Music as an instrument of health applied in people with Alzheimer's Disease

• Grant number: 17/09403-1
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: July 01, 2017
• End date: June 30, 2018
• Field of knowledge: Linguistics, Literature and Arts - Arts - Music
• Principal Investigator: Suzel Ana Reily
• Grantee: Carolina Patreze
• Host Institution: Instituto de Artes (IA). Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP). Campinas , SP, Brazil
• Associated research grant: 16/05318-7 - Local musicking: new pathways for ethnomusicology, AP.TEM

Abstract

This research project will investigate the role of music in the well-being, interactions and treatment processes of people suffering from Alzheimer's disease. It will begin with a bibliographic investigation to see how medical ethnomusicology has studied music among the elderly and with people with Alzheimer's in diverse cultures, to then identify people in the Campinas (SP) region who engage regularly with Alzheimer's patients, such as family members, carers, and medical personnel, and who would be willing to discuss their experiences involving music in their interactions with people affected by the illness. In this way the project aims to see if the interviewees have noted any impact music has on the patients, what the nature of the impact is, and how they interpret it. The information obtained in the interviews will be analysed in relation to the transcultural studies in order to identify any shared practices of local musicking that permit forms of community interaction between patients and the people around them that bring some feelings of well-being. (AU)