This practical guide to running music therapy groups with senior citizens provides effective strategies that encourage therapists to be creative and engaging, and involve participants fully in the music-making process. The author explains how to choose or create music that is accessible to older people, relating to the group's shared experiences.

Music for Life: Music Participation and Quality of Life of Senior Citizens presents a fresh, new exploration of the impact of musical experiences on the quality of life of senior citizens, and charts a new direction in the facilitation of the musical lives of people of all ages. Authors Fung and Lehmberg clearly define the issues surrounding music education, music participation, quality of life, and senior citizens, discussing the most relevant research from the fields of music education, adult learning, lifelong learning, gerontology, medicine, music therapy, and interdisciplinary studies. At the heart of the book is Evergreen Town, a retirement community in the southeastern U.S.A., that serves as the backdrop for three original research studies. The first of these is in two phases, a survey and a focus group interview, that examines the histories and rationales for the music participations and non-participations of community residents. The second and third case studies take an in-depth look at a church choir and a bluegrass group, two prominent musical groups in the community, and include the perspectives of the authors themselves as group members and participant-observers. Fung and Lehmberg conclude with a challenge for the profession of music education: to act on this research and on the current advances in the field, to enable all people to benefit from the richness of music as a substantial contributor to quality of life.

In this comprehensively updated second edition, written by Alicia Ann Clair and Jenny Memmott the extraordinary benefits of music therapy for older adults are detailed. Therapeutic Uses of Music with Older Adults not only examines these benefits but also clarifies the reasons that music is beneficial. This important book shows both informal and formal caregivers how to use music to enhance the quality of life of older adults - including people with physical impairments and people with dementia. Written by two of the nation's leading music therapists, Therapeutic Uses of Music with Older Adults offers strategies for using music to: provide diversion for inactivity, discomfort, and daily routine; decrease symptoms of depression, anxiety insomnia, and agitation; handle problem behaviors; provide physical and emotional stimulation; help in the rehabilitation of people with cardiac disease, Parkinson's disease, and impairments related to stroke; help in the management of pain; facilitate social integration; communication; and the expression of feelings, including anger and grief; and relieve the stress and tension associated with caring for older adults.

In music, people can make themselves heard, even if they cannot communicate verbally or words have long lost their meaning. Music (therapy) helps people find a way out of their isolation, find pleasure in making music together, or enjoy soothing sounds in an individual therapy setting. Its individualized design makes it adaptable for a wide range of moods that older people experience in everyday life, and can help in difficult situations. Creative work in music therapy is always professionally grounded - subtly, playfully, or expressively, and is used to underscore mood. This book describes music therapy objectives and methods for older people. It provides many tips for specific sequences of interventions, for using instruments, choice of music, and related discussion topics.

The transformative role music therapy can play in all areas of healthcare, and especially in the care of older adults is increasingly apparent. However, while music activities are present in most care settings, these activities don't provide the therapeutic benefits that are possible with music therapy-informed interventions and programs. Best practices from music therapy are transforming dementia care, and have the potential to improve healthcare-and health-for older people, whatever their needs, wherever they receive care. Dr. Concetta Tomaino, a pioneer in the field of music therapy,. shares more than 40 years of clinical and research experience--not just with Music Therapists but also with healthcare leaders, clinicians, and direct care staff. With chapters on mental health and wellness, dementia, as well as movement and speech rehabilitation, this comprehensive and friendly practice guide will help all caregivers use music therapy best practices to provide better, more fulfilling support across all senior healthcare settings.

Master's Thesis from the year 2017 in the subject Nursing Science - Dementia, grade: A, University of Chester, course: Masters of Science in Global Health, language: English, abstract: The aim of this research is to measure/identify cognitive, behavioural and psychological effects of music therapy on older adults with dementia. 47.5 million people are affected with age-related neuro-cognitive and behavioural disorder named as Dementia, and 1.9 million people have died due to this disease according to the world health report of 2015 whereas 7.7 million new cases are occurring every year. One in four people aged 85 and over will have different forms of dementia by the end of the year 2050. However, in the year of 2013, this fatal psychological disease lead to 1.7 million annual deaths, whereas in 1990; there were only 0.8 million deaths per annum due to dementia; which indicates that the rate of affected patients and case fatality rate are increasing gradually. Music therapy is a quick form of non-pharmacological, non-invasive intervention for the rising number of demented patients besides the medical as well as pharmacological intervention. Because these traditional interventions have proven their ineffectiveness and handled to side effects of medicine in demented patients. Nationwide, about 10% of the population, develop dementia at some point in their lives. It is a common form of brain defects which occur due to the ageing process and genetic abnormalities. Approximately half of the entire dementia population is over 85 years old and over. 3% individuals aged between 65–74 years have dementia in 2016; whereas 19% people with this disease aged between 75 - 84 years, which indicates that the percentage of individuals who are getting dementia is proportionate to the gradual increase of their age. By the blessings of modern medicine where more people are living longer, dementia is becoming more and more common in the population which overrides the percentage of cardiac illness, hypertension and other neurological age-related problems. Furthermore, for individuals with a younger age group, dementia is less frequent in the developing countries. Due to decrease risk factors and caring environment for the elderly persons, more carer within the family, family values and morals; dementia has not taken it tolls in countries like Bangladesh. Dementia is an excellent cause of disability among the old in various parts of the world. This fatal disease has increased the economic burden by which costs of care increases by USD 604 billion a year worldwide in 2010.