How Music Can Help Those With Dementia and Their Families
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Playlist for Life is on a mission to raise awareness about the positive power of music and its ability to improve the lives of those with dementia and their families. By making a playlist of personally meaningful music, it’s possible to curate a ‘musical life story’ that can resonate, stimulate and even help to make daily life easier on a practical level.
We talked to Sarah Metcalfe, former Chief Executive for Playlist for Life, about the ways in which music can bring people together and connect those living with dementia back to themselves – and the launch of Playlist for Life’s new app.
How did Playlist for Life begin?
Playlist for Life was founded in 2013 by BBC broadcaster and writer Sally Magnusson, following the death of her mother, who had lived with dementia for many years. Caring for her at home, Sally and her sisters discovered that music – old hymns, Scottish ballads, and family favourites – could help their mother stay emotionally connected, even as her condition progressed.
This experience inspired Sally’s acclaimed book, Where Memories Go: Why Dementia Changes Everything, which revealed how deeply personal music can support connection, comfort, and wellbeing.
Out of that experience, Playlist for Life was born, a charity with a simple but powerful vision: that everyone living with dementia in the UK should have access to a personal playlist of meaningful music.
What is the aim of Playlist for Life and how does it work?
At its heart, Playlist for Life empowers people to use music as a tool for connection. The charity raises awareness of the benefits of personally meaningful music and provides practical support to help families, carers and professionals get started.
“We teach people to become what we call music detectives,” explains Metcalfe. “Even if someone can no longer recall their favourite songs, it’s possible to uncover them by exploring their life story – where they grew up, who they loved, what they danced to.”
Playlist for Life also offers a rich library of free resources (see their “Resources” page) which include downloadable guides, toolkits and multi-language versions to make it accessible.
Is music a form of reminiscence therapy – or something even more?
“I think there is a lot of crossover between personally meaningful music and reminiscence therapy and I sometimes think of Playlist for Life as life story work with the extra neurological benefits of music. What we’re really getting people to do is create their musical autobiography – and playing the tunes of the big events of one’s life is something we can all enjoy”.
There are additional elements too, in that that the playlist you create can in itself be helpful as a tool. One of the things we train professionals in is therapeutic scheduling, which is the idea that once you have your playlist, you can look at a person’s day and think about where the points of stress and distress occur for them”.
Research at Stanford has suggested that if you play personally meaningful music half an hour before anticipated points of stress or distress then you can potentially avoid it altogether, and this can also help to reduce falls, wandering and other challenging behaviours often found with dementia.
What impact can Playlist for Life have on the family of someone living with dementia?
“One of the things that Sally saw clearly was that the music connected her family to her mother, but importantly that it connected her mother to herself.
It grounded her back into who she was. That’s why we focus on finding the music that is unique to an individual and find out what the musical story is for each person. In terms of care, it is a hugely person-centred resource; Playlist for Life is about exploring a person’s individuality and also about timing it to fit in with their unique needs.”
“There are benefits that are not just for the person with dementia, but for the families and the people who get to share moments of happiness again with someone they thought they had already lost. And that is really powerful.”
“On our site, we tell the story of Harry and Margaret, who were the first couple we worked with. Harry had dementia and had withdrawn into himself and Margaret was visiting him everyday and leaving in tears because he wouldn’t speak and was barely eating. We started working with the playlist, and if you watch the video on the site it’s testament to the transformation.
Harry began talking and laughing and engaging with Margaret again. Margaret recently said that she was reflecting on how much Playlist for Life had meant and that it had become very difficult for her to keep seeing Harry as the man she had married because she was caring for him.
Listening to the music together had brought them back together again. In her own words, she said that she had fallen in love with him again”.
Why is music so powerful?
“Music is neurologically special because it stimulates so many parts of the brain at once; and what seems to happen is that even if one part of your brain is damaged, the music still stimulates other parts. What we see in our work is that it almost gets in through ‘the back door’ to access things you might have thought were lost, potentially forever”.
“We see people who can’t speak being able to sing, people who struggle to walk being about to dance and people who have withdrawn into themselves and no longer communicate or engage, take an interest in others again. It’s not always this dramatic, but it can be”.
How important is it music is something everyone can access?
“With Playlist for Life, people ‘get it’. As soon as it’s pointed out they say ‘Ah, of course. I’ll give that a go’ and I think that is really important. There are great musical interventions out there, but a lot of them require specialist skills, music therapists who’ve trained for years, musicians or group settings”.
“What makes Playlist for Life special is that it’s an individually based activity that is all about someone’s favourite music – which is something we all have. Just knowing that it can help can get people started – and we are all about democratising the power of music”.
“We encourage everyone to make a full playlist, but we also see that once people have knowledge of Playlist for Life, it is just one of the benefits that comes from it. People might not get around to making the full playlist, but they are suddenly aware that if they sing their mum’s favourite song from their teenage years, then that can calm her down – or if they put a radio on playing 1960s music it resonates. Being aware of this begins to change the way that people relate”.
How do you start to use Playlist for Life?
“There is a page on our website about how to start building a playlist for someone you love. But for me, the starting point would be to sit with my phone and start to play bits of tunes that I remembered the person loved, or that might have been important to them as part of their life.
I would make a note of any song that they responded to and gradually build that playlist up of powerful music. I would start small and keep it fun, and most importantly, I would see it as something enjoyable that I could do with that person I loved”.
This interview was part of a series brought to you by Elder. Whether you are looking for live-in care in London or require assistance in another part of the country, Elder will ensure that all of your care needs are taken care of.
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Further Information
- Website: https://www.playlistforlife.org.uk/
- Twitter / X: @PlaylistforLife