Banner, ASU host music therapy for dementia patients

TEMPE, AZ - The Banner Alzheimer’s Institute and Arizona State University hosted their monthly “First Friday Jam Session” in the ASU Community Services Building.

Every month the public is invited to an hour and a half long music session where you can sing and play instruments to your favorite songs, past and present.

The program was started specifically to help patients suffering from memory loss and their caregivers.

The sessions are a mix of people with varying degrees of dementia and are led by a music therapy instructor.

"After working as a music therapist for many years with people who have memory loss and cognitive impairment, it still amazes me how the process of interactive music making can elicit meaningful participation and communication, which is especially difficult for people with Alzheimer's due to losses in fluent language ability." said ASU MT Clinic Director, Associate Professor Robin Rio.

"The First Friday Jam brings music therapy students together with professionals from Banner, serving members of our community through a unique and relevant group experience." Rio added.

“The memory for music is the last part of the brain ever to be impacted by Alzheimer’s disease and I think it really speaks to the emotion that’s left within each one of us,” said Jan Dougherty, Banner Alzheimer’s Institute.

Dougherty also added that music therapy seems have such a healing effect because it ‘transports us to a place and time that we remember so well’.