For Caregivers
Top 10 Songs About The Weather
I don’t know what it’s like in your neck of the woods, but here in the Midwest, the weather is a popular topic of discussion. It doesn’t matter whether it’s rainy, snowy, or a perfectly sunny day – the weather is a pretty reliable conversation starter. Here’s a collection of 10 songs about the weather,…
Read MoreWhy People With Parkinson’s Disease Should SING
As music therapists, we at Soundscaping Source make music all the time with people who have diagnoses and limitations of various kinds. I always find it sad when people think they can’t be musical because of a diagnosis, and I find it delightful when they discover they can. So I was particularly delighted to receive…
Read More4 Times To Use Music To Support ADLs
Perhaps one of the most difficult aspects of caring for someone with Alzheimer’s Disease or a related dementia is this: When the person with dementia starts needing help with their activities of daily living (ADLs). ADLs are the basic tasks like dressing, bathing, eating, and walking that healthy adults can accomplish with little thought. For…
Read More6 Reasons To Use YouTube To Share Music With Older Adults
When you start sharing music with your older adults on a regular basis, you’ll need a way to access the songs and musicians that are important to them. There are many ways to track down clients’ favorite music, both low-tech (e.g. playing their own CDs or checking out CDs from the public library) and high-tech…
Read MoreHow To Fund Music Therapy In Senior Living Communities
You have heard of music therapy and have fallen in love. You want to make this valuable service available to your clients or loved ones. So now maybe you are wondering: How are we going to pay for this? The answer is a bit complex, because the main payor source for healthcare for people over…
Read MoreDeath Cafe: A Review
I went to my first Death Café recently. Yes, that is a statement worthy of a double-take. We don’t typically associate coffee, treats, and casual conversation with DEATH, do we? As it turned out, having cake and coffee in a quiet café setting presented the perfect context for conversations about death, dying, grief, and hope.…
Read MoreWhat Having Pneumonia Taught Me About Caregiving
What’s it like to be old? You probably don’t really know. One of the challenges of caring for older adults and people at the end of life is that you haven’t yet been in their shoes. Sure, you’ve been a teenager before, navigating the stormy seas of adolescence, and you’ve been a young adult trying…
Read MoreMusic Makes A Connection For Hospice Volunteers
Consider this scenario: Elaine is a hospice volunteer who regularly visits a patient at Green Hills Memory Care. She loves her time with Helen, who has dementia but isn’t terribly confused yet. It’s no trouble at all to get Helen talking about her childhood adventures and sharing stories about the many children and grandchildren smiling…
Read MoreResource Review: "Then Sings My Soul"
Here are a couple of books that every music therapist, chaplain, activity director, and caregiver who uses music in their work will want on their shelf. Then Sings My Soul by Robert J. Morgan “Then Sings My Soul” by Robert J. Morgan tells the stories of 300 Christian hymns, from the “The Lord Bless You…
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