The BBC will use music to help trigger the memories of people living with dementia around the globe as part of World Alzheimer’s Day, it has been announced.
Over the next month, 50 “iconic tracks” will be broadcast across the BBC Music and BBC World Service channels to stimulate the memories of loved ones living with the condition that affects around 850,000 people in the UK each year.
Audiences will also be able to access “thousands of free music clips” from a rich international music catalogue through the BBC’s Music Memories website.
The initiative comes after a study found that music alone can “unlock memories and kickstart the grey matter” in people living with dementia and can reach “parts of the damaged brain in ways other forms of communication cannot”.
Commenting on the phenomenon, Alzheimer’s disease expert Professor Paul Robertson said: “We tend to remain contactable as musical beings on some level right up to the very end of life.
“We know that the auditory system of the brain is the first to fully function at 16 weeks, which means that you are musically receptive long before anything else. So it’s a case of first in, last out when it comes to a dementia-type breakdown of memory.”
Since that discovery, music has been commonly used in the treatment of people with dementia, who often appear more relaxed, stimulated, or happier after listening to their favourite hits from the past.
Commenting on the BBC Music Memories initiative, Executive Editor Peter Rippon said: “The team of BBC Music Memories has been working on expanding its catalogue with international tracks. As BBC World Service stepped in to take this conversation on a truly worldwide, multilingual and multicultural journey, we hope that the resulting playlists will be a fascinating source of strength and inspiration.”
BBC Music Commissioning Executive Rebecca Sandiford added: “For World Alzheimer’s Day, BBC teams are working together across the UK and throughout the world to bring communities and generations together through music, highlighting the pivotal role music plays in all our lives, and particularly for those living with dementia.”
To access the music database or to learn more about the campaign, please click here.
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