Making music is the key
August 8, 2019
By: Jody Moss
Email: mossjm1@dshs.wa.gov
Before I get to the main topic, let me make one more request for you to complete a survey for our Area Plan either by calling our office at 360-379-5064, or by visiting our website at https://www.o3a.org/. I wrote about this topic last month, and there is still a little bit of time to add your voice to our planning for supporting aging in our communities.
So in to the topic for today…I am on a huge variety of email lists at work and at home. Some days, I just want to yell…, okay, I actually do yell…. “Why can’t you leave me alone!?!”
But today one came across my desk that woke me up and made me sing. How many of you sang to Raffi’s music, “Baby Beluga” with your babies? Yes I am that old, and here I am with that song stuck in my head again!
Well my babies are in their mid 30’s now and the name Raffi, now 70, is a blast from the past. In the article Raffi talked about creating motivational music for adults. He also talked about Beluga Grads bringing their children to the children’s concerts he is still offering, and talking to him teary-eyed about their own childhood experiences.
It has me thinking again about the role music can play in our brain health and I have some tidbits for you.
We all know that certain songs evoke emotions in us – memories of lovely, or tearful, or even painful times. And many of us have heard of the beneficial impact of music on those with forms of dementia.
This last year, I got into Hamilton, the musical, and my daughter gave us tickets to a show. Amazing! I often play Hamilton for long trips and crank up the volume and cry when Phillip dies and again when Alexander dies. I also notice that I stay more focused and awake behind the wheel when I am singing along, and the trip zips by.
My husband and I like to put on music while we garden. Makes the day that much more lovely And the weeds just fly out of the garden. My preference is oldies, and some of the new music my children listen to. It’s so cool to trade favorite pieces with one another. And to discover something new myself on the different music platforms available today. (iTunes, Spotify, Pandora, I’m sure there are others too.)
And I love to sing, though now it is just signing along with….or singing during my faith community services. Lately, there is a short phrase I heard in a presentation on early Jewish music (like 1500 BCE) that reminds me of a piece from the 60’s/70’s that I just cannot remember and cannot get out of my head. I’ll find it one day and let you know!
At our wedding we had envisioned a band playing old big band music, as well as more current “wedding” music. I put my sister, a Jazz flautist at the time, in charge of the music and guess what, we ended up with a jazz band playing great jazz pieces from yesteryear and more from that current time (I guess that time is now yesteryear as well, LOL!). No complaints that they were not playing big band music. In fact, the drummer went on to play with Paul Simon and still does to this day. That music evokes a really wonderful day with the love of my life. And when we have gone to see Paul Simon several times over the years, my husband always suggests we try to see the percussionist after the show and remind him of what must surely have been a high point for him in his career.
Musical Memories – Eagles is my college period and one time driving across the country and a winter trip. Joni Mitchell – high school and college and a trip to Paris France when my friends kept playing a tape recording of that line, “Sitting in a park in Paris France” over and over again, as we set off for Paris.
Remember when, gasp! we heard Paul McCartney had possibly died! And the sorrow when John Lennon and later George Harrison really died? Such deep sorrow for people we never met but who are key in our lives.
When I was a child I went to a concert that played Peter and the Wolf, and I still experience the same emotions every time I hear a bassoon.
Did you know that music can also[1]:
- Change your ability to perceive time
- Tap into primal fear (thus the horrible score to Jaws)
- Reduce seizures
- Make you a better communicator
- Make you stronger
- Boost your immune system
- Assist in repairing brain damage
- Make you smarter
- Evoke memories
- Help Parkinson’s patients
- Helps us Exercise
We now know that music may protect our minds from cognitive decline. And now scientists are learning the making of music can actually be a preventative therapy for our brains.
Scientists have known for years that playing a musical instrument as a child is a way to “thicken the cortex of the brain structures that fuel motor planning and coordination, visuospatial ability and emotion and impulse regulation[2].”
But now scientists can also look at a musician’s brain and identify them as a musician. “Musicians use different parts of their brains, more of their brains and more parts of their brains simultaneously to complete tasks.*”
Musicians’ hearing is more acute, even with hearing loss, their brains are younger, and they experience joy in making music.
I have a friend who took up violin at 68 and now plays with a local orchestra, and last week she invited us to the spring concert, announcing that she is the proudly holding down the last violin seat. She is in the zone on growing younger.
I laughed when she told me. I’m not laughing now.
Jody Moss is the Director of Contracts Management & Planning for the Olympic Area Agency on Aging and can be reached at 360-379-5064. For help with senior or adults with disability issues call Information and Assistance at 360-452-3221 in Clallam and 360-385-2552 in Jefferson.
[1] https://www.ucf.edu/pegasus/your-brain-on-music/
[2] https://www.nextavenue.org/inside-a-musicians-aging-brain/