Music Memories: Using Music to Engage People with Dementia
At The Hummingbird Project, our Activity Specialists use creative arts to help older adults—including those with dementia—re-engage with life, find purpose, and spark moments of joy. If you are a professional or family caregiver with a client or loved one with dementia, music is a great way to find new connections and inspiration. Music unlocks the soul and often can rekindle early feelings and memories. To get started, try these five simple and fun activities.
1. Explore Music That Inspires
Make a list of music that inspires your loved one or client and search for similar genres or artists using an app like Spotify. Create a playlist and use that as a starting point to explore new music and slowly expand into new territory. As your inspiration grows, try new ways to tap into the universal joy of music:
- Try a theme day of Hawaiian, Spanish, or country music. Dress the part and add props to enhance the experience!
- Sing and dance to the tune.
- Use rhythm and movement to easily connect to a favorite song while seated or standing.
- Sing a familiar lyric or hum the melody together.
- Relax and listen, then talk about how you feel afterward.
2. Enjoy a Holiday Ballet
Of course, music and dance go hand in hand. Movement helps foster physical and emotional well-being. No matter your client or loved one’s physical or cognitive abilities, you can celebrate music and dance by exploring The Nutcracker together. This is an enjoyable activity to do during the holidays. Being a tradition for so many, the music and costumes offer a variety of visual and sensory delights.
Plan an outing to a local production of The Nutcracker—or order a DVD or find it streaming online, invite your family, and serve festive snacks and appetizers. Use the internet to explore and research many variations of the famous scenes. The history of the ballet is fascinating!
For an inspiring story about a 100-year-old ballet dancer, read this story about Henry Danton together.
3. Make an Opera Date
The world-famous Metropolitan Opera streams opera nightly and offers on-demand performances anytime. Visit their site to enjoy breathtaking music and visual engagement.
4. Dance Through the Decades
For those who love watching dancing or getting out on the dance floor, here is a nostalgic activity that recognizes different dance styles throughout the last 100 years. Using YouTube, explore videos of the Charleston, swing, tango, twist, and disco. Ask your activity partner about their favorite dance and if they have any memories of dancing.
One Hummingbird Project client shared that she loved to square dance when she was a teen, and her mother danced the tango! Allowing time to reminisce adds positive energy and warm memories to your activity time. To go one step further, add physical movement by dancing together or offering chair dance with arm movements!
5. Bring Back Memories with Music
Here is an example of how dancing helped one of our clients, Fred, bring back some of his fondest memories with music and dancing.
Fred loved dancing with his wife; they loved musicians such as Glen Miller, Tommy Dorsey, and Harry James from the 1940s. After his wife passed and he moved into an assisted living facility, a Hummingbird Activity Specialist set him up with an iPad. Together, they picked out music he enjoys on Spotify so that he can listen whenever he pleases—treasured musical memories at his fingertips!
What kind of music does your activity partner like? Create a playlist with their favorites and watch them come to life! Music is a powerful tool for everyone and can connect people as they listen, hum along, dance, or reminisce.
Learn more about the effect of music on memory in this blog, Music Therapy for Older Adults.
Check out our Joyful Moments Activity Kit Cards – for an invaluable resource to help engage older adults through a variety of activities.
About the Author
Kari Rogenski, LMFT, is the Director of The Hummingbird Project, a concierge in-person and virtual therapeutic activity program. Kari is a licensed psychotherapist and clinical supervisor. She is pursuing her Ph.D. in Humanistic Psychology at Saybrook University, where she studies creativity and gerontology. Follow Kari on Linkedin.