Care home singer and entertainer Sandra Currie shares a word of warning about picking the right music, and how important it is to think about how your choices will affect your residents.
I think it’s been well documented that the right kind of music can calm, de-escalate, and generate a feeling of wellbeing. But it’s been less well-documented that the wrong type of music can cause anxiety, an escalation of fear, stress and panic, particularly among people living with dementia.
I recently finished a show where the lovely, well-meaning carers put a CD on while I was packing up. A resident who’d been a little bit agitated throughout the session, went into complete, angry panic, became very vocal and couldn’t be calmed down. A carer said to me: “Look what happens when the activity stops…!” But, in actual fact, I was thinking: “How can you not see that it’s this CD that’s causing it?”
It was a great CD. But it was completely wrong for this unit. It was a recording of a live concert. The audience were screaming, whistling, obscuring the actual song. The male singer, amazing voice, was reaching right up to the top of his highest pitch. I went to the bathroom, and I could still hear it playing. And, this is the thing, it wasn’t any louder than the hour-long show I’d just done, but the high-pitched, shouty, thin, tinny sound was so piercing, that you couldn’t think properly.
I heard the carers discussing how to calm this resident down, and eventually I suggested that it was the CD which was the problem. “He can’t tell what it is, it just sounds like a racket to him,” I explained. They turned it down, which helped, and eventually turned it off, changing the music to a different CD which was much more peaceful, and the resident, in turn became more peaceful again.
I’ve come across this so many times; seemingly age-appropriate but actually anxiety-inducing music, often played through a TV, tuned to a music radio station such as Smooth FM. It’s important to remember that our modern sounds, live concerts and fast pace of tracks can often be merely noisy and invasive for people living with dementia. Old recordings are in a tone that they will recognise and will be easier for them to hear. And always, if you have any agitated residents, check the music first.
Sandra Currie is a dementia-trained singer and care home entertainer with 17 years experience. Find out more, including her vocals-only specialist CD for dementia, nursing, bedrest and palliative care at sandracurrie.com
