Rediscover playing skills from the past

• Video Description

  This video demonstrates how people living with dementia can retain some ability to play a musical instrument. As well as the personal enjoyment that playing brings, we see the shared engagement with others and the conversation that it can initiate. People living with dementia need to be encouraged early on in the progression of the disease to retain their playing skills.

  This video was filmed at Cinnamon Group Care homes: Leah Lodge and Rectory Court, both in Blackheath.

• Strategies

  • Encourage residents to play an instrument that they learnt earlier in life

  • Try to establish a daily routine when a resident can play their instrument

  • Find local musicians (of any age) who are willing and able to encourage people with memory loss to rediscover past skills

  • Encourage residents to learn new instruments E.g. a simple touchscreen app or hand-held percussion instruments