Melodies and Memories: WA Dementia choir gives patients lyrical boost to memory, mood and social connections

As the music begins, their heads lift and turn towards the sound of a familiar tune. As the singing starts, their faces light up in joy and recognition and the words come out easily. Something special happens at the Melodies and Memories choir every week. Its singers all have some form of dementia. Many need 24-hour care. Some are non-verbal. But with melodies come memories, the singers know the words and the tunes. They play instruments and even learn dance routines. The expressions, reactions and joy that dementia may have taken from them return, albeit temporarily. Research has shown that despite the cognitive loss, people with dementia retain the ability to sing in a choir and the experience gives them many benefits. How this is possible is not properly understood. And a study published last year suggested that choir singing can improve the structure and health of the brain, particularly among older adults. Melodies and Memories choir founder and organiser Margaret Grubb witnesses the positive changes in people who come for a sing-song. “It has an effect on people with dementia and their memory, quite a stunning effect in some people,” the retired music teacher said. Ms Grubb started the choir in 2022 and now almost 30 people including partners and carers are regular choristers. It is now one of around five dementia-friendly choirs in WA. “There was one lady who used to come through the door with no expression whatsoever on her face, just grey. Her eyes were lifeless, and as soon as we put something on that she knew her feet started tapping,” she said. The choir meets in Henley Brook in Perth’s Swan Valley every week and head out to perform in shopping centres and hospitals several times a year. “It’s given them a sense of being . . . to take them out. They love going out. The first time they went out, they didn’t think they could do it,” Ms Grubb said. But once they had done it, they were so thrilled because people were standing around listening to them.” Next month, the choir will perform at Guildford Songfest for the second time. “What we try to do is to allay the feeling of ‘oh, dear, dear, poor them’,” Ms Grubb said. “We want them to see them as a normal choir and I think it opened a few people’s eyes last year.” Guildford Songfest organiser Yvonne Henderson said last year’s performance by Melodies and Memories had strong support from the public and other choirs. “It was the first time they had performed at a festival,” Ms Henderson said. “People came specifically to the event to be there for them. We had many performers who joined the audience, and they sang along to the songs, very softly, offering support to the dementia choir. “It was incredibly special.” The choir’s practices are not limited to singing. There are percussion instruments, dance routines and exercises that are aimed at working and improving people’s memory and cognition. Dementia is the second leading cause of death in Australia, and the leading cause for women. New research published last year found that the number of people living with dementia was expected to double over the next 30 years. WA was estimated to see the highest increase in dementia prevalence at 109 per cent compared to just 52 per cent in Tasmania, the Dementia Australia data said. A Finnish study published last year suggested that choir singing could help curb this huge public health crisis. Researchers examined if amateur choir singing could improve brain health and cognitive function among 95 adults aged between 21 and 88. They used brain imaging to measure their brain structure and analysed how the duration of choir singing was associated with the strength of their white matter, which controls communication between different brain regions, and grey matter, which is responsible for functions like muscle control and decision-making. Choir singing was linked to significant improvements in white matter, particularly the corpus callosum, which is the crucial connector between the brain’s two hemispheres. The association was stronger among older adults. The research team found choir singing was also linked to improvements in the part of the brain that is crucial for memory and learning — the fornix — among older adults only. A review of 23 studies on singing and cognitive health, published in February this year, said singing could address cognitive and emotional challenges associated with ageing. “Among individuals with dementia, singing fosters episodic memory, mood enhancement, and social connection, while healthy older adults demonstrate improved verbal flexibility and cognitive resilience,” it said. It’s unclear whether choir singing can improve dementia or slow its progress. “I’m hoping that it is stimulating the memory in the brain. I’m hoping that it helps them with their daily living, but then I don’t know that,” Ms Grubb said. But it is very clear that the choir has a positive impact on their quality of life. George Absolom, who has dementia from Parkinson’s disease, has been coming to the choir for the past two years. “I enjoy it, the socialising with different people, the friendship. I can’t wait for the next one,” the 73-year-old former project manager from Gidgegannup said. “You don’t realise how much (of the songs) you know until you hear it.” Gaylene Cooper, from Middle Swan, has been coming to the choir for the past two years with her 85-year-old husband Miles, who has a mild cognitive impairment. “Miles is not a music person necessarily as a former veterinary scientist, but the songs go across quite a few decades and he has a go and I can’t ask for more than that,” she said. Mrs Cooper recalled that at their first session, they sang the Vera Lynn song ‘Now is the hour’, “Miles said ‘that makes me think of when my mother left Sydney in 1936 to go to England’ to marry his father. I thought that was really beautiful,” she said. Unlocking memories and potentially boosting cognitive function are important, but its combination with the social aspect could be the choir’s biggest benefit for people with dementia. “It’s something they can do, and they can do together with someone else,’ Ms Grubb said. “They’re not isolated, which is lovely.”