Vintage Voices sings for positive outcomes
As some residents of Shoreham Village long-term care home were gathering with other elderly area residents in the hall at St. Stephen's Anglican Parish Hall in Chester for the first event of a music program designed for seniors, one woman had a very vacant look on her face.
“They said she probably wouldn't sing — she could barely talk,” event organizer Dawn Harwood-jones said during a recent interview. “As we waited to start, we heard a sweet high voice singing You Are My Sunshine. She sang the entire verse. The thing was we hadn't started to play. She was reading.”
Harwood-jones said the woman was responding to seeing the lyrics of the well-known song projected on a screen for the inaugural meeting of the Vintage Voices program, where live professional musicians lead seniors in rousing renditions of favourite songs from their past. The lyrics were projected on a screen so everyone could follow along without having to hold songbooks or sheet music.
Harwood-jones said hearing the woman sing You Are My Sunshine was the moment she knew Vintage Voices was on the right track.
"I had known since I played for my father when he had dementia that people can remember songs far longer than they can remember who you are. It's a completely different part of the brain,” Harwoodjones, a choir director and musician, said.
“So, I knew music really stimulated the brain. What I didn't know was that people with dementia can read lyrics and that's what blew my mind,” she said.
According to Harwoodjones, St. Stephen's Parish started a children's program called Musical Friends in 2013 as a gift to the community. Two years later, they added Vintage Voices realizing that they were already paying professional musicians to come and teach the kids, so they would also give seniors the experience of "jamming" with real musicians. She said these programs are free thanks to federal, provincial and municipal grants.
Eventually, Harwood-jones and the team of musicians also volunteered at Shoreham Village to make sure more seniors benefited from Vintage Voices.
She said they witnessed first-hand the powerful transformation some elderly residents experienced.
“Somebody would be wheeled into the common room,” Harwood-jones said, “and they would look like they weren't there. And then when we put the words up on the screen and started playing and singing, they would wake up.”
“The combination of inperson professional musicians and words on a screen along with everyone singing along does something really remarkable,” she said.
“Music as a stimulus for dementia sufferers is quite magical," Harwood-jones said. "One man started to speak for the first time in a year after my choir sang a concert at Shoreham."
“I was in the war you know,” the elderly veteran said to a choir member after singing many well-known songs from the war era leading up to Remembrance Day.
“Being a volunteer at Shoreham, she knew he had not spoken in a year. So, that's the
CONTRIBUTED power of singing,” Harwoodjones said.
BACKED BY RESEARCH
Kimiko Suzuki is a lecturer at Acadia University for the music therapy program, which is part of the School of Music.
Suzuki received her certified music therapist status in 2016 and has been working in music therapy since 2017. Recently she said there had been a lot of research into the benefits of using music purposefully within therapeutic relationships to support development, health and wellbeing.
Suzuki said there had been numerous studies on the effects of music, listening and singing on memory for older adults with dementia compared with speaking without music or melody.
“We have found that preferred music listening can positively impact activity in the left frontal lobe of the brain according to EEG data and there is evidence of positive life-quality outcomes in older persons who value cultural events and activities where music is included,” Suzuki said.
She said researchers hypothesized
that for older adults with dementia, there are brain areas that process music. They allow for more holistic encoding and recognition. And also, listening to familiar melodies in accompaniment with lyrics allows for better attention, heightened arousal and results in improved memory.
And natural rewards are received through music experiences and positive social interactions that trigger the brain to release dopamine.
Suzuki said multiple-sensory stimulation from hearing the melody and the song being sung with musical accompaniment, as well as visual cues from seeing the lyrics projected, can also aid memory. As in the case of Vintage Voices.
And Suzuki said there are overlapping theories that memories of songs from the past can be recalled more easily because of the positive associations from someone's past.
POSITIVE OUTCOMES
Research indicates that group singing can have positive outcomes for elderly participants in general, not just those with dementia. Suzuki referred to a 2020 study of communitybased group singing with older adults identifying four main themes and benefits identified with these groups. They include social connection, happiness and rejuvenation from singing familiar songs with personal significance, reconnection with self and self-identity, and they can help support caregiver relationships.
Meanwhile, Harwood-jones continues to witness the benefits derived from participation in programs like Vintage Voices unfold in the lives of many elderly people.
She was moved when the spouse of a participant with advanced dementia told her that when the couple arrived home after Vintage Voices, his spouse was in a great mood for at least two hours afterwards. He said it was a remarkable transformation. She didn't remember she had been at Vintage Voices, but he said the experience changed her demeanor so remarkably.
More information regarding local music therapy programs can be found through the Atlantic Association for Music Therapy (https://www. atlanticassociationmt.com).
The Alzheimer Society of Canada also promotes music therapy as a supplemental treatment for dementia (https://alzheimer.ca/en/ help-support/programsservices).
The Vintage Voices program could not meet for an extended period due to pandemic-related health restrictions, but Harwoodjones said she plans to restart the program early in January 2023. Transportation can be arranged in the Chester area. For more information, phone 902-275-5005 and ask for Dawn.