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Turning the table on tech to create a personal playlist
When Emma wanted to try meaningful music to help her mum Anne, who lives with dementia, she found a way to give her LP collection a spin without using a turntable.
When growing up, Emma remembers a house filled with music, either playing from her parents’ collection or coming from the radio. But she hadn’t thought about music as a way to help manage her mum’s dementia until CrossReach Heart for Art in Fife, who run a Playlist for Life Help Point alongside their sessions, made the suggestion
“It was Liz from Heart for Art who mentioned it and it got me and my mum talking more informally about music and as a family. We always grew up with music and my mum always liked music, but I never thought of it in a way that could actually make a difference to her.”
Emma decided to buy her mum an Alexa device to use at home and showed her how to work it. They then went through her CDs and LPs and her mum wrote down the music that she wanted to listen to on a sheet of A4 paper and now, when wants to listen to a song from the list, she’ll ‘ask Alexa’ to play it.
“The paper has ticks and crosses next to the songs that she’s been listening to as she doesn’t want to repeat the same songs too much and wants to listen to them all. It’s great because it’s reminded her of so much stuff and the Alexa has made it easier as she can just speak to it and it plays. Had I not got her the Alexa it would have been fiddlier.”
Another advantage of using the Alexa is that Emma can link her mum’s device to her own and this enables her to see what her mum has been listening to. While she doesn’t use the option to tap in and listen along, she said it brings her comfort to know her mum is listening.
The Alexa is mostly used in the kitchen where Emma has noticed that it can help Anne cook and be more focussed. She also uses it in the sitting room where she takes time out to work on her art and paint her nails. The music Anne has chosen to listen to also helps Emma and her sisters care for her and give them comfort in knowing what do when she’s anxious.
“The music adds that it feels like we’re doing something with Mum. It’s a horrible diagnosis. There’s nothing that can make it alright. Yes she’s on medication but I’ve not been able to notice any difference with that. On the days she’s not great we play the music or talk about music to distract her. When we have music she can talk about things from the past and he can go in a tangent about things from when she was young. She seems to be able to recollect all that better.”
Thank you to Emma for sharing her story with us. We are so grateful to our community who share their stories and help others facing dementia.
If you care for a family member living with dementia and would like to build a playlist, please check out our free resources or get in touch.
