PIANO FOR MEMORY & MENTAL HEALTH
Use of Active Music Tuition in the Prevention and Treatment of Alzheimer’s and Dementia
Cognitive Benefits of Learning Music
Engaging in mentally stimulating activities throughout life is associated with better cognitive function, reduced cognitive decline and a reduced risk of developing dementia. Learning to play and understand music is a multilayered cerebral exercise which stimulates the brain and is therefore a great way to reduce the risk of developing dementia.
There is no doubt that music has incredible power to affect us emotionally and physically especially for individuals with dementia or Alzheimer’s disease. For those who are already suffering from dementia, music therapy in the form of playlists tailored to an individual and their life, has been proven to help manage the cognitive and emotional symptoms. For those in the early stages of Alzheimer’s and dementia actively learning to play music (on the piano, singing and using percussion) is a great addition to passively listening to recorded songs and can be used as a tool to improve an individuals life.
In piano playing, the right and left sides of our brain are utilised, and the motor skills are developed. The piano player reads two staffs at the same time (the treble staff and the bass staff), and is often playing with two hands. He/She is simultaneously reading multiple notes as well as directions. In addition to playing the right notes, the student must play these notes in the right rhythm, ie. holding them for their correct lengths. Each hand will hold different notes for different lengths. All of this, including dynamic indications are being coordinated and integrated simultaneously and thus playing the piano is a fantastic cerebral exercise!
Sight-reading is another activity that requires tremendous brain function. This is reading something for the first time, and doing all of the above mentioned interpretation immediately and accurately. It requires the piano player to incorporate and integrate everything at once. Improvisation could be referenced as the opposite of site reading and involves making up music on the go, based upon musical knowledge and knowing what notes are in key. We use simplified forms of improvising from the very first lesson as a form of self expression. Music is an incredible form of creative self-expression, and can communicate emotions where words end.
Above are some of the many examples why the study of piano and music has wondrous effects on our mind and cognitive abilities. In addition to playing the piano, our school incorporates singing and percussion into every lesson. We all have hands and we all have voices, so lets use them to create, express and keep our minds active!
Program Outline
In all our classes we tailor the approach to the individual student and their mental state. Music lessons focus on piano but include singing and percussion. Lessons are broken into half hour or hour sessions. We provide keyboards, song books and percussion instruments. One or two lessons per week are recommended depending on the student.
For patients who are suffering severe dementia we use a colour coding system for reading the music as opposed to reading traditional music notes. For all students who are able, we will teach the traditional theory behind reading music including timing and dynamic signs. Next comes the technique required to move around the piano using scales. We use scales to teach the concept of a musical key i.e. playing C major scale will teach us the notes in the key of C major.
Once the concept of a key is understood (where possible), we can begin with some simple improvising exercises with the teacher playing harmonic chords on the lower end of the piano and the student doing single note melodies in the top half of the piano. In this way we take the technical aspect of scales and use it in our freeform creativity. This creative time of self expression is a favourite for teacher and student.
Percussion is a fantastic way to engage a students rhythm. Some students will say they have no rhythm but we absolutely do not believe this. Rhythm is innate but needs training. Using bongos, jembes, drumsticks, and our hands for clapping we can learn to stay on beat, hold a beat for someone else and how to swing off beat but stay in time. These are fantastic cerebral exercises especially when playing with a partner on another percussion instrument or a melodic instrument.
In this manner we break our lessons into three sections:
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Technique: scales, theory, finger strengthening.
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Songs: we are constantly working on a repertoire of songs. These can be from the provided music books or if a student has a request we will work on their personal songs.
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Creativity: in this section we work on our own creative projects and also practise improvising based upon the techniques we have learnt or practised earlier in the session.
Everything discussed above can vary depending on the individual students capacity but this is an overview of how we approach teaching piano.
Contact Us
Due the increased evidence of cerebral exercise reducing cognitive decline, we believe learning to play music has in important part to play in assisting the ageing brain and soul. Learning a multilayered skill as well as a form of self expression can add a beautiful new element to ones life. To help maintain maximum cognitive ability and provide new creative outlets, have one of our trained teachers bring the joy of music to your facility. If you would like to book a trial or discuss our program further, please call at anytime or email to the details below. We are more than happy to answer all your questions!