Music spice of life
Towards the end of her life, Esmee couldn’t walk or talk and struggled to fix her gaze on anything.
She spent the last eight years of her life in a secure dementia unit, very different from the fiery, artloving redhead she had been, her granddaughter, Dr Vicki Jones, said.
But playing music would evoke a hint of her former self.
‘‘She would actually look at you and there would be recognition,’’ Jones said. ‘‘She would hold your hand and she would move her lips as if she was trying to say the words. And she would smile.’’
After her grandmother died in 2014, Jones founded Music Moves Me Trust with music teacher Kath Woodley. The trust – which doesn’t charge families or clients – uses music to relieve psycho-social symptoms of dementia.
But it’s entirely community funded, relying on sponsors and donations.
More than 60,000 people have dementia in New Zealand, a number expected to increase to 170,000 by 2050.
Research shows that while functions such as language and movement use a small part of the brain, music uses the whole lot, qualified music therapist Nolan Hodgson said.
Songs from a client’s childhood or young adulthood are usually the most effective.
Some can barely talk, but manage to sing the lyrics of a song that evokes a strong memory.
‘‘Music will take you back in time to a certain time and a certain place, really, really strongly and really significantly. Almost immediately,’’ Hodgson said.
‘‘Often in their heads, they will be back in time somewhere.’’
To raise money for the music Moves Me Trust, a fundraising event will be run on March 24 at Takapoto Estate in Karapiro, with musicians playing, a curated exhibition of art for sale and a lineup of lifestyle packages for auction.