Hi everyone! For this post, I just wanted to share a bit about an independent project I've been working on that is related to music and dementia. It's a project I've been working on for a while, so I hope it interests you or sparks some ideas of your own about ways to help patients with dementia!
Without our memories, who are we? From playing piano in Memory Care at the Pavilion, I’ve observed music’s powerful impact on the residents’ memories. I also wondered, which pieces are most beneficial to memory? From researching and documenting on this blog, I knew how songs from people’s youth can transport them to associated memories and emotions. However, I've recently been wondering, how do we know which pieces resonate strongest with dementia patients? For seniors who have lost cognitive ability to retrieve favorite or memorable songs from youth, it’s difficult to compile an effective list. Although caregivers may have an idea of which songs to choose, not all patients have close relatives or friends who are familiar with their youth. Although generations may have similar favorites or top songs, everyone’s background, which significantly influences music choice, is different. To solve this problem, my sister and I have been working on an invention (US 63/093,775) to build music playlists for dementia patients automatically. Here is some information about how we plan for the invention to work:
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What is music therapy?
Music therapy can involve a variety of different activities, like listening to music, creating music, and reflecting on music. This can help in physical rehabilitation, increasing motivation for treatment, providing emotional support, and expressing oneself. A certified music therapist assesses an individual’s needs and decides what type of music and activity is most beneficial. Who can benefit from music therapy? Music therapy can be used to help people suffering from anxiety, depression, schizophrenia, insomnia, and trauma. It can also help people with Alzheimer’s, dementia, and brain damage. Music is particularly effective in helping people because of its ability to activate the whole brain, as mentioned in this blog post, affecting a person’s cognitive, emotional, and physical functions and abilities. If you’re familiar with my blog, then you know that I am a supporter of music as a way to help people with Alzheimer’s and other types of dementia. Music therapy can help both caregivers and patients by connecting them back to shared experiences, providing meaningful time spent together, being a relaxing experience, and uniting through nonverbal communication. I’d like to share a couple inspiring quotes I found on the American Music Therapy Association’s website, about how music therapy has impacted people’s lives: “The wife of a man with severe dementia said, ‘When I was encouraged by a music therapist to sing to my husband who had been lost in the fog of Alzheimer’s disease for so many years, he looked at me and seemed to recognize me. On the last day of his life, he opened his eyes and looked into mine when I sang his favorite hymn. I’ll always treasure that last moment we shared together. Music therapy gave me that memory, the gift I will never forget.’” “A gentleman in the early stages of progressive dementia improvised on a xylophone during a music therapy session to express his feelings, and then stated: ‘I don’t know how anyone can live without music.’” “When a couple danced together for the first time after five years of the husband’s deterioration from probable Alzheimer’s disease, the wife said: ‘Thank you for helping us dance. It’s the first time in three years that my husband held me in his arms.’ Tearfully, she said that she had missed him just holding her and that music therapy had made that possible.” From just a few sentences, it’s evident that music therapy has profound effects on both patients and loved ones. Once again, I am amazed at how much is able to help so many people and impact them in ways that traditional methods of care may not. Especially for those with Alzheimer’s, I think music is a path worth going down to evoke memories and emotions. Wow, it's been such a busy time! The reason I didn't post last week was because I'm in the middle of taking AP tests, which is quite an experience right now. I've already taken four (my hardest ones), and I have three more to go. I'm just glad I'm not encountering problems submitting because I've heard so many horror stories about it! For this post, I decided to write about how music affects different regions of the brain. I'm not going to lie, part of the reason I decided to write about this now is because it helped me review a little for my AP Psychology test coming up. Nonetheless, I do believe it's so interesting that music can reach so many parts of the brain!
Different regions of brain impacted by music:
https://www.ashford.edu/online-degrees/student-lifestyle/how-does-music-affect-your-brain Hi everyone! I came across this inspiring documentary, Alive Inside, towards the beginning of my journey researching music and memory. I think this documentary is a great introduction to music's impact on seniors, and anyone interested in this topic should watch it!
What is this documentary about? Alive Inside follows Dan Cohen, the founder of Music & Memory. Music & Memory is a nonprofit organization that focuses on music therapy as a way to unlock memories and comforting emotions in seniors with dementia. The documentary captures a few different seniors and their reactions to listening to beloved music from their childhood. It’s so inspiring to see these seniors literally wake up when they listen to the music. The documentary is also very informational on some shortcomings of the current healthcare system, demonstrating how some seniors react negatively to traditional care methods, like taking medicine. The documentary even includes interview clips with neurologist Oliver Sacks! Here is a touching clip from the documentary of a senior who was usually unresponsive, but when listening to music, became animated and alive again. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8HLEr-zP3fc I’ve also included a couple more documentaries about seniors with dementia that are on my list to watch soon. I love watching documentaries as a way to learn more about Alzheimer’s disease and caring for seniors because they enable the viewer to visually see the impact of memory loss and how effective different methods of treatment are. Memory for Max, Claire, Ida and Company
I Remember Better When I Paint
Alzheimer’s: Every Minute Counts
The Alzheimer's Project
Do You Know What My Name Is?
Hello again! For this post, I decided to explain my experience as a volunteer at a senior living home. As mentioned in the About Me page, I volunteer to play piano for seniors. I truly enjoy doing this for the seniors because it’s a different way to connect with them. Music doesn’t require talking to communicate or convey expressions, simply listening.
I had one experience in the senior living home a couple weeks back that I keep coming back to. I was playing piano for the assisted living area when a senior, Larry*, approached me. He sat next to me for the whole time I played, attentively listening. Once I finished, his eyes were glistening. After talking with him for a little, I learned that he also plays piano. He mentioned how he felt my music deep in his heart and repeatedly praised my playing ability and made me promise to never stop. This made me also tear up a little because I could tell that the music profoundly impacted Larry. I have to admit, I was a little surprised at Larry's words because I never truly realized how much music could connect with someone. After all, my piano playing is far from perfect or professional, but this experience has taught me that it doesn’t have to be because in the senior living home, people aren’t looking for a concert, but rather music that speaks to them in some way, which is different and personal for each person. This is even more evidence of music’s power to connect people with memories, emotions, and each other. Any level of music can stir up these qualities, and for me, this is so much more important than playing the perfect piece. *name has been changed Recently, I came upon an article from MIT news: http://news.mit.edu/2019/brain-wave-stimulation-improve-alzheimers-0314
The article discusses research done at MIT that revealed how a unique combination of light and sound can help improve cognitive and memory impairments of mice that were genetically predisposed to develop Alzheimer’s disease. Previous studies have suggested that gamma-frequency oscillations (25 to 80 Hz) were impaired in patients with Alzheimer’s. Researchers in this study were able to use light flickering at 40 Hz for one hour a day to reduce levels of beta amyloid plaques, which clump in areas of the brain related to cognitive functions. Then, they decided to try this with sound: exposure to 40 Hz tones for one hour a day also reduced levels of beta amyloid in the auditory cortex and hippocampus. A combination of light and sound had an even greater effect. I think this noninvasive treatment could be a great way to help patients with Alzheimer’s, although we would have to see if people respond in the same way the mice did first. It also probably isn’t the most comfortable to be staring at a flickering light and listening to a monotone sound for one hour a day. After thinking about this, my mind wandered to the piano. What if I played piano pieces around the 40 Hz zone? Would this produce a similar effect as just the 40 Hz tone? Listening to music is definitely a more pleasant experience, and the lowest keys on the piano did fall around 40 Hz, making it possible to produce music around that tone. I decided to make a couple recordings to compare the sound of a piece played normally, played with the left hand shifted down an octave, and both hands shifted down an octave to hear what the differences sounded like. Here is a video I made on comparing these variations: https://youtu.be/w0DC80urR84 This was just a quick experiment to see how different the variations would sound, so the playing is not the best. It would be great if I somehow found a way to test this theory on the same subjects in the research and see how they react to the music compared to the 40 Hz tone. Anyways, I hope you found this discovery as exciting and interesting as I did! Happy holidays! This time of year has always been my favorite, and I hope you’re enjoying it, too. The comfort of being nestled in a blanket, drinking hot chocolate, and being with family brings back fond memories of previous years. Of course, in Texas, winter days can reach as high as 70 degrees and sunny, so I definitely cherish the days when it actually feels like winter. Speaking of relaxing with a blanket, I usually do this with a book in my hands or, more often these days, reading from my laptop. Today, I came across an interesting article on NPR:
https://www.npr.org/2019/12/22/790553867/how-music-therapy-could-help-people-with-dementia In this short interview with Nancy Gustafson, Gustafson reveals the inspiring way her mother regained some verbal communications and memories. Her mother went from answering yes or no to questions and not recognizing Gustafson to communicating with all of her children and recognizing a place she loves. This drastic improvement was due to a simple solution: music therapy. Gustafson first realized the effects of music therapy after singing Christmas carols to her mother. Even after a short 15 minutes of singing, Gustafson noted that her mother made remarks that she would have said “30 years ago, 40 years before”, when her mother didn’t have Alzheimer’s. Every time I read about the power of music, it astonishes me how much it truly helps patients suffering from memory loss to regain some of the life they had before. I hope this story can motivate more caregivers and patients to refuse to believe that nothing can be done after memory is lost because even if the memory and personality of a patient seems lost, there is still hope that they can be unleashed again through music. Wow, it's crazy how fast the year has flown by. Thank you for supporting my blog this year, and I can't wait for what the new year holds! Welcome back! I’ve recently been interested in MRIs. Not because I’m injured or anything, but because of how it can make a picture of your brain structure. I think it would be so interesting to see what my brain looks like and compare it to others. In chapter 7 of Musicophilia, Sacks mentions a Harvard paper published in 1995 showing that the corpus callosum (band connecting the two brain hemispheres) is “enlarged in professional musicians”, and the planum temporale (in the auditory cortex) is enlarged in musicians with absolute pitch. A question of these enlargements was whether they were due to innate predisposition or musical training. Nevertheless, it’s evident that music is brain-altering! Playing an instrument involves many parts of the brain: the basal ganglia, cerebellum, and various areas of the cerebral cortex all show increased activity. Even just minutes of practice can show changes in the motor cortex. Below I have included a few interesting pictures/video of MRIs of musicians versus non-musicians, so you can see for yourself! Here is the link to a music video that I found pretty cool because it shows the creation of an MRI while the artist, Sivu, is singing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_964dqQxQwY Video of taking fMRIs of Jennifer Koh, a professional violinist, to study the effects of reading, listening, and imagining music on the brain: https://today.duke.edu/2016/03/koh Brain while listening to music: Comparison of brain images: So, this month has been quite busy. Unfortunately, so busy that I didn't get the chance to make two posts! I'm very disappointed about this, but I think I will be able to manage my time better next time. Thankfully, it's now Thanksgiving break (I'm so glad I have the whole week off)! I feel like I haven't been able to catch a breath until now, and wow it feels great! For this post, I decided to find something fun, although not as related to aging, to write about: earworms.
As I mentioned before, Musicophilia by Oliver Sacks surprisingly struck me as an interesting book. Why is this surprising for me? Well, I’ve never really been a fan of nonfiction, informative books. With fiction, it’s so easy for me to become wrapped in the story, like I’m truly a part of it. However, with nonfiction, the attraction to the story is just not there. This wasn’t the case with Oliver Sacks’ books. Each story in his books is so interesting, and I think a reason for this is that I have to constantly remind myself that these are real people's experiences, and this makes me curious about the neurological explanation behind the phenomena. In chapter 5 of Musicophilia, Sacks discusses earworms, or the catchy song or tune that’s stuck in your head. Towards the end of the chapter, Sacks mentions that it’s possible that earworms are “to some extent, a modern phenomenon”. After all, with the technology we have today, pop culture is spread so much faster than before, and catchy tunes are part of this culture, whether it’s in the commercial on TV or the song on the radio. What songs tend to be earworms? Some characteristics that common earworms share are a fast tempo, common melodic shape, unusual intervals, and repetition. In other words, an earworm tends to be simple enough to be quickly recalled, but also unique so that it’s remembered in the first place. In a study done in the UK from 2010 to 2013, the top three earworms were “Bad Romance” by Lady Gaga, “Can’t Get You Out Of My Head” by Kylie Minogue, and “Don’t Stop Believing” by Journey. As probably expected, these songs are very popular, so it’s reasonable that they are heard often, and therefore get stuck in people’s heads. Why do songs get stuck in our heads? In the same study mentioned above, not surprisingly, a common way for songs to get stuck in our heads is repetition and recency. Both these factors contribute to our memories remembering the song better, and once we remember the song, it can be an earworm. Other interesting triggers for earworms include certain memory associations (ex for one person, the word ‘umbrella’ does it), mood (somehow always thinking of the same song when you’re stressed), and even movement (like the pace you’re walking at matches the tempo of a song). And of course, the question you want answered the most if you are currently a victim of an earworm: what are some ways to get rid of earworms? The three common techniques are to engage, distract, or accept. One idea about earworms is that we repeat the song because we haven’t fully processed it, so it could be that simply playing the song to its finish solves the problem. If this doesn’t work, trying to keep busy with another task could help, like working on a sudoku or even chewing gum. If all else fails, it could be best to just let the song be and know that it’ll go away eventually. Well, happy Thanksgiving! I'm thankful for so many thing in my life, this blog included. I hope you're also taking this time to relax and be with the people you love! Welcome back to another post! I’ve decided that my goal for this blog is to post at least twice a month. As I promised in my first post, I am going to discuss in more detail the first section of the podcast that I wrote about (so if you haven’t already, check out my first post!). Here is the link to the article about the first section:
https://www.ttbook.org/interview/power-music-and-memory-music-was-waking-something-within-each-them This article is from the perspective of Shannon Kleiber, whose experience is discussed in the first section of the podcast. In the senior living facility that her mother, who suffers from Alzheimer’s disease, lives in, it is often a quiet place. However, this changed when Kleiber visited a music event. The seniors were dancing, singing, and smiling. The senior living facility also hosts other events, like group sing-alongs and drum circles. During these events, there’s no doubt that something awakens in the seniors. Music helps to connect the seniors to not only their past, but also the present, where they can communicate with each other and their loved ones through this common medium. One point that Kleiber observed that stuck out to me was that one woman, although she wasn’t singing, was smiling and gently tapping her foot. I have also observed this while playing piano for the seniors in my local senior living facility. The seniors express their reaction to music differently: some hum, some mimic playing the keys, some tap along, and some simply close their eyes and smile. Although they react differently, there is a common bond that runs through them and us, and this is music, which acts like a universal language connecting everyone together. It’s these reactions that motivate me to continue playing and hope that other young musicians can experience the same joy by sharing their music. |
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