Music for Life's Journey The Capacity of Music in Dementia Care

摘要

Music is a powerful medium. Its effects can invigorate or calm us, excite and persuade us, inspire us, and lift our spirits especially when we are cognitively impaired or facing end of life. It may even be that in Alzheimer's disease and related dementias, musical memory is spared. Music has the capacity to be a means of connecting, communicating, companioning, and preserving the self along the long, dark journey. Ubiquitous. This 4-syllable word describes how music permeates our world. It is everywhere-in every culture, in schoolrooms, at sporting events, in parades, on radios, iPods and MP3 players, in grocery stores or markets, on street corners, in religious institutions and healthcare clinics, in concert halls, dance studios, and theatres. Music is an intricate part of life passages and human experiences. Every ritual we share calls for its own music: birth, death, marriage, planting and harvest, changing of the seasons, fertility, suffering, wellness, honoring leaders, war, sports events, entertainment, romantic dinners, and rocking children to sleep.