Music is a powerful stimulus, no matter what our age. From very young babies to people in old age, we react to music in a range of fascinating ways. It can calm babies who have worked themselves up into crying and distress through hunger or being over tired. Music can also help people living with dementia relieve stress, express feelings and connect with loved ones. Playing music, listening to it or joining in singing sessions have all been proven to increase happiness levels in care home residents and even improve clinical outcomes.
Music therapy, therefore, can be a highly valuable part of care provision in a residential facility. It offers a bespoke approach that seeks to meet multiple needs in residents, from emotional connection and social contact to cognitive and physical support. There is a reason why community choirs, musical theatre groups, orchestras and bands are so popular with people. Music can bring us together in a way that is uplifting and reassuring.
Why engage with music therapy in your care home?
There are many advantages to working with music therapists and specialists who use music to engage and connect with care home residents. Music therapy and music-related activity sessions help improve people’s moods, calms them down, enhances memory and encourages social contact with others. Playing familiar tunes can have a profound effect people living with dementia, who can often use the experience to access memories from long ago.
Being part of a choir or instrumental group can give people a sense of purpose, achievement and enjoyment, as they work in a group to create something lovely that can be shared in a performance to others. Dancing or exercising to music helps strengthen people’s physical health and gets them up and moving and having fun to raise the spirits and reduce anxiety. Introducing more music into your care home also gives you a great excuse to invite local music groups to visit and perform or run workshops – this adds interest to your residents’ day and provides more opportunities to interact with new faces.
How can you get started?
As with any therapy provision, initial assessments are vital in order to tailor the service to your individual residents. This involved careful analysis of residents’ needs, persona preferences, likes, dislikes and any negative or concerning associations with any forms of music. You will also need to take into account many medical conditions that could affect the efficacy of music therapy, for example if people are hearing impaired. Delving into residents’ personal records on Care Vision can also provide further insights into what type of music might be most effective to engage with them positively.
Once this is done, a music therapist will create a personalised approach for each individual taking part in the therapy sessions. This could be setting up playlists of meaningful music. If the person sings, or plays an instrument themselves, this can also be facilitated by providing sheet music, backing tracks and everything they need to enjoy making music. Sessions can be planned to be held in groups, or on a one-to-one basis for people who prefer not to join other people for the music therapy activities. Around two or three sessions per week of 30 minutes to an hour each can be an effective amount to begin with and can be adjusted as needed as the music therapy progresses and evaluations are made.
What techniques can be used?
Music therapy is highly versatile when it comes to planning specific activities. Music crosses multiple genres and ‘speaks’ to us in many different ways. Group activities can range for singalongs and setting up a care home band to exercise sessions or dance classes tailored to attendees’ abilities and physical health. Bands can be comprised of very simple instruments, such as maracas, tambourines and other percussive instruments, keyboards, recorders or anything that works for the group. Other ways to introduce music therapy into a care home include playing music in the background while doing other activities, or during mealtimes. For a more personalised approach to listening to music, you could provide headphones for residents to enjoy music without having to retire to their own rooms to do so. You could encourage residents to write their own songs if this is of interest. This exercise can be very powerful and helping in supporting people to express their emotions in a creative way.