How to Use Music to Connect with Alzheimer's Patients

Learning how to use music to connect with Alzheimer's patients can reward you with a surprising avenue for reaching the memory challenged among your family or friends. It can be very tiring to visit family members or close friends who are dealing with Alzheimer's over and over again when you consistently come away feeling that no connection has been made. You may even begin to wonder what the whole point is of your visiting anyway. By thinking a little about how to use music to connect with Alzheimer's patients you may be able to achieve that occasional connection that will bring some enjoyment to the patient and a feeling of usefulness to you as the support person.

I am neither a doctor nor even an unusually well read student of Alzheimer's. But I have experienced the disappointment of regular visits with predictably the same, very limited results. When I noticed that the Nursing Home where my relative resides was furnished with a piano, I decided to introduce my relative to the piece of furniture with its black and white keys, just as something different. Then randomly I started fingering some of the keys. The tones that came from the stroked keys got an almost immediate reaction. Since then I have tried some of the following ways to use music to connect with Alzheimer's patients.

Playing an Old Standard. . If you can hunt and peck on the piano you can try to use music as a tool to connect with Alzheimer's patients through music. A good place to begin is by thinking through tunes that you know or can imagine the patient might have familiarity with. For example almost everyone has experienced repeated singing of "Happy Birthday". Plunking along the basic melody line of that song can bring recognition to the face of an Alzheimer's patients.

Where you go from there is up to you. Consider the age and interests of your friend or family member. Perhaps your Dad who is suffering from Alzheimer's was a great baseball fan. Then why not see if you can pick out the notes to "Take Me Out To the Ball Game". Seasonal favorites like "Jingle Bells" or " White Christmas" can also touch something deep inside the Alzheimer's patient. Try to think back to tunes that might have been favorites when your patient was young or old standards like "She'll Be Coming Around the Mountain When She Comes".

Like Child's Play. Perhaps like me you are in that middle generation. You have an aging parent or close relative who is suffering from Alzheimer's but you also have young grandchildren who are just beginning to talk and learn about sounds. There is a hint here for those who want to use music to connect with Alzheimer's patients. So many of the toys that young children use can also serve as helpful aids as you try to connect musically with your patient.

Some toys just squeak or repeat what eventually become annoying sayings but many play familiar children's songs. If you aren't especially at home with trying to use a piano, you can borrow a few of these musical toys from your grandchildren and bring them in to share with an Alzheimer's patient. You will be surprised at the reaction you may receive from activating toys that sing " Twinkle, twinkle Little Star", "The Farmer in the Dell" or even "The Hokey Pokey". Don't give up if you don't get an immediate response. A willingness to keep trying may bring some recognition that will be a treasure for you and your patient.

Other Instruments. Don't have any children's toys to use? Don't have any piano skills? Not to worry. There are all kinds of instruments that can you to use music to connect with Alzheimer's patients. A simple bell or collection of bells, a drum made out of an old oatmeal container, your own ability to whistle, clap your hands, snap your fingers and of course the instrument of your own voice raised in song can be the connecting element that might just strike a moment of recollection and connection for you and your Alzheimer's patient.

Something to leave behind. You can expand upon these ideas even when you aren't visiting by bringing and inexpensive music box to the nursing home, labeled of course. Talk with the charge nurse about leaving the box safely in the patient's room where attendants or other visitors can see and use it. Often times attendants are happy to have some kind of focus or tool to help them connect with the Alzheimer's patients in their care.

Learning to use music to connect with Alzheimer's patients never occurred to me until my own relative had gone through some 5 years of living with this nefarious disease. But having tried it with some very pleasant results I can only hope that the same avenue of connection might be useful to others. With this disease anything is worth a try.