Music is powerful. It has the ability to effect and reach the farthest part of a person's mind. It allows us to communicate with each other in a very unique way. It is a language that speaks to all human persons. I believe that music can also be a powerful tool of healing.
The video that I wanted to share is a little long, but it is incredibly fascinating. In the video we meet a man named Henry. Henry has lived in a nursing home for a number of years after suffering from numerous strokes and seizures. Throughout this time he has become less responsive to others and has begun to lose the ability to communicate. A nurse working at the nursing home decided to try an experiment. She spoke with Henry's family and asked him what music he enjoyed. She then took the music and downloaded it onto an I pod and had Henry begin to listen. Henry's response was immediate and he began to express himself again. He sang along with the music and moved his hands and head. When she stopped the music and asked questions, he responded to her. He would act as normal as possible before retreating back inside of himself.
The treatment of music therapy is quickly becoming one of the most used forms of treatment in the nation. The success of these treatments prove that music has an incredible effect on people. It has a special power to heal and to help people to communicate. I am excited to see what the possibilities of music therapy hold for the future.
This reminds me of my grandmother. She suffers from dementia and over the past five years it has gotten really bad to the point where she doesn't recognize me and can't she can't remember five minutes ago. She does remember certain memories from a really long time, such as her first date with my grandpa. One thing I noticed was that the memories that she remembers has to do with music. I think music has such an amazing power to help us remember events that we would have forgotten otherwise, and like the man in the video trigger part of our brain to help us remember things that we have forgotten. My earliest memories are of my preschool days, when I was enrolled in a mommy and me daycare center that was focused around music. about five years ago I found the CD that I got from the daycare center full of songs that we sung. The songs helped me recall the big gray room that we had class in, and the face of my teacher. Thats the power of music.
ReplyDeleteMy mom has advanced Alzheimer's. For quite a while, we were able to interact most thoroughly by playing together--we'd respond to each other's phrasing in that conversational way of playing chamber music. Her ability to play and read music eventually deteriorated, and that was our biggest loss.
ReplyDeleteI'll have to try playing recordings of the piano restore she loved, including so,e of her own concerts, and see how she responds.
Thanks for this.