After some research, I found Rusty. At our first music therapysession, Rusty came to my father’s bedroom, tuned his guitar, and began to sing. I sang along. My father laid on his back on his bed, unmoving. The only time he opened his eyes was to say good-bye at the end of the music session.
“Don’t worry,” Rusty said to me when he saw my sad face, “It can take some time for people to warm up to me.” But I felt hopeless.
A breakthrough came, however, during the second music therapy session. We began with folk songs, but they had no effect on my dad. Since his real love is chamber music, I started to hum the melody to Schubert’s Trout Quintet while Rusty improvised on his guitar. My father opened his eyes. Then Rusty moved into a syncopated version of “Ode to Joy.” My dad applauded.
With each subsequent music therapy session, my father grew more engaged. During the sixth session, several other residents peeked into my dad’s room. “Come in! Come in!” Rusty and I shouted, and the staff rushed to get additional chairs. Soon there were six other elderly residents in the room, singing and clapping. We sang World War II era songs, and two women even got up and danced, holding on to each other (otherwise they would have both fallen over.)
Now, Rusty comes every Friday afternoon. We’ve moved the music therapy out of my father’s bedroom into a common area where we are joined by a dozen other residents. The music transforms them. One woman, for example, is usually so folded into herself that she reminds me of a flat tire. But, when Rusty strummed the tune to “Old Man River,” she straightened up, tilted her head back, and gave a performance as moving as any Paul Robeson could have done.

There are days when conversation is too hard for my father. But I know now what to do. We sing.  Even as a younger man, my father knew the lyrics to only one song, “Home on the Range.” So, we end our visits by singing “Home on the Range” together. There’s an irony in this. My father and I are New Englanders. We’ve never lived on the range or even seen a wild antelope. But, no matter. The song brings us comfort, and we are both at peace.

I was thrilled to open my local newspaper this morning (the Louisville Courier-Journal) and find a major news story about how music is being used in Kentucky nursing homes to prompt the staff to re-position patients who are bed-ridden.  Enjoy!

Bedsores can be a serious problem for the elderly, but a University of Cincinnati study aims to curb them at Kentucky nursing homes with the help of music.

Every two hours, music plays over a loudspeaker, prompting caregivers to stop what they’re doing and make sure residents are re-positioned to keep bedsores from forming.

Researchers are partnering with Signature HealthCARE to conduct the study at 10 of the company’s Kentucky homes, including two in Louisville.

“We love it,” said Kelly Thompson, administrator of Signature HealthCARE of East Louisville, which is part of the study group. “They let you pick your music … and everybody knows it’s time for moving.”

“Repositioning people is not something new; what’s new is the prompt,” said Pam Larimore-Skinner, director of nursing at Signature HealthCARE of Trimble County in Bedford, Ky., which also is participating. “I think it makes people more conscious of the two hours because time can get away from you.”

Bedsores, also called pressure sores or pressure ulcers, are damaged areas of skin caused by staying in one position too long. People who are bedridden or use wheelchairs are at greater risk for these sores, which can lead to serious infections that can even be life-threatening. The problem is on the rise nationally.

Medical guidelines say patients should be moved at least every two hours. But nationally, “we know that the compliance of staff is frequently not what we want it to be,” said Elaine Miller, a UC nursing professor.

Researchers from the UC College of Nursing got a two-year, $300,000 grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation to look at whether a simple audio reminder can prompt a nurse-led team to make sure patients move or get moved. The Cincinnati team competed with more than 100 other applicants for the funds.

In the study, four nursing homes used the program since the spring, while another four “comparison” homes were observed for months, then began using the program in November. Two others had problems with intercoms and have been used as comparisons throughout.

“The study involves the ambulatory residents, who can get up themselves, and the bedridden, who need to be turned with the assistance of staff,” said Assistant Professor Tracey Yap, principal investigator on the study. “The musical prompt is a reminder for patients that ‘you need to get up’ and for staff that this is the time to move those who cannot do so themselves.”

Local nursing home officials said their entire staffs are involved in the project, from nurses to administrators to housekeeping workers. Anyone who needs hands-on assistance gets help from the nursing staff, Yap said, while other employees can give verbal reminders to those who don’t need such help.

“It’s a team project,” Yap said. “That’s the innovative part of it.”

Officials said they vary the music so it doesn’t get repetitive or easy to tune out. Larimore-Skinner said her nursing home has played small bursts of everything from classical to country to holiday music.

Thompson and Larimore-Skinner said their facilities are doing well when it comes to pressure sores, and the study program may be one reason. Larimore-Skinner said none of her 49 residents have developed sores in the home, and Thompson said her facility, which has 115 residents, does better than the national average on pressure sores.

Both women said their homes may continue the practice after the study ends in April.

“If it works,” Larimore-Skinner said, “don’t fix what’s not broken.”

By Laura Ungar • lungar@courier-journal.com • December 31, 2010

Yesterday, we had an overview of the components of healing music.  It’s always important to remember that what is healing to one person might actually be distasteful or anxiety provoking to another.  Music is very personal so understanding the components and how they function within music can help you to choose the music you want to listen to more intentionally.

Today we talk about “melody.”  The simplest definition is probably “a tune, or series of notes, sung or played one at a time, that is memorable and pleasant.”  Simple melodies that everyone probably knows include:

Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star

Mary had a little lamb

Happy Birthday to You

Amazing Grace

and so many more! 

Some melodies are more memorable and appealing to people than others, but if a piece of music is to be “healing” then you’ve got to like, enjoy, and react positively to the melody.  But melodies can vary greatly!  We can have simple “nursery rhyme” melodies or we can have complex, classical music melodies like Mozart’s or Mendelssohn’s melodies.  These are often long and winding and are repeated with slight variations each time.

Then there are the popular music medodies that so many people love and associate with “falling in love” and good times.  Think of:

Unchained Melody

Wind Beneath My Wings

Chariots of Fire

Theme from “Rocky”

Stairway to Heaven

People who need people

Of course these tunes represent my generation…people who came of age in the 60′s.  Every generation has their favorites though and that’s been true for centuries.  Think of your grandparents music and their grandparent’s music.

I even made a CD called “Music for Memory Care” that features me playing on the piano the popular songs of the 1900-1940′s so that old people can sit and listen and reminisce about their youth and time of “falling in love.”  Melody is an important component of healing music so think about the melodies you love and how you can enjoy them more in times of stress and anxiety.

Tomorrow we’ll take a look at harmony!

My mother is an amazing woman, if I do say so myself.  Four years ago, at “almost” 80 years old, she went to live in a lovely assisted living facility.   Like many families we were not sure how much she would like it, even though she chose it herself, but to our delight and surprise she really did take to it and really participated in most all of the activities.  She even started a chorus there of her elderly friends and they call themselves the “Melody Makers” and they sing for holidays and other special occasions.  They have begun to have quite a good reputation in their S.C. town and tonight were invited to sing the National Anthem before the start of a baseball game at Wofford College!  I just heard all about it from my sister who is pictured here with my mother.   The college provided a tent for them that had rocking chairs for each chorister and they were fed plates of hot dogs, chips and iced tea!  My sister said that she also accompanied them on her violin!  That must have been quite a performance.

I do believe that many people become less inhibited as they age and are willing to “put themselves out there” a little bit more.  Tonight the Melody Makers from Eden Terrace brought a lot of joy to a lot of people…including themselves!  Have YOU thought of joining a community chorus, band or other musical ensemble?  Do think about it!

WEDNESDAY, MAY 06, 2009

Why Does Music Have so Much Power in the Golden Years?

This morning on CBS Sunday Morning there was a special feature on Doris Day. It brought back sooooo many memories of going to the movies on Saturday afternoons in the 50′s and 60′s and watching movies like this and singing these songs in my head for weeks afterwards. Everybody loved Doris Day and I was one of her biggest fans! The show this morning went on to say that Doris had a kind of “lullaby” quality to her voice that gave her such a universal appeal. What do you think??