Music and Dementia

A favourite song is played – and as if emerging from deep sleep, eyes light up, tired bodies are set in motion, voices begin speaking. Anyone dealing professional or privately with people suffering from dementia knows that one stimulant frequently sparks a veritable flood of memories and emotions. Unfortunately, nothing can be done to heal or delay the illness. Certain activities, however, can help people struggling with the loss of memory and the destruction of their own identity experience joy for a long time, giving them access to the world and their own ego. The composer and documentary filmmaker Valerij Lisac speaks to the health scientist and nursing expert Dr. Ursula Kriesten about the effects of listening to music and singing on our abilities to perceive, remember, think and communicate.

Gefördert vom Ministerium für Kultur und Wissenschaft des Landes Nordrhein-Westfalen