Live Music Improves Wellbeing in Older People
Live music is something that we can all enjoy and connect with. It can reach older people who are no longer able communicate through traditional means. It improves well-being as it releases endorphins and makes you feel happy. We all have fond memories of dancing or singing along to our favourite song. 
Live music brings people together
Music is something we can all enjoy, regardless of age, disability or gender. It is one of the few activities that is truly inclusive. You can participate through singing, dancing or playing along, by listening to the sounds or ‘feeling’ the vibrations of the instruments. There’s a type of music that everyone can enjoy.
Within care settings, live music encourages socialising within the ‘micro-community’ of the care environment. Withdrawn individuals are often transformed by the end of a concert, laughing and singing along to the music. It’s a wonderful thing to see.
Music gets the elderly moving
Whether its toe tapping, head nodding, clapping or full-on dancing, moving to the music acts as a natural physiotherapy.Older people who have lost the ability to communicate through speech can find alternative means of expression through clapping, playing and humming along to the music. Sometimes it is what people don’t do when they are at one of our concerts which shows that they’re enjoying the performance. As well as making you feel happy, music can also bring a sense of calm – something that is particularly useful for individuals who constantly feel confused and frustrated.
Live music is adaptable
You can’t compare listening to a CD to enjoying a live music performance. At Music in Hospitals concerts, audience members often shout out a song they want to hear and the performers will change straight into it mid-song without hesitating. You can’t get that kind of interaction with a CD.
Music in Hospitals receives funding which enables them to provide concerts to care settings either free of charge or at a highly subsidised rate. For more information please call 01932 260810.
Rose Widlake, Events Assistant for Music in Hospitals, explains the benefits of live music for the elderly.
