Live music may be doing something medicine alone cannot for some dementia patients: bringing calm, connection and a lift in mood.
New research from Northwestern University in Illinois suggests people with Alzheimer’s and other degenerative conditions gain peace and contentment from attending live concerts designed for them. The findings, published in Frontiers in Neurology, showed the program improved emotional well-being, intellectual stimulation and social interaction.
Researchers created the Musical Museum, a live concert and lecture series for people with neurocognitive disorders and their caregivers. Surveys by the Northwestern Music and Medicine Program, or NMMP, showed participants reported high satisfaction and significantly improved mood after sessions.
One participant said: “This program provided peace, relaxation and occasionally a cathartic release of tears.”
Another said the program was “a wonderful opportunity to expand our contacts with individuals undergoing similar experiences.”
NMMP director Dr. Borna Bonakdarpour said: “Music stays intact for a long time for dementia patients, so the Musical Museum is a very good way for them to emotionally regulate and provide intellectual and cognitive stimulation.
“We always want to keep their brains engaged.”
Dr. Bonakdarpour and study author Clara Takarabe developed the Musical Museum during the COVID-19 pandemic to continue enrichment for isolated patients with dementia.
The series draws an average of 50 attendees per event. It gives people with neurocognitive disorders, their caregivers and other supporters hour-long sessions featuring familiar and unfamiliar music, along with spoken introductions with historical and musical context.
One participant said: “I especially loved the historical context about the pieces.
“It made me appreciate the new pieces more and understand the ones I already knew more.”
Receptions after the concerts encourage social interaction.
Dr. Bonakdarpour said: “It’s common for individuals with dementia to isolate because they might feel nervous or embarrassed, especially if their language has declined, so this is a great way to get them out, and it’s a nice opportunity to see them outside the clinical setting.”
Participants attended 11 sessions spanning genres including bossa nova, jazz and baroque. Each session was built around a theme that integrated philosophical concepts such as love loss and time, along with culturally significant periods for older adults such as the 1960s and 1970s.
The research said familiar music was defined as tunes that would have been popular during the audience’s early to late adolescence. Previous research has shown that may improve autobiographical memory and self-consciousness, and reduce agitation.
Unfamiliar music was generally tonal and had culturally diverse melodies, sometimes based on traditional folk tunes from a variety of geographical regions.
Dr. Bonakdarpour, a classically trained pianist who performed in some concerts, said: “We decided to call it a museum because we treat each piece of music as if it’s something that’s curated for a museum.”
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