Subject: Re: Music and mood and Dementia From: Steve Beet <steve.beet@xxxxxxxx> Date: Sat, 10 Nov 2012 17:29:54 +0000 List-Archive:<http://lists.mcgill.ca/scripts/wa.exe?LIST=AUDITORY>Hi Kevin, There are certainly some interesting points there, although I don't have the time or expertise to conduct any significant research of my own in this area. I'll leave that to the experts! And as regards the production vs perception debate, it would certainly be interesting to see if the improvement in mood observed in dementia sufferers (and others) is primarily due to the perception of the music being played to them, with singing along/clapping merely being a side-effect of the improved mood, or whether it's the "musical" production activity which most important, with the music being played to the patients simply providing a catalyst to encourage musical activity. Steve On Sat, 10 Nov 2012 11:39:13 -0500 Kevin Austin <kevin.austin@xxxxxxxx> wrote: > > Steve [and others] > > You sound like one of the 'ideal' candidates to look into the resilience of 'musicing' as a function of 'brain structure'. From your note you indicate that you have a positive response to 'musics', but do not fit into the cultural norm that 'musicing' is the reproduction of sounds in a language-specific way [singing, or more fundamentally 'toning', and holding a beat, or more fundamentally connecting physical movement to the creation of an auditory stimulus]. > > My observations of the inclusion of dementia patients into the creative process was not a binary position; there was no "or". > > My very small experience with 'changing musical preferences' is that it is very specific to the individual. Progressive [verbal] language loss can be heard as a loss of vocabulary, and a loss of subtleties of syntax [conjugations / agreements / pronouns etc]. The language appears to lose 'depth' - ie, the understanding progressively losses hierarchical qualities. Metaphor may be lost: "a rose is a rose", no longer understood as the flower that arose in the garden. > > Similarly in my [in situ] observations, 'musical comprehension' [sic] like verbal language requires work. Popular musics transform slowly and their [collective] language moves at the pace of the slowest ship, thus there has been little shift in the basic musical language of western popular music for the past 40 years or so. > > Concert / classical musics [within the western tradition] to be understood at non-surface levels [in many cases] require amounts of musical study / training. Consider the situation where the late-Beethoven quartets required some 50+ years to become 'understood' by a more general population. Fifty years after its completion, the Second String Quartet of Elliott Carter http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YC6qTmsAnQI remains opaque to many audiences. > > I imagine that as I lose cognitive function, the Carter quartet will disappear from my semantic before Bohemian Rhapsody. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tgbNymZ7vqY > > > > Kevin > asp-30 > > > > On 2012, Nov 9, at 6:15 AM, Steve Beet wrote: > > > Hi Ross and Kevin, > > > > While visting a care home recently I did notice very strong reactions to music in a few of the dementia patients. This included clapping and "singing along", especially with the more up-tempo songs. Surprisingly, given the level of cognitive and motor impairment which the patients exhibited in other contexts, most of these activities were largely in tune and in sync with the music. As much as one would expect from people of that age, at any rate! > > > > The mood of the affected people was indeed very positive, so I would hypothesise that some sort of music therapy would indeed be very helpful to them. However, the rest (most) of the patients seemed largely unaffected, so I suspect that such therapy might not be universally effective. > > > > I'm also unsure whether therapy which only consists of getting the patients to *create* music would be appropriate to all (I speak here as someone who has had a strong interest and appreciation of music all my life, but who has yet to sing a single note in tune or hold a beat). In my case at least, any attempt to get me to produce music would be doomed from the outset! For some dementia patients, I would suggest that music therapy based around music appreciation, rather than production, might be more effective. > > > > Taking it one step further, I wonder whether a change in musical preferences, or listening habits in general, might be useful as a diagnostic indicator for this type of disease? I have observed this, but haven't conducted a scientific study, as it's not my field. Does anyone know whether this has been investigated? > > > > All the best, > > > > > > Steve Beet > > > > > > > > On Fri, 9 Nov 2012 05:06:23 -0500 > > Kevin Austin <kevin.austin@xxxxxxxx> wrote: > > > >> I have a colleague working with dementia patients providing them with music therapy. The work is largely based around composition and improvisation, in fact, almost exclusively. The client is engaged in imagery and visualization as the therapist suggests scenes [or moods]. Each member of the group [from 1 to 4] has a small percussion instrument to shake or hit. The therapist improvises a few notes and receives input as how to continue the contour and rhythm of the melodic phrase. Notes and rhythms are added, and the clients play along showing the beats. 'Accurate' participation is often in the 20 - 60% range. > >> > >> The 'musicing' is mostly compositional / improvisatory / variational as it calls upon elements of musical memory. Each member [some with aphasia] indicates which part of the scene their contribution reflects - the sky, water, fields, sadness etc. My colleague treats music as a living organism, one which is in a process of continuous creation rather than an object to be observed from outside. > >> > >> Hope this is of use. > >> > >> Kevin > >> > >> > >> > >> On 2012, Nov 8, at 1:06 AM, Ross Alexander Hendler wrote: > >> > >>> On this subject I have a close family member that has developed a > >>> severe case of Lewy Body Dementia. Occasionally he will hum melodies > >>> and gets very emotional when doing so. He won't listen to the music he > >>> used to enjoy because it makes him quite depressed. Does anyone have > >>> any suggestions for any sort of music therapy techniques? I have a > >>> feeling that in this case music could have the potential of profound > >>> and positive feedback. Any feedback would be appreciated. > >>> > >>> Ross > >>> > >>> On Nov 6, 2012, at 9:48 PM, Peter Lennox <P.Lennox@xxxxxxxx> wrote: > >>> > >>>> This was an interesting line of reading, thanks for that. > >>>> > >>>> One thing that occurred to me: have any studies examined the relationship between intended emotion (in the composer/musician) and 'received emotion' (in the listener)? - in other words, has anyone characterised the extent to which music is (or is not) communicative, and if so, to what extent is it a deterministic chain from 'input to output', as it were? > >>>> > >>>> Of course, I'm simplifying, because, in many cultures and types of music, the music makers and the music consumers are the same group, so it's not necessary to posit a 'one-way street' > >>>> > >>>> regards > >>>> ppl > >>>> Dr Peter Lennox > >>>> > >>>> School of Technology, > >>>> Faculty of Arts, Design and Technology > >>>> University of Derby, UK > >>>> e: p.lennox@xxxxxxxx > >>>> t: 01332 593155 > >>>> ________________________________________ > >>>> From: AUDITORY - Research in Auditory Perception [AUDITORY@xxxxxxxx On Behalf Of Anders Genell [anders.genell@xxxxxxxx > >>>> Sent: 06 November 2012 08:48 > >>>> To: AUDITORY@xxxxxxxx > >>>> Subject: Re: Music and mood > >>>> > >>>> Dear Dr Tollin, > >>>> > >>>> I would strongly recommend to read a paper by my former supervisor (and your namesake) Dr Daniel Västfjäll and his colleague Dr Patrik Juslin on music and mood. They have done a very thorough review of the field and in addition post a number of hypotheses. You can find it here: http://nemcog.smusic.nyu.edu/docs/JuslinBBSTargetArticle.pdf > >>>> > >>>> Best regards, > >>>> Anders > >>>> > >>>> 5 nov 2012 kl. 06:11 skrev "Tollin, Daniel" <Daniel.Tollin@xxxxxxxx<mailto:Daniel.Tollin@xxxxxxxx>>: > >>>> > >>>> Hi all, > >>>> > >>>> I have been tasked to give a brief introductory lecture on sound, music and its impact on mood and other neurological disorders as part of a larger symposium on neurological disorders. I know enough about audition and music, but not much about the interplay of hearing and mood and the effect of sound on anxiety and/or neurological disorders. Could anybody direct me to some reviews, demonstrations and/or PowerPoint slides that I might be able to use (of course, full acknowledgement would be given)? > >>>> > >>>> Also I would like to highlight the possible role of hearing loss in neurological disorders such as Alzheimer’s, depression, anxiety, etc. I understand that one of the best predictors of the onset and severity of some of these disorders is social isolation…and that one of the best predictors of social isolation is hearing loss or problems. Are their studies that have linked hearing problems with these disorders? Could somebody recommend some readings on this topic? > >>>> > >>>> I know that the list has several musicologists and music therapists, etc., and hopefully somebody knowledgeable about the relationship between hearing and neurological disorders. > >>>> > >>>> Thanks in advance. > >>>> > >>>> Daniel J. Tollin, PhD > >>>> Associate Professor > >>>> > >>>> University of Colorado School of Medicine > >>>> Department of Physiology and Biophysics/Mail Stop 8307 > >>>> Research Complex 1-N, Rm 7106 > >>>> 12800 East 19th Ave > >>>> Aurora, CO 80045 > >>>> > >>>> _____________________________________________________________________ > >>>> The University of Derby has a published policy regarding email and reserves the right to monitor email traffic. If you believe this email was sent to you in error, please notify the sender and delete this email. Please direct any concerns to Infosec@xxxxxxxx >