Music awakens memories - dementia patients blossom

Music awakens emotions and memories

"The positive effects of music are easily demonstrable," adds Thomas Barth, Head Physician at the Clinic for Psychiatry, Behavioral Medicine and Psychosomatics. He regularly observes this in his patients. "The improvements brought about by music therapy are on a par with those of medication." Until now, medicine has not been able to stop the illness, but only treat its symptoms. Despite the memory loss caused by dementia, music manages to awaken emotions and memories, helps patients to become calmer and sleep better. This has also been proven by studies.

A visit to a concert can also provide a change from the daily grind, which is often burdened by care. "Some patients really push for it," explains Barth. "Even people with severe dementia can calm down, get stimulation and come back to life for a moment." It also allows those affected to take part in social life again.

Offers like the special concert in Chemnitz also exist elsewhere in Saxony. Since 2018, the Leipzig Opera has been offering music for people with dementia under the title "In mir singt ein Lied". Visitors sit in a large circle in the concert foyer of the opera house and sing operetta arias, pop songs or folk songs together with piano accompaniment.

When the loved one comes back to life despite dementia

"The demand is unabatedly high, the dates are always booked up very quickly," says opera spokeswoman Gudula Kienemund. The response is moving. She has personally witnessed "how people start to smile and even dance who otherwise seem completely lost in an unknown world". It is also a deeply emotional experience for the relatives to see how their loved ones with dementia come to life.

For the special concert in Chemnitz, the musicians of the Robert Schumann Philharmonic Orchestra are leaving their usual rooms and inviting people to the university library. Some other things are different too. The pieces will be played in excerpts and the concert is limited to one hour so as not to overwhelm the audience, as dramaturge Friederike Pank explains. From an hour before the start, they can familiarize themselves with the venue and talk to the musicians. The seating is arranged loosely and there is the option to leave the room at any time. "If someone claps along or gets up and dances, that's no problem."

In addition to groups, couples and families with children and grandchildren have also registered. And Pank and Reiners are already certain that the new format will be continued next season.

• Special concert for people with dementia
• Information from the German Alzheimer Society on dementia
• Offer "In mir singt ein Lied" from the Leipzig Opera

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