The Sound Health Network is an initiative of the National Endowment for the Arts, in partnership with the University of California, San Francisco, in collaboration with the National Institutes of Health, the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, and Renée Fleming.
Our mission is to promote research and public awareness about the impact of music on health and wellness. Visit our website here.
SHN Monthly Newsletter
June 2021

The Sound Health Network & the AARP co-present:
Music for People Living with Dementia & their Care Partners

Participate in the NeuroArts Blueprint Survey

We invite you to participate in a survey conducted on behalf of the NeuroArts Blueprint: The Science of Arts, Health and Well-Being. The survey is intended to explore the science and practice of using art to advance health and mental well-being and to inform the emerging field of neuroarts. It should take about 15 minutes. Take the survey here.
In Conversation
Featuring Debbie Caramella, Peter Midgely and the Sentimental Journey Singers
In March of 2020, a single rehearsal rocked the world’s vibrant choral community: almost all of the Skagit Valley Chorale singers who were there contracted COVID-19, despite following social distancing precautions. Choral singing became known as a super-spreading event.  

This knowledge is particularly devastating because singing together is a way that humans have coped with loss and hardship since the dawn of civilization. And the benefits of choral singing are well-documented. Research indicates that it can regulate heart rate, reduce stress, and improve psychological well-being. Being stripped of this healing ritual during a pandemic has been particularly difficult.  
But it’s not just regular choral singers that have paid the price. Older adults, especially, have found solace and community in choirs, and for families with loved ones living with dementia, the toll is even higher. Thankfully, as the pandemic begins to wane, this life-affirming past-time will return. 

When Jeanne Kelly formed Encore Creativity for Older Adults, her goal was to bring the benefits of choral singing to older adults. Encore is dedicated to providing an excellent and accessible artistic environment for older adults, regardless of experience or ability. Based in Maryland, Encore has grown to 15 Chorales and 6 Encore ROCKS choruses in the metropolitan Baltimore-Washington area, as well as a Chorale in New York City. Encore's newest program, begun in September 2019, is the Sentimental Journey Singers (SJS) for individuals with early-stage Alzheimer's or other memory impairment.  
Debbie Caramella and her father, Peter Midgely, joined SJS after hearing about it at Peter’s adult day center. Their family had always been musical; “music was a part of our family story before we were a family,” Debbie says, “as a kid, Dad delivered papers to pay for his own piano lessons. And although they hadn’t noticed each other before, on the blind date where they met, Mom and Dad discovered they were in the same choir. Dad had been thinking of dropping out, but he changed his mind in a big hurry!” Debbie and Peter attended their first rehearsal with “just enough rusty experience to be both excited and slightly skeptical about the whole operation,” and were immediately taken by conductor Mary Ann East. “We were so amazed by the sound Mary Ann was able to get out of us, we didn’t hesitate to sign up and have never for an instant regretted the decision.” 
Since joining, Debbie and Peter have been overjoyed at the experience. Debbie remembers being nervous performing their first concert together, but “thankfully Dad was rock solid, and I was able to rely on him the way I have my entire life." While the COVID-19 pandemic has made rehearsing together impossible, Peter is still making music. He started taking piano lessons via Zoom with SJS pianist Rachel Thompson, a board-certified music therapist who works with adults with cognitive impairments and dementia. Under Rachel’s guidance, family from across the country tuned in to see Peter give a solo piano recital on his 83rd birthday! He played six pieces and sang along to several, including “Blue Skies,” a song from the SJS choir repertoire. “To say the family was completely blown away might be the understatement of the decade,” Debbie says.  
Debbie & Peter recording together
Participating in SJS has improved both Peter and Debbie’s quality of life in numerous ways. The family has seen SJS make a difference in Peter’s cognitive abilities, “when we met with our neurologist last summer, she prefaced the visit by saying she’d seen a marked deterioration in nearly all of her patients since the lockdowns,” says Debbie. “She was stunned when the cognitive testing she conducted revealed that Dad had not declined at all. We were not surprised.” Most importantly, singing together has strengthened Peter and Debbie’s relationship. Adapting to caring for a parent with Alzheimer’s disease is extremely challenging, but through performing with SJS, Debbie is better able to navigate an ever-changing dynamic; “when we go to choir, or even practice our music, it’s almost as though we are able to roll back the hands of time. Alzheimer’s has taken many things—but not Dad’s appreciation for, nor ability to make, good music. In those moments of pure joy, we are just a dad and a daughter doing together what we have loved all our lives.” 

To learn more about Encore Creativity for Older Adults and the Sentimental Journey Singers, tune in to our webinar on June 23rd, 2021 at 1pmPT/4pm ET: Sound Health Network & AARP: Music for People Living with Dementia and their Care Partners, featuring Encore Artistic Director and founder Jeanne Kelly, MS. Joining her is music therapist Jeffrey Wolfe, MT-BC, Program Administrator of the Musical Bridges to Memory Program™ and Director of Community Programs at Institute for Therapy through the Arts. They’ll talk about the benefits and challenges of using participatory music-making to connect with and care for people with dementia. This event is free, but registration is required. 
 
Research Spotlight: Music for People Living with Dementia & their Care Partners

The GCBH convened a group of experts in Washington, DC in February 2020 to examine the impact of music on the brain. Throughout the sessions, experts examined evidence on whether and how music influences brain health, looking for areas of agreement and identifying areas that require further exploration. This white paper summarizes those findings, while identifying gaps in the evidence base.

This review examines randomized controlled trials with active music-making interventions, in which older adults with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) or dementia physically participate in music, and their effects on cognitive functioning, emotional well-being, and social engagement.

Through this review of 25 clinical and experimental studies on long-term musical memories in Alzheimer's disease patients, researchers attempt to clarify the conceptual understanding of musical memories.

This study reports on the trial of a Guide for use of music with 45 people with dementia and their caregivers in residential care facilities and home-based care.

Previous research has demonstrated the benefits of group singing, which include cognitive stimulation, meaningful activity and peer support. However, we do not know how this experience translates into an online videoconferencing format. This article reviews the literature pertinent to online singing interventions and uses the findings to develop some suggestions for running an online singing group.
Job Opportunities

Global Arts In Medicine Fellowship, Tender Arts Nigeria



Program Specialist, JoyRx Music, Children's Cancer Association (Remote)

Fully-funded PhD fellowship, Telecom Paris & CentraleSupelec


PhD Studentship, MSc by Research Scholarship, Short-term Research Assistant or Post-doc position, School of Computer Science and Statistics at Trinity College Dublin
Funding Opportunities

Responses due June 30, 2021

NEA Research Labs funds transdisciplinary research teams grounded in the social and behavioral sciences, yielding empirical insights about the arts for the benefit of arts and non-arts sectors alike.

Over the next five years, Creative Forces®: National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) Military Healing Arts Network intends to provide $2.5 million in new research funding.

NEA Research Grants in the Arts funds research studies that investigate the value and/or impact of the arts, either as individual components of the U.S. arts ecology or as they interact with each other and/or with other domains of American life.

This funding opportunity is intended to: (1) increase our understanding of how music affects the brain when it is used therapeutically and/or (2) use that knowledge to better develop evidence-based music interventions to enhance health or treat specific diseases and disorders.

This funding opportunity is intended to: (1) increase our understanding of how music affects the brain when it is used therapeutically and/or (2) use that knowledge to better develop evidence-based music interventions to enhance health or treat specific diseases and disorders.

The purpose of this FOA is to promote innovative research on music and health with an emphasis on developing music interventions aimed at understanding their mechanisms of action and clinical applications for the treatment of many diseases, disorders, and conditions.