Music Therapy Today - World Federation of Music Therapy

Aldridge, D. (2007) Dining rituals and music. Music Therapy Today (Online 1st April) Vol.VIII (1)
26-38. available at http://musictherapyworld.net
experience to reduce agitation and promote a soothing atmosphere. To
complete any ritual, we also need a musical intervention that signals that
that ritual is coming to an end and we can do this through music and
song.
To achieve coherence we have to engage in a form that exists in time. A
piece of music achieves coherence in its maintenance of form. Exactly so
with our personal form in social life. If we lose time, then we lose our
sense of coherence, and we lose our cognitive abilities too. Just as chil-
dren gain cognitive abilities with their increasing ability to hold events
together coherently in time, then we see the reverse process in the perfor-
mance of the demented – demented being literally without mental form.
This may occur as a performance difficulty through the loss of connec-
tions. My hypothesis is that music offers an alternative form for structur-
ing time that has failed in the working memory of dementia patients. Just
as developmentally delayed children achieve a working memory that
enhances their cognitive ability, then the reverse process occurs in
dementia sufferers.
On the accompanying compact disc the reader will find a set of musical
resources suitable for dining situations. First we start with a prayer fol-
lowed by a choice of songs giving thanks for food about to be eaten. The-
ses tracks can be chosen as wished. There then follows an interlude of
music suitable to accompanying dining. At the end, there is a selection of
songs to conclude the mealtime and mark the end of the dining sequence.
THE CD A compact disc of musical resources suitable for dining situations has
been compiled by David Aldridge and Lutz Neugebauer. First we start
with a prayer followed by a choice of songs giving thanks for food about
to be eaten. Theses tracks can be chosen as wished. There then follows an
interlude of music suitable to accompanying dining. At the end, there is a
CONCLUSION 34