Vision
Golden Oldies Soothing More Than the Soul
By Lisa Ecklund-Flores
Forget what you’ve heard about old dogs and new tricks. “I never thought I could play the piano. I had so many bad feelings about myself from my learning disabilities in childhood. But I found out that I can do it; the bad feelings are all behind me. I’m so happy”, says 57-year-old Susan after three weeks of piano lessons – lessons that she is taking for the first time in her life.
Not only is the older set able to learn music for the first time in their lives, it’s actually good for them. Making music improves chances of a healthier life and keeps brain and body working together. Research has shown wonderful benefits of singing in one’s later years. In a 2001 study by Clift & Hancox, adult choral singers were found to have increased control over lung function and breathing, along with improved mood and reduced stress.
“I have handicaps with memory and arthritic fingers” says 76- year-old Katherine, “but creative teachers have adapted the piano lessons to my needs, and it’s opened up a whole knowledge of music that I never had. I just think it’s been a great experience.” The notion that making music can help people with handicap conditions is not a new one. Music therapists have been teaching stroke victims to sing, to help them learn to talk again, for about 30 years. This technique, called Melodic Intonation Therapy, is still being used today in places like Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston, according to Dr. Gottfried Schlaug, neurology professor and physician.
Making music is a physical activity as well as an artistic one. Eurhythmics, a method of learning about rhythm through whole- body movement, is designed to integrate the mind, body and ear. Emil Jaques-Dalcroze, the inventor of the method at the turn of the 20th century, believed that learning about music through movement was an ideal approach for young music students. Recent research has found it might be just the thing for older adults as well. A study has found that eurhythmics practice in later years can prevent age-related difficulties with walking and gait (Kressig, 2005).
Instrumental music playing seems to have its own set of significant benefits in the later years. Researchers have found that there is a decrease in the incidence of dementia in orchestral musicians in later life (Grant & Brody, 2004). At last year’s conference of the Music Teachers National Association, it was reported that older adults taking piano lessons once weekly report less anxiety, depression, and loneliness than their non-lesson-taking counterparts. Most significant is the finding (Koga, 2005) that there was a 90 percent increase in blood levels of hGH (Human Growth Hormone) in those seniors taking piano lessons -- a hormone which normally decreases at a rapid rate as one ages. Higher hGH levels mean increased energy and sexual function, as well as decreasing occurrence of illness because of aging.
Tom, a 53-year-old member of a community concert band, confirms these benefits in the most provocative way. “Anecdotally, band members report that they’ve experienced increased sexual drive. Young people are attracted to us. It’s our secret Viagra!” New meaning to the saying: “Let’s make beautiful music together”!
Dr. Gene Cohen, author of The Mature Mind (2005) and director of the Center on Aging, Health, and Humanities at George Washington University, reports that there are “five activities to sustain power, clarity, and subtlety of mind: Exercise mentally, Exercise physically, Pick challenging leisure activities, Achieve mastery, Establish strong social networks.” Dr. Cohen points out that each of these activities can be fulfilled by making music. “Creative activities such as painting, music and writing are all good examples of what the brain finds fulfilling” according to Cohen.
Recent studies in neuroscience back up Dr. Cohen’s beliefs. At Duke University, Dr. Roberto Cabeza has found that older adults tend to use both sides of their brain to accomplish certain activities, while younger adults seem to accomplish specific tasks by using one side of the brain or the other. This brain strategy seems to counteract age-related decline in the nervous system through reorganization of the brain later in life (Cabeza, Daselaar, Dolcos, Prince, Budde & Nyberg, 2004; Cabeza, Anderson, Locantore & McIntosh, 2002). “Any activity that optimally uses both the right and left hemispheres is like chocolate to the brain,” says Dr. Cohen.
In addition to these important physiological benefits, there are significant social benefits. Bill, 78, studies piano so that he can play chamber music with his son-in-law, a professional cellist. Katherine comments that it brings her great joy to perform in the same piano recital as her 16-year-old granddaughter. The growing popularity of the New Horizons Band movement, a nationwide program designed to connect adults over 50 to group instrumental experiences, is a testament to the social benefits of instrumental music playing. Adults participating in these music programs meet new friends and have events to look forward to, like rehearsals, concerts and trips. These vital connections give new meaning and purpose to life.
So make music in the New Year! It might be the most fun and doable resolution you have on your list. Whether it’s singing, playing an instrument, dancing, taking a eurhythmics class, or playing in a band, making music feels good and is good for you too.
Lisa Ecklund-Flores, Ph.D., holds a bachelor’s degree in music and a doctoral in developmental psychology. She is the founder and director of Church Street School for Music and Art, a non-profit community school of the arts in Lower Manhattan. She is also an Associate Professor of Psychology at Mercy College and a research scientist at New York State Psychiatric Institute-Columbia University.
