guitar hands Photo: Raukatauri Music Therapy Trust
Residents of two Auckland dementia facilities deliver spirited performances of classic carols on The Selwyn Foundation Christmas Album.
It's proof of how time-honoured tunes are still very much alive in the brains of people with memory illness, music therapists Sam Scott and Luke Stothart tell Nine To Noon's Kathryn Ryan.
Scott says a big part of his job as a music therapist is helping people express emotion and creativity.
"Music offers people a place to be creative and to be themselves and to connect and to communicate and do all the good things that we need as humans.
"These doors might have been locked because of various diseases or things that have happened but music can offer a key that can open up a lot of these doors.
"It can bring joy, and it can bring memories and it can remind people of their childhoods."
Auckland music therapists Luke Stothart and Sam Scott assisted people living in dementia care to record The Selwyn Foundation Christmas Album. Photo: The Raukatauri Music Therapy Trust
On The Selwyn Foundation Christmas Album, he and Stothart recorded individual vocal performances in small rooms at two Point Chevalier residences - Lavender Cottage and Iron Ward.
Residents and staff were impressed at how good the singers sounded together and delighted to get the album on CD, Scott says.
He's hopeful that other residential care facilities around Aotearoa - not just the elderly - will be inspired to create their own record.
"I've noticed when I come into the care homes I might sing a song and say 'It's really great to see you' and I've heard someone respond 'It's really great to be seen'."
You can listen to and buy a digital copy of The Selwyn Foundation Christmas Album here. (All proceeds go to Raukatauri Music Therapy Trust)
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