Music has the power to provoke distant memories that may be fleeting. Musical perception, musical emotion, and musical memory can survive long after other forms of memory and cognitive function have disappeared.

By eliciting emotion and memories, music is a unique and powerful tool to foster interconnectedness for people living with dementia with their family, friends, and carers.

The BHDA Choir meets weekly and provides connection and joy through singing uplifting songs. As Dementia can be an isolating and lonely experience, the enjoyment of the music and the fellowship that singing together provides, is so valuable. 

The choir is led by musician Geoff Hassall, and enables members to be part of a close and supportive community. After a couple of songs into the 90 minute session, members are smiling and laughing with others. It is very heartwarming.

The Choir focuses on the intrinsic value of music to support people in our community who struggle with memory loss and isolation. The weekly choir time, chats we have over the tea break and the connection it creates, supports members to understand what it means to stand by each other through the joy of music. 

"Music has a profound connection to personal memories. Listening to an old favorite song can take you back years to the moment that you first heard it. A 2009 study done by cognitive neuroscientist Petr Janata University of California.... finding that the upper medial pre-frontal cortex, also responsible for supporting and retrieving long-term memories, acts as a “hub” that links together music, emotions, and memories*”. 

- Music and the Brain: Music and Memory 1/10/2018 By Megan Reich - https://www.allclassical.org/music-and-the-brain-music-and-memory