especially if you like the Grateful Dead

with a church group to a man at a nursing home. His two adult daughters and a couple grandkids were there with him, and we were told he would not be responsive. They were wrong. A few songs in, I looked up from my music to see him staring intensely at me with tears pouring down his face. As we sang, he started singing along in a clear voice. By this time we were all in tears. When we finished, he shook every hand, looked every one of us in the eye and wished us a merry Christmas. For that short period of time, he was “there”, and it is one of the most profound experiences of my life.

by ear/memory. She has difficulty remembering what we said or did a day or week before, or even times with her husband who passed away a few years ago, but whenever I get out my guitar to engage and play with her, she remembers every note. Her fingers may not be able to play the finger or keyboard like they used to, but she knows where they go. It's something that makes her feel so good.

during her last years when she suffered with dementia. The one thing that calmed her was when I sang hymns to her on the phone.

The activity she enjoyed most during her 8mo stay in nursing care was joining in with others in singing hymns. She remembered the words.

Thanks!

and also very moving. I cried just watching that clip myself.

And his Mother.

I would have played music all day long.

Evidently it makes the pistons in your brain fire up. A chemical reaction which used to be called magic or a miracle. Amazing.

I hope a lot of money is going into this research!

one is my sister, diagnosed last year with Alzheimers - the other my childhood friend, whose brother is afflicted and is deteriorating very quickly. Thank you.

My mom has recently been diagnosed. I'm hoping that she will sing with me during my next visit. Problem is she gets agitated easily. There’s always been an underlying anxiety problem which seems to be exacerbated. But I am hopeful.

my mother had a catastrophic stroke on the left side of her head, leaving her aphasic. I read every book on stroke that i could find in the library (remember those days without the internet?!), which discussed which areas of the brain controlled speech, etc. I learned then that music is separate from speech. That year I confirmed it when my mother sang happy birthday to me.

My sister is not bad yet, not really much at all. My fear is she is submitting to the diagnosis. She's quite functional. But she is a foxbot. that's got a load of cognizant dissonance associated with it right off the bat. I hope by seeing this she will listen to music and possibly even take up dancing again - she used to do it on a regular basis.

They do go to jam sessions and her husband plays and they both sing, so that's a good thing.