by On a stage once managed by Luciano Pavarotti, Dame Kiri Te Kanawa and Renée Fleming, people with dementia record songs they have composed.
As the Glyndebourne Opera House microphones capture every note, their voices rise and intertwine. They don’t repeat old, familiar melodies, but form completely new pieces that express their feelings, hopes and fears – emotions that their brain can no longer put into mere words when the music stops.
“The public perception of people diagnosed with dementia is that everything is done,” said Hazel Gaydon, events manager for the charity Raise Your Voice. “However, our excitement comes from the fact that we have discovered that musical creativity can produce original words and melodies based on present and future thinking.”
Last year, with support from Glyndebourne, the Royal Academy of Music, the Alzheimer’s Society and Arts Council England, the charity helped people with dementia and their carers compose original new music for the nine-track CD Murmuration.
It’s the first time either of them have written songs – and the process has unlocked sensations and memories that everyday life could no longer reach, and the music captures the remaining threads that connect them to the world around them.
Weekly workshops, supported by musicians, artists and trained facilitators, encourage participants to articulate and share their inner worlds as inspiration for composition.
Colin, 80, in the later stages of his illness, responded to the question: “What are you looking forward to?” with the answer – contained in a song – “I dream of going up in a hot air balloon.”
The key question of another session, “What does music mean to you?”, prompted Barbara, also in her 80s and in the later stages of illness, to say a line that also became a song lyric: “It reminds me that there is a world outside my door.”
Gaydon said these reactions were worthwhile: “For someone who feels increasingly constricted by dementia, it is a moment of wonderful clarity to suddenly realize that there is still a world out there.”
Emily Barden, a professional choir director, said the charity’s work was “unprecedented”. “Composing songs with people with dementia has never happened before,” she said. “It’s an absolutely incredible experience: the participants have absolutely blown me away with their creative engagement and willingness to get involved.”
The charity’s work has attracted the attention of neurological experts. Chris Bird, Professor of Cognitive Neuroscience at the School of Psychology at the University of Sussex and Director of Sussex Neuroscience, is researching ways to work with this.
“This project is fascinating and unique: it combines things we know about music with the new perspective of translating them into songs and collaborations,” he said.
“Through the sessions, we saw that participants’ residual memory and conversation skills, previously absent, were unlocked through the invigorating experience of actively making music,” he said. “And we saw that this effect lasted for a while after the music ended.”
The charity doesn’t want to expand, but it does want to help others learn from its success. Online tutorials are currently being created to help others set up similar groups.
It also aims to draw the attention of dementia researchers to what they believe is an overlooked form of cognitive and emotional support.
“Our work is tangible evidence that creative collaboration can provide meaningful cognitive and emotional stimulation,” said Phil Dover, co-founder of the charity.
“The music is proof that dementia does not erase the ability to create. And that the act of creating – listening, remembering and composing – can open new avenues of expression and connection long after memory begins to fade.”
Jane Haughton, the charity’s artistic director and a former Royal Opera House singer, said the project revealed “a surprising gift of dementia”.
“It sounds really strange to say something about someone with dementia,” she said. “But the joy and hope that comes from making music together is so positive and hopeful.
“If people could just capture and bottle a little of the joy we have in our sessions, it would help so many families across our country who are facing such a sad diagnosis.”
