I'll be participating in a panel discussion following tonight's premier of http://www.aliveinside.us/ "Alive Inside" here in Dayton. The film explores the effectiveness of music with memory loss patients, something many of us work with in a regular basis.

If anyone has a suggestions for a question they'd like to be asked, please post it here...

I'll follow up with a post about the movie as well as the discussion...

Thanks,

Bill......sounds interesting. We await your review afterwards.

Will you be performing afterwards also that would a hands on touch for the audience have fun.

Bill, as one of the more articulate members here, and one with lots of performing history, you'll be GREAT! You know first hand
how people relate to music. I use tunes to identify at particular time in the past. For instance, when asked recently about when I played the Imperial house, I remember that George Benson's "Breezing" was just released, and Masquerade was my most requested tune....year was 1977.

My work with Nursing home people reaffirms the effectiveness of
music as a "feel good" motivator.

Happy tunes trigger happy memories. Thinking about happy times encourages active "searches" of other good memories from the past.

The film is effective and significant.

You're a good man for taking the time to be involved.


Russ

Let me be as plain as possible...

If you currently perform in nursing homes or have considered it, you should see this movie.

In a way, its something that most of us have known for years. The profound ability of music to access part of an otherwise closed off human mind is a powerful thing to behold.

The premise is as follows:

What if, personalized Ipods were made available for every single person upon admission to any Nursing Home in the United States? Far cheaper than drugs, "music" is one of those "other" treatments that CMS doesn't really know what to do with.

Yet.

I don't think this is as much an educational cinematic experience as it may be an affirming one for most players who watch this film. For me, it was liberating to not actually be working, trying to reach 25-50+ residents at one time, all while playing and singing. It was a well-spent and heart-warming 90 minutes which left me more thankful that I do what I do for my living. The moments I saw on the screen this evening are duplicates of countless moments I've had over the last 18 years. I knew from the trailer I'd likely be moved to tears a few times during the film, and I wasn't wrong.

I'm not sure exactly how just yet, but I will support this effort locally in some form or fashion.

For more information on this project, visit: http://musicandmemory.org/

Bill glad you enjoyed the presentation thanx for your review. Music is certainly the "Magic Medicine"

That's fantastic Bill. And you are right, an iPod is much cheaper than drugs with no unwanted side effects.