A topic that truly fascinates me is the link between music and memory. When I came across this documentary: Alive inside – a story of music and memory, I couldn’t wait to sit down and watch it!
For those of you who haven’t seen this fantastic documentary… I urge you to do as soon as possible.
I did watch it not long after it came out (but I stupidly thought I’d seen it on Netflix and that they removed it – it turns out I watched it on Amazon Prime! It is still available on Prime for those who have a subscription).
I won’t give away too many spoilers in case any readers haven’t seen it yet, but the documentary follows Dan Cohen as he meets various people with Alzheimer’s. He gives each person an iPod and headphones with music they loved as a young adult.
When we are young, music records itself in our motions and emotions. Luckily these are the last parts of the brain touched by Alzheimer’s.
Alive Inside – a story of music and memory
The documentary focuses on the care system in America and it’s made me want to research more about what the situation is in the UK – is there such a thing as music therapy for those people who have dementia? Before lockdown, I actually did some research to see what the process would be for me to be able to go into care homes and talk to residents about what music they like and create a playlist for them and just talk to them about music. Like everything in 2020, this has been put on hold, but I do intend to pick this up as soon as the world returns to normal.
The parts of the brain which are involved in remembering music and responding to music are not affected too much in Alzheimer’s disease or other dementias.
Dr Oliver Sacks MD, Neurologist, Author
I felt a mix of emotions whilst watching this powerful documentary: sadness, guilt (for not doing anything to help since the last time I watched it) and an urgency to make a plan to do something to help. If anyone has any comments or experience with this area, please get in touch as I’d love to talk to people about this.
To find out more, I’ve listed a few links below:
Alive Inside – aliveinside.us
Music and Memory – musicandmemory.org/
Live Music Now – livemusicnow.org.uk/wellbeing_older_people
Music in Hospitals and Care – mihc.org.uk/
Music for Dementia – musicfordementia.org.uk/
We need music – it awakens in us our most profound safety. The safety of living in concert with each other and our own selves.
Alive Inside – a story of music and memory