effectiveness lies in the manner in
which music enters our brain in the
first place and leaves a neurological
imprint that attaches itself to emotion, thought and movement. Neurologist, Dr. Oliver Sachs explains, “Music
has the ability to activate more parts
of the brain than any other stimulus.
It seems to be a cultural invention
which makes use of parts of the brain
developed for other purposes. Not
only auditory parts, but visual parts,
emotional parts, the lower level of
the cerebellum base which correlates
to coordination.” Incredibly enough,
these parts of the brain that are quite
receptive to and affected by music
are the last parts of the brain to be
affected by dementia.
Thus, meaningful music that is
correlated to memories can serve as
a key to unlocking the forgotten past
and re-establishing a sense of identity.
Dr. Connie Tomaino of the Institute for
Music and Neurologic Function says,
“By exciting or awakening those pathways, we have a gateway to stimulate
and reach somebody who is otherwise
unreachable.” A common reaction
to the confusion and forgetfulness
of dementia is to retreat inward and
away from surroundings, especially
within a nursing home type setting;
music stimulation can lift a patient
out of their shell of confused isolation. There are also more preventative
cases where musical engagement has
shown to slow down the progression
of dementia, allowing people to prolong their normal life at home.
Today, there are about 5 million
people in the United States suffering
from dementia, and that number is
projected to potentially double by
2050. The truth is that at some point,
many of these people will be put into
nursing homes that are failing to meet
some very important human needs.
Imagine living your entire life with
the freedom to make your own decisions, to be with the people you love,
to go where you want to go, and sometimes quite suddenly, that autonomy
is gone. Basic aspects of daily living
are set in stone, leaving little room for
improvisation and spontaneity.
This imposed routine in conjunction with the confusion caused by the
disease itself, is a recipe for an inward
retreat that becomes increasingly
difficult to break out of as time goes
on. “Music can create spontaneity that
you cannot create in an institution.
It takes you to a place where you can
leave the regimen and go off into a
world that you create and you connect with on your terms,” says Dr. G.
Allen Power, MD. Beyond the obvious
necessity of food, shelter and clothing, these are deeply personal human needs that are essential for the
wellbeing of patients. Unfortunately,
implementing an alternative, nonpharmaceutical solution that clearly
demonstrates relief from suffering
and that can be explained scientifically, is an uphill battle for Dan.
Perhaps this is because, in many
ways, the United States healthcare
system holds a very narrow view
of the patient and the treatment of
choice often is the one where drug
companies have much to gain. According to Dr. Bill Thomas, MD, “Our
healthcare system imagines the human being to be a very complicated
machine that we’ve figured out how
to turn the dials on. We have medicine that adjusts the dials. We haven’t
done anything to touch the heart
and soul of the patient. What we are
spending on drugs that mostly don’t
work dwarfs what it would take to
deliver personalized music. The real
business is in the pill bottle, trust me.”
In our overdependence on prescription drugs, have we lost the ability to
seriously entertain other treatments
and evolve our system for the wellbeing of our citizens?
Alive Inside ties all of these points
together and leads viewers towards
a basic question: “What does it mean
to be elderly in America?” In a society
that values youth, sex and productivity, do we genuinely care about people
who are physically deteriorating, no
longer able to keep up in a “put-yourhead-down-and-go” environment?
Do we believe that seniors’ lives are
precious and that they have valuable
experiential wisdom to offer? And
if so, do we take the time to listen?
These are important questions to ask
ourselves as a nation, but we can also
start by reflecting upon our own relationships with older family members
and friends. In them we can also see
ourselves and the whole of humanity
bound together by a natural desire for
love in the face of suffering.
Alive Inside affords us the opportunity to spend some close-up time
with old age, sickness and death—
the inevitable facts of life that most
people choose not to contemplate.
But examining these certainties has
the power to awaken our inherent
compassionate nature while pressing upon us a great sense of urgency
to help everyone live life from that
place. Throughout our lives, there
is nothing more important to be
reminded of.
Ryan Zepp is a writer who is passionate about
offering personal insight into the many functions and experiences that belong to music.
IMAGINE l SPRING 2016 21