Volume 22 Issue 7 - April 2017

Amy
Clements-Cortes
the production
of endorphins.
“These are
the chemicals
causing the pleasurable
runner’s
high,” she says.
Rapid music
also ratchets up
arousal, ramping
up breathing and
heart rate.
Music also gives
us a high akin
to the glow of
good sex or the lure of gambling. MRI scans have shown that listening
to music engages the reward centre of the brain and triggers the
discharge of the feel-good chemical, dopamine, says Thaut.
Tunes also counteract the immobility of depression. When people
listen to music, the part of the brain responsible for movement
becomes activated. Even if they continue sitting, their minds are in
flight, says Thaut.
Anxiety is another common consequence of Alzheimer’s, says
Thaut. As the disease progresses, patients no longer recognize their
surroundings, their loved ones, or even their own memories. These
deficits leave them feeling disoriented and can lead to agitation –
yelling, resisting a bath, or even hitting loved ones.
Gina Scenna wanders up and down the hallways of Villa Colombo.
She appears angry and confused. “She’s trying to look for something
but she can’t find it,” says behaviour specialist Anna Abrantes.
Abrantes puts on her iPod filled with her favourite Italian songs.
Scenna’s expression softens. She grabs Abrantes’ hands and starts
dancing, bopping up and down in time to the music. When she tires,
she sits down calmly, eyes closed, rapt in reverie.
Inspired by the movie Alive Inside, about the benefits of music on
dementia, the Alzheimer Society of Toronto supplies free iPods, loaded
with individualized music, to clients with dementia.
Our bodies are soothed by music, says Clements-Cortes. We
produce oxytocin when we hear pleasant songs. This substance,
known as the “the cuddle hormone,” is normally released in the presence
of our lovers. “It gives us a feeling of contentment.” Listening
to familiar tunes is also comforting and dials down our stress
hormone, cortisol.
Music can be particularly reassuring to agitated Alzheimer’s
patients, says Thaut. Its ability to stir memories back to life reduces
clients’ disorientation. “If a person feels more anchored to themselves
and to their environments, that makes them more secure.”
Music benefits the caregivers too, says Vanstone. “It’s tremendously
rewarding to see their loved ones spark up a little bit.” As well, significant
others don’t need to fear the side effects, including falls, which
are an inevitable consequence of antipsychotics used to treat agitation.
The choir sings its final song, Shalom Aleichem (Hebrew for “Peace
be upon you”). As the last harmonies soar to the ceiling, Clements-
Cortes claps her hands. “Great job, excellent,” she says.
She is thrilled with the way music has temporarily turned back the
clock on the singers’ lives. “Using music someone enjoys and has a
connection to helps to revive their personality,” she says. “It’s like their
old self is back for a little bit.”
The man in the green pants walks up to her at the end of the practice.
He probably can’t articulate why he feels so stoked after an hour
of singing. But he knows one thing. “I love you a bushel and a peck,”
he tells his choir leader, referring to the lyrics of one of the golden
oldies. Clements-Cortes is moved. “I’m honoured to work as a music
therapist. I love seeing the benefits of music in their lives,” she says.
To obtain an iPod for your loved one, see alz.to/get-help/
music-project.
Vivien Fellegi is a former family physician now
working as a freelance medical journalist.
WE ARE ALL MUSIC’S CHILDREN
April’s Child
John Beckwith
MJ BUELL
For about 40 years John Beckwith has lived with his life-partner, Kathleen
McMorrow – more than 30 of those years in an Annex semi they love. Beyond
his musical career his strong interests include cycle-touring and Scottish
country dancing. As a contribution to environmental preservation he collects
elastic bands which he donates to a local supermarket.
April’s child was in fact born in March, in 1927. There is
something nearly poetic that his 90th birthday is the same year
as Canada’s 150th.
“What I would love to see in Canadian music and probably never
will, but still hope, is that there would be pieces from the Canadian
repertoire that Canadians would feel they possessed, the way
they possess the novels of Margaret Laurence or the paintings of
AY Jackson.”
– John Beckwith, the self-described “optimistic pessimist” in
conversation with Eitan Cornfield – Canadian Composers Portrait:
John Beckwith.
Composer, writer, pianist, teacher, administrator, cyclist and
consummate Canadian, John Beckwith was born and grew up in
Victoria, BC. His father, whose family settled in Nova Scotia in the
1760s, was a lawyer and his mother was a teacher and a school trustee.
Beckwith first came to Toronto at the age of 17 on a piano scholarship,
60 | April 1, 2017 - May 7, 2017 thewholenote.com