well love listening to music and sing
along songs that take us down memory
lane and because music impacts the brain
it's being used for Alzheimer's patients
and people in the early stages of
dementia
it's called musical Minds choir it first
started in Altamonte Springs but is now
in Winter Garden as well every week
people who suffer from the disease get
to relive those special memories through
music new 6 & 9s karolina Cardona was at
a musical minds choir session and joins
us now with more on that good morning
guys well with a piano and a book of
songs a special choir in Central Florida
is getting results for people who are
suffering from Alzheimer's and dementia
but it's not your typical choir where
each person has to learn a part this one
is more informal and it's really about
spending time together to relax have fun
and sing if you walk past the sober
gallery and Art Center in Winter Garden
on a Monday morning you'll hear the
sound of music it is such a benefit to
your loved one and you will be amazed at
how it fills your heart it fills Wendy
facings heart especially because her
sister Jill has Alzheimer's it's a very
challenging disease and it's very
difficult for loved ones to see the
progression but ever since Wendy found
out about the effects music has on the
brain she looks forward to singing with
her sister every week it's something so
much fun that we can do together and it
gives Jill so much enjoyment every time
we leave here she just says oh that was
the best that was so much fun they
connect it with something in their past
something that they might have learned
as a as a child of five six seven years
old and then folk they can remember
exactly where they were what they were
doing Scott Kincaid is the music
director for musical minds choir a
program created by Central Florida
community arts a non-profit arts
organization they introduced this music
program for adults experiencing the
early stages of memory loss dementia and
Alzheimer's in assisted living they have
the same activity people that are at
home with onset dementia or
timers they have nowhere to really go
out to or to do something enjoyable
that's very relaxing it stimulates the
memory there are a lot of studies out
there that have proven that your musical
memories are one of the last memories
that will go in your memory loss the
Alzheimer's Association estimates there
are 5.5 million people over the age of
65 living with the disease in the United
States but in this small way with songs
from the 1920s to the 1960s musical
Minds is getting results anything that
we can do to give her enjoyment is such
a blessing because those are very
limited at this point the choir class is
offered at no cost each person is
accompanied by a family member or their
caretaker and experience for both to
enjoy the caretaker can either sit back
and relax while they listen to the music
or they can chime in and sing along the
musical minds choir in Winter Garden is
offered every Monday from 10:30 to 11:30
in the morning and for more information
of course visit click Orlando com that
is fascinating that musical memories are
some of the last to go home I mean
that's so interesting so what a great
group
it's like certain you know certain
memories even in our lives now are tied
to certain songs like when I think of a
certain person I think of a song right
it takes me back yeah you hear that song
your childhood to those special moments
that you had during you know your life
over the course of those years so it's
definitely you know giving them that
opportunity to just kind of like get
away from the disease a bit and be able
to to just have fun it gives us also it
gives them an opportunity to kind of
have that community where there's other
people who are suffering from the same
thing and all of them really be able to
get up dance a little bit and kind of
like what you said forget about you know
the disease that's you know affecting
them so much in their family definitely