29 April 2023, 08:20 PM
wtgElaine plays the piano
quote:
Grandmother with dementia inspires with piano playing
A 95-year-old grandmother with dementia from Buzzards Bay, Massachusetts is inspiring manythrough her piano playing and bringing hope to families with loved ones battling the disease.
https://abcnews.go.com/WNT/vid...ano-playing-9808718229 April 2023, 08:36 PM
ShiroKuroI LOVE that!!!
It also reminds me of something I read about in an Oliver Sacks book (IIRC)... I don't remember all the details, but I think there was a gentleman who had some kind of brain injury that resulted in his short term memory being largely destroyed. But he could still play the piano, Sacks theorized that it was due to the fact that each part of the music, each note, links to the next note. So even if the gentleman couldn't remember something 30 seconds ago, the notes in this moment guided him on to the next set of notes...
I wonder if there's something similar for Elaine...
Or if it's music memory + muscle memory...
We can't know, but it's fascinating to think about.
Also, it's hard not to imagine that her playing surely had delayed some of the progression of the disease. Another thing we can't know...