Newswise — For an older person with dementia, a rousing rendition of big-band music might stir some memories. And when that older person claps or sings along, the brain connection is even stronger.
That’s one way music therapists can help people have a higher quality of life. Gathering together in an interactive music session can enhance memory and build social and communication skills.
Unfortunately, the COVID-19 pandemic has stopped gatherings. Senior centers have closed and people with underlying health conditions are staying home.
But at Arizona State University, the music therapy has played on. Melita Belgrave, an associate professor of music therapy in the School of Music, has had her students create virtual sessions. In the spring semester, they made videos that are being used by senior centers in the Valley. With a theme of “around the world,” the student groups performed songs, taught interactive movements and showed how to make rhythms with ordinary items like a plastic container filled with pasta. Clients can watch the videos at home and family members can help with the activities. The students also interacted on the Zoom platform with adult clients who have traumatic brain injuries.
“You think about each center serving 100 people a day, and they’re used to their social interactions, with the activities changing every 30 minutes, so they’re fast paced,” Belgrave said. “So this doesn’t mean we stop serving older adults or individuals with traumatic brain injuries. We have to provide ways for them to be interactive, and they are hungry for it.”
Therapists use a variety of techniques to elicit and reinforce the desired outcomes. The students watched how the clients responded to different interventions.
At a recent music therapy session, Belgrave and five students worked with two clients, who typically attend the Tempe Adult Day Health Services center. Everyone tuned into Zoom from their homes. The women had already been assessed by the center’s recreation therapist, who recommended goals.
Virtual therapy is so new that there isn’t much research on it, and it likely won’t work for everyone or in every setting, Belgrave said.
“There are limitations when we can’t make music together. You have to do interventions that are interactive — that will get something out of the client,” she said. “You have to be very intentional.”
ASU has the only music-therapy program in Arizona, and the outlook for jobs is bright. Therapists work in neonatal intensive care units, rehabilitation units, senior centers and hospices.
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