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Raymond Morris

Nathan Hellman

English Composition II

18 November 2021

Everyone has heard about people with dementia or Alzheimer’s sitting down at

the piano and playing something perfect from memory. Is there something about music

itself that stimulates their memory or is it the vibration waves that we perceive as

different notes that help them remember. If they do help stimulate the brain, then what

are the practical applications that could possibly help someone in need. “One such

controlled study investigated this and found that, while not universal, memory for music

is preserved in a proportion of people with AD (Alzheimer’s disease) while other

memory is lost. The recognition of familiar or unfamiliar memories may be impaired, but

the ability to play a musical instrument may be retained.” (Nair, et al).

Music therapy is not a new concept, but it still remains very obscure and

understandably hard to measure. The first recorded use of music therapy was back in

the late 1700s to early 1800s. (AMTA) “In the 1940s, three persons began to emerge as

innovators and key players in the development of music therapy as an organized clinical

profession.” (AMTA) According to that same website, E. Thayer Gaston, also known as

the father of modern music therapy, was instrumental in establishing the first music

therapy departments in colleges. “The first music therapy college training programs

were also created in the 1940s. Michigan State University established the first academic

program in music therapy (1944) and other universities followed suit, including the
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University of Kansas, Chicago Musical College, College of the Pacific, and Alverno

College.” (AMTA)

One similarity with music therapy that carries with both people with Alzheimer’s

and dementia is that the music helps improve their mood. Researchers did an

experiment where they pumped Baroque era classical music through a residential home

housing dementia patients. This music included pieces by Handel, Bach, Vivaldi, and

Corelli. They pumped the music through the home 3 hours a night for 14 nights.

“Challenging behaviors were identified and measured in frequency and severity on a

devised rating scale. It was the first study in this area of nonpatient-preferred ambient

music and yielded strongly positive results, ie, a 40% reduction in challenging

behaviors.” (Nair, et al) The effect only lasted until the music stopped playing and they

returned to their original baseline level of challenging behaviors. This concludes that at

least as of now music therapy is not a permanent fix, but it can be a temporary fix.

“To understand the functional implications of preserved music cognitive abilities,

we must first define and measure what it means to respond to music or to function in

musical activities.” (Baird, et al, 4) This is the problem with measuring this sort of

therapy. It is difficult to establish a definition for being engaged with music. “Our working

definition of engagement is borrowed from the Comprehensive Process Model (CPM),

which proposes that engagement is ‘the act of being occupied or involved with an

external stimulus’” (Baird, et al, 4)

Another study suggests that music comes into the brain through more complex

neural pathways. “Music processing encompasses a complex neural network that

recruits from all areas of the brain, including subcortical areas such as the basal
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ganglia, nucleus accumbens, ventral tegmental area, hypothalamus, and cerebellum

and cortical areas such as the medial prefrontal cortex and orbitofrontal cortex that are

affected at a slower rate in AD compared to the areas of the brain typically associated

with memory.” (Simmons-Stern) As easy as it is to get lost in all of that scientific jargon,

but what it is saying is music encompasses all areas of the brain unlike other stimuli like

colors or touch. It also forms more complex sequences of neuron activation and

communication that are rooted deeper in the brain. This suggests that Alzheimer’s

disease can erode pathways throughout the brain, and the simpler neuron sequences,

but the neural pathways that deal with music are deeper and harder to erode.

So we’ve seen that music can help improve brain function and mood in people

with dementia and Alzheimer’s disease. What about other parts of the body other than

the brain. Can therapy with vibration plates or other methods of administration help with

muscle function? A study was conducted where people who suffered a stroke, or

someone with Parkinson’s disease took two balance and gait tests before and after

vibration therapy. They took the BBS and the TUG test. BBS stands for Berg Balance

test, and TUG stands for Timed Up and Go test. They received WBV (whole body

vibration) using a power plate vibration platform. “No significant differences were found

between the two groups in the pre-treatment evaluation based on the BBS and TUG

scores. After treatment, statistically significant improvements were found in the WBV

group for both the BBS scores when compared to the control group.” (Sade, et al) “On

gait analysis, statistically significant differences between the two groups were observed

in two of the parameters assessed. Significant increases in step length and walking

speed were observed in the WBV group.” (Sade, et al)

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According to all of my sources possible answers to my research question would

be yes and no. WBV has been seen to help in certain ailments for the physical attributes

of the body. However, the music therapy side of it is temporary and less effective with

matters of the mind. It is seen only to improve mood for only as long as the music is

playing.
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Work Cited
American Music Therapy Association. "History Therapy." American Music
Therapy Association, https://www.musictherapy.org/about/history/. Accessed 15
November 2021.
Baird, Amee, et al. Music and Dementia: From Cognition Therapy. Walton Street,
Oxford University Press, 2019. https://oxford-universitypressscholarship-
com.sinclair.ohionet.org/view/10.1093/oso/9780190075934.001.0001/oso-
9780190075934
Cerciello, Simon, et al. “Clinical applications of vibration therapy in orthopaedic
practice.” National Center for Biotechnology Information, 19 May 2016,
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4915454/. Accessed 13
November 2021
Devere, Ronald. "Music and Dementia: An Overview." Practical Neurology, June
2017, https://practicalneurology.com/articles/2017-june/music-and-dementia-an-
overview. Accessed 14 November 2021.
Nair, Balakrishnan. "Music and dementia." DovePress, 4 September 2013,
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6065612/. Accessed 14
November 2021.
Sade, llgin, et al. “The Effect of Whole Body Vibration Treatment on Balance and
Gait in Patients with Stroke.” Noropsikiyatri Arsivi, 20 August 2019,
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7735153/. Accessed 13
November 2021
Simmons-Stern, Nicolas R, et al. “Music as a Memory Enhancer in Patients with
Alzheimer’s Disease.” HHS Public Access,
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2914108/. Accessed 17
November 2021.