The role of singing familiar songs in encouraging conversation among people with middle to late stage Alzheimer's disease.

BACKGROUND: Language deficits in people with Alzheimer's disease (AD) manifest, among other things, in a gradual deterioration of spontaneous speech. People with AD tend to speak less as the disease progresses and their speech becomes confused. However, the ability to sing old tunes sometimes remains intact throughout the disease. OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to explore the role of singing familiar songs in encouraging conversation among people with middle to late stage AD. METHODS: Six participants attended group music therapy sessions over a one-month period. Using content analysis, we qualitatively examined transcriptions of verbal and sung content during 8 group sessions for the purpose of understanding the relationship between specific songs and conversations that occurred during and following group singing. RESULTS: Content analysis revealed that songs from the participants' past-elicited memories, especially songs related to their social and national identity. Analyses also indicated that conversation related to the singing was extensive and the act of group singing encouraged spontaneous responses. After singing, group members expressed positive feelings, a sense of accomplishment, and belonging. CONCLUSIONS: Carefully selecting music from the participants' past can encourage conversation. Considering the failure in spontaneous speech in people with middle to late stage AD, it is important to emphasize that group members' responses to each other occurred spontaneously without the researcher's encouragement.

Emotional communicability in improvised music: the case of music therapists.

Musical improvisation is considered an efficient way to express emotions in music therapy. We examined the ability of music therapists (MTs) to convey emotions and their ability to accurately decode the emotional content of musical improvisations. Twenty-one MTs improvised on emotions they found difficult or easy to express in life, using or not using an emotional imagery technique. Fifty-five judges, some being MTs others nontherapists, evaluated the emotional content of the improvisations. Results showed that neither experience in therapy, nor musicianship or gender of the improviser were connected to emotional communicability (EC). Emotions that were reported as easy to express in life were communicated more accurately than those difficult to express in life. Emotional imagery did not facilitate and, to some extent, hindered emotional communicability. Some emotions were found to be difficult to express (e.g., anger) in comparison to others (e.g., happiness). MTs decoded the emotional content of the improvisations more accurately than nontherapists. Implications for the practical musical and emotional training of music therapists are discussed.