All not lost in music

THE Grenfell Tower charity single was certain to be a hit, with scores of top artists involved and a nation desperate to show victims we care.

But so many friends who downloaded it this week said it gave them goosebumps or moved them to tears.

The haunting melody and simple lyrics of Simon and Garfunkel’s Bridge Over Troubled Water made it a timeless hit.

Because great music has the power to touch our emotional core – to stir our souls in a unique, lasting way.

This week I interviewed the daughter of one of my musical heroes, country legend Glen Campbell.

The Rhinestone Cowboy is now 81 and in the final stages of Alzheimer’s disease. But his family have released an album of the last songs he recorded before he lost the power of speech.

Daughter Ashley, 30, told me her dad is in a twilight world and doesn’t recognise family any more.

But when she plays his old hits, Glen smiles, taps his foot and “sings” gibberish words to a beautiful melody.

“It’s still Dad’s voice and it gives us a connection to him again,” she said.

Cocktails in Care Homes is a wonderful charity which entertains residents with dementia by throwing lively parties.

When I joined volunteers recently, I could see how favourite songs and music really do trigger memories and help make connections through the thick fog of dementia. Around 850,000 people in the UK are living with the condition tion and it will rise to over one million by 2025, 025, affecting families, friends and neighboursours too.

So it’s encouraging to hear that a special commission launchess next month looking at how music can n help treat dementia and minimise the use of “chemical cosh” antipsychotictic drugs.

One of the commissioners ers is Alexia Quinn, who founded charity ity Music as Therapy International 20 yearsears ago.

She says: “We need to be e looking at every possible way to improveove care for people living with dementia.tia. A wealth of research shows thehe difference music therapy can make, regarding the quality lity of life and r educing r el l i ance on medication.

“It’s an exciting opportunity to explore music’s’s potential as a treatment.” And as a comfort foror relatives trying to touch the emotionalonal core of loved ones drifting awayay from them. Ashley sang backing vocals on one of the last tracks her er dad recorded, Postcards from Paris.aris.

She said: “We had to singg the lyric ‘I wish you were here’ whichhich was particularly poignant.

“Sometimes it makes us sad when we play his music becauseause we miss him so much. But it also makes you feel closer to him,m, which is beautiful.

“And I think Dad is as happyappy as someone in his situation cann be.

“He still has music in his soul.”