Dementia has weakened Markku Snellman’s speech, but he still sings

Markku Snellman has difficulty speaking because of dementia, but he can still sing with a choir. His experience shows how music can engage people with memory disorders, Yle reports.

Snellman and his wife, Sinikka, attend weekly rehearsals of a memory choir in Salo. The mixed choir brings together people with dementia, their close relatives and other amateur singers.

“Markku sings along. He has a good singing voice,” Sinikka Snellman says. She sometimes points out when the choir turns a page so he can follow the right line.

Terhi Lehtovaara, a care musician with the Salo parish who leads the choir, says many people can sing even when their speech has become limited. The group’s rehearsals last an hour and a half, and music helps participants stay focused, she says.

Music can support mood and interaction

A research group led by Seppo Soinila, emeritus professor of neurology at the University of Turku, has found that music can bring pleasure and positive emotions, reduce low mood and loneliness, and encourage interaction.

Soinila says singing in a choir is also cognitively demanding: participants learn lyrics and parts, follow the conductor and listen to other singers. Music is listed as a non-drug treatment in the latest Current Care Guidelines for people with dementia.

Music that is personally meaningful can remain familiar as dementia progresses, Soinila says. The brain area that recognises previously heard music is among the last to be damaged in Alzheimer’s disease. Listening to familiar music can increase blood flow in the brain and the release of chemicals associated with mood, while reducing stress hormones, he says.

Researchers call for music rehabilitation

Soinila’s research group says music rehabilitation should be considered as part of care for people with dementia. Studies have also found that using music in care homes can reduce the strain on staff.

Raija and Jouko Kylä-Ketola, from Paimio, have attended events organised by the Salo Memory Association and joined the choir last spring. They say the songs and supportive atmosphere have been valuable, offering support to both Raija, who has dementia, and Jouko.