I enjoyed your article and just wanted to share that I had the most blessed and rewarding experience while my mother lived in a memory care facility for 5.5 years. I could greatly expand on this but it would be too long. In a (large) nutshell: At first, I did not know what to do/say while visiting mom, but I loved her so much that I couldn’t just stop by, say hi, and then kiss her goodbye. She always cried when I left. Knowing she liked music, I taught myself how to play the ukulele and to sing her favorite songs. I sang with just my mom at first, as I was shy. It did not take me long (amazingly) to create a 2x/weekly, 90-minute music program! I saw how music transformed my mother, all of the (20) residents, their family members who joined us, the staff, and even myself. Some of the women were non-communicative–and very aggressive, until I got them to sing. Even the difficult/combative residents would become more passive and much happier, albeit, only for a short time. (The staff would wheel them off when they became disruptive.) I would ask the ladies what memories they had of certain songs, and they would talk about their loved ones, or certain events. They remembered!
I arranged all the ladies around the huge dining table. I also made “song books”, to help them recall the words, and brought in sugar free cookies and coffee/tea for our “after party”. They would all be talking and laughing and having a good time. It was fun, and hilarious. When it came time for me to leave, Mom would just smile and say, see you tomorrow! How I wish I could tell this story to everyone–to include every observation, every little detail. Thank you for this opportunity to share. Music is indeed, powerful.

This is soooo true! My grandfather had Alzheimer's.. I asked one day if he would like to sing to which he just smiled… I began singing "Amazing Grace" and he began to hum the tune…. I could hardly sing because of the tears… What a blessing it was!