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Some light in a dark, dark tunnel

Some light in a dark, dark tunnel

The Power of music is all around. It can make us happy or sad and even heal. This article recounts an experience I had recently with my grandmother who suffers from Vascular Dementia.

My grandmother was diagnosed with Vascular Dementia back in 2021. If you’ve ever had the unpleasant experience of a loved one having the same or similar diagnosis, you can relate to the journey my family and I are on. As expected, her memory has declined, but of course, she still remembers her favourite granddaughter! (Ed. Who, Mya?) This experience is akin to mourning the loss of a person despite them being alive.

This week, I was tasked with taking her to a doctor’s appointment. She was surprised to see me, forgetting I was picking her up, but happy to see me. After a rush trying to find her keys and phone, we finally got in the car and off we went. I always try to play a bit of ’60s music through the Hertz system in my car, as that was the era she grew up in. This time, I was treated to a full-on performance from her!

Aretha

We started off listening to Aretha Franklin - I Say a Little Prayer in Hi-Res on Tidal. I’m a big fan of this song. Instrument and vocal placement are very stable on my system. When the song slows down at 2:13, before the last chorus, you can clearly hear an acoustic guitar, which I hadn’t noticed before. Aretha got my grandmother singing, as I knew she would. Upon reviewing the track later, I now hear the acoustic guitar throughout the track.

Beach Boys

The next song on our playlist was God Only Knows by The Beach Boys. I know some of the words to the song, but it’s safe to say my grandmother gave me a run for my money! The background percussion sounds like the hooves of horses. This was the first thing I noticed, prompting my grandmother to match the beat using her hands on her lap. The song has good width and soundstage. I was being treated to a performance from my dashboard in front of me, and by my grandmother singing her heart out in the passenger seat.

After dropping her home, and making sure she had a good cup of tea, I then wondered, how she was able to remember these songs?

NHS England Logo

NHS England’s Clinical Director for Dementia, Alistair Burns, wrote in a blog that “musical memory is usually hardwired into the brain subconsciously, making it a form of implicit memory. Simply singing along to your favourite songs imprints those lyrics in your brain forever (almost).” Famous musicians who have been diagnosed with dementia, such as Glen Campbell, who is referenced in the blog, and Tony Bennett, were able to perform quite late into their diagnoses.

I recall watching a video that appeared on my ‘For You Page’ (FYP) on social media. This featured Lady Gaga and Tony Bennett. It was Tony Bennett’s last performance before officially retiring from the industry. To put on such a show, 5 years into his Alzheimer's disease diagnosis, and just 2 years before he passed, was incredible. He lit up while singing the songs, showing that he still had it at the ripe old age of 95. Remembering the words wasn’t an issue, and if you hadn’t known about his diagnosis, you would have put the brief pauses down to age and not his Alzheimer’s.

This was the same for my grandmother. Her face lit up when singing and dancing to the songs of her youth. Her final words before turning the car off were “play another song”. Unfortunately, I couldn’t fulfil her request because I had to head back to work, but for 20 minutes, the joy those songs gave her warmed my heart. There was light in the dark, dark tunnel – only briefly, but there it was.

Our Lauren