Music Matters: Music Therapy at Friendly Home

3 minute read

$5,000 Grant Fuses Music and Therapy for Older Adults

A $5,000 grant to Friendly Senior Living is supporting an innovative music therapy program at the Friendly Home. Friendly Home is the first of only a few nursing homes in the Rochester area to have a neurologic music therapist on staff using cutting-edge music therapy to treat the brain.

More Demand for Aging Care

Every day 10,000 Americans turn 65 years of age. As the Baby Boomer generation ages, we are experiencing the largest cohort of older adults in our country’s history. The Friendly Home has 150 members, 75% of which have some sort of dementia-related diagnosis. When adding on other diagnosis affecting the brain and nervous system, like stroke or Parkinson’s Disease, the number of affected members goes to nearly 100%.

Music is Part of the Solution for Memory

According to the National Institutes of Health, different areas of the brain are activated by music than by normal speech and memory for music can remain even through progressive dementia. That means that melodies are often remembered even after names, faces, and words are forgotten. Music therapy harnesses the brain’s unique relationship with music to help with memory issues.

Along with physical benefits for older adults, music therapy can improve people’s mood, cognitive performance, and even combat isolation. Many of Friendly Homes’ members have difficulties communicating with others. Music provides a way for them to express themselves.

Learning to Sing and Hope Again

Following a stroke, one Friendly Home member, Dave, was facing challenges with his speech as well as with reading on the left side of the page. He was struggling to sing. Throughout his life, Dave sang in church choirs, took private lessons, and sang in local choirs. Dave came into the Friendly Home’s program not just hoping to regain his vocal skills, but to renew the sense of purpose he felt through practicing music. Through his work in music therapy over several months, Dave improved dramatically.

Today, Dave is back to pursuing his passion for music and has returned to weekly rehearsals with the New Horizons Chorus, part of the Eastman Community School. Because of his own determination, support from the staff at the Friendly Home, and his family’s help with transportation, Dave says, “I was able to find a way to continue to do what I love.” Dave’s story is just one that illustrates how music makes a meaningful impact in the lives of older adults.

Community Foundation Grantmaking

The Community Foundation promotes two broad grantmaking goals that align with our vision for community change: creating an equitable community and strengthening our region’s vitality. 

Through our grantmaking, we support collaboration and partnerships that expand the reach and impact of local programs. At Friendly Home, this means helping the music therapy program grow to serve more residents. By enriching the lives of older adults through creative expression and connection, the program advances our shared goal of a vibrant, multifaceted community for all. 

Do you want to help more people experience the gift of music? Give today.