Translator: Takashi Tomisu Reviewer: Denise RQ
I think you see I'm a musician.
I have more than 40 years of professional career
as a flutist, as a conductor, as a composer, and as a music critic.
During these 40 years,
I have visited more than 200 nursing homes,
and I have played for many dementia patients.
Of course, dementia in Japanese is " ninchi-sho."
Today, I'm going to tell you about
what I'm doing for dementia patients with music.
So, before going further,
let me play one of my original tunes first.
The song title is "Deserted Love."
I composed this music for all the street children in the world.
It's a prayer song.
I hope you enjoy it.
(Flute music starts)
(Applause)
Thank you! Thank you.
If this is an ordinary concert,
between you and me, there is a distance;
it's OK, it looks very natural. It looks very normal to me.
But when you perform before dementia patients,
it's not acceptable.
Why? Why not? Why not acceptable?
Because when you perform before dementia patients,
You have to show your respect and dignity.
Otherwise, music doesn't reach.
Reach to where?
Music doesn't reach to where?
To their heart, of course.
And so,
I have to tell you about how to perform before dementia patients
In nursing homes.
Do you know how?
You already have an answer.
Don't you remember what I did right now? With the audience?
Let me explain this.
There are three tips, OK?
Number one: I played so close to you; we almost touch.
I could touch you. You could touch me.
This closeness is very important.
Number two: I was playing at the same eye level.
I didn't look down, I didn't look up.
You have to play at the same eye level.
And thirdly, I was looking in your eyes all the time.
Did you realize that?
These three tips are very useful
to show your respect and dignity to the dementia patients.
But unfortunately,
I have never found this kind of attitude in most nursing homes so far.
But I shouldn't say 'never,' because I am doing it.
Speaking of dementia,
I'm not how much you know about their behavior;
there is a typical behavior of dementia patients.
Of course, it depends on what the cause of dementia is,
but there are two aspects.
Their behavior has two aspects, almost totally opposite.
They look almost totally opposite.
One is like this:
Sitting on a chair all day long,
without any actions, or without any talking;
they just stay calm all day.
If this is the case,
it is very difficult to communicate with them
because they don't respond
no matter what you say or no matter how you talk to them.
And the second aspect, the second behavior
is much much more aggressive.
They are always angry, upset, frustrated,
complain, and yell.
Sometimes, you have to be very careful,
because you may sometimes get punched in the face.
It happens.
It did happen to me a couple of times.
You have to remember this:
even if there are these two different kinds of aspects,
you may not believe this,
but the cause, the reason is still the same;
for these two different kinds of behavior in dementia patients,
the reason is one.
What is the reason?
The reason is confusion and anxiety.
They are always confused by so many things in their brain,
and at the same time, they are afraid of something.
So, if you want to get rid of this confusion and anxiety,
what do you want to do?
Just as I do, just play music, or sing a song.
And also remember the three tips I explained right now.
If you do make music this way,
you'd be surprised how quickly they respond to music.
It's so instantly! So quick!
You won't believe this.
No medicine can do better than music.
Even if you take lots of pills, many pills, at a time,
it doesn't work instantly, does it?
Maybe poison works instantly,
and will kill you, but not pills;
it doesn't work that way.
But music does.
Music works instantly.
So, before I go,
I want you to remember one very last thing:
all dementia patients in the world - they are so many -
are all alive inside
- inside means, of course, inside of their brain and inside of their body -
and music is always the biggest trigger
to bring back their memory and bring back their life again.
That's the power of music.
I do believe in this, and if you do the same way,
I'm sure you also can save a lot of dementia patients in the world.
Thank you.
(Applause)