
• Shine On Harvest Moon
Outside Help
• Community Bands – to join a band http://www.acbands.org/
• To find a band for your community http://www.community-music.info
• Solo Musicians Network – http://solomusician.com
• Church and School Choirs
• RSVP singers and musicians
• Music schools
• Dance schools
• Scout troops
Conclusion
• The saying, “You can’t teach an old dog new
tricks” comes from the writings of Sigmund Freud
in 1907!! Over 100 years later, scientists are
proving every day that we can continue to learn
throughout our lives if we make the effort to
continuously learn new things and exercise our
memories.
• So keep right on singing with the radio, in the
shower, in the choir or alone in the woods. That
song in your heart and on your lips is keeping
your brain healthy and strong.