VE Day Celebrations Provide opportunity To Connect Music To Happy Memories
Carers and families are being encouraged to embrace VE Day as an opportunity to open conversations around music to help people living with dementia rediscover their favourite tracks.
The power of music has been proven to uniquely and universally alleviate the symptoms of dementia, getting through where many drugs and other therapies fail, improving quality of life and memory recall and reducing anxiety.
Grace Meadows, Campaign Director at Music for Dementia, said: “Sometimes, using a significant historical event can be a good way to start a conversation with a person living with dementia and explore their personal musical history.
As millions of people prepare to celebrate the 75th Anniversary of VE Day today (Friday), Music for Dementia is calling for everyone to recognise the value of music
then and now. This is even more poignant for older people unable to come out of their homes for the celebrations.
“Music can transport us to different times and places. Being able to have a musical experience that takes you out of your everyday situation is particularly important now when people are enduring heightened anxiety because they are isolated in thelockdown.
“Due to the current situation, we are all feeling a certain ‘wartime spirit’. Whatever the era, music has a unique ability to help in the care of people living with dementia but is most effective when the right music is played. We hope VE Day will give carers and loved ones an opportunity to rediscover and share some of the music from their past to reconnect in here and now.”
