Musical Minds Choir: Remembering through music

Studies have shown that music boosts brain activity and can provide emotional and behavioral benefits for people with dementia.

According to the Mayo Clinic, musical memories are often preserved in Alzheimer's disease because key brain areas linked to musical memory are relatively undamaged by the disease.

With this in mind, Central Florida Community Arts is partnering with the Winter Garden Art Association to expand its Musical Minds Choir program into West Orange County. Choir sessions take place weekly at the SoBo Art Gallery, in Winter Garden, and is for people experiencing the early stages of Alzheimer’s and dementia and their caregivers.

Leah Porrata, senior director of education and outreach at CFCArts, said the program is so successful in Altamonte Springs that the nonprofit wanted to offer it to residents in Orange County.

“We want the people in … the Winter Garden area who have early Alzheimer’s and dementia to experience the transformative power of arts and music through Musical Minds,” she said. “We are all about quality of life.”

Scott Kinkead is the choir director who leads the music on the piano, and he is accompanied by several volunteers each week. The choir session takes place in the art gallery’s back room in an informal setting.

Kinkead selects songs from the 1920s through 1960s, both sacred and secular, drawing from a vast bank of music from the participants’ childhood and young adulthood.

Porrata said patriotic music, such as “God Bless America,” usually triggers the memories of the elderly, too.

On a recent Monday, participants sang “Amazing Grace” and The Turtles’ “So Happy Together.”

Sheet music and lyrics are provided for every song for everyone in attendance.

“We’ve seen people come into Musical Minds who aren’t engaged and don’t look very happy and don’t feel like participating, but as soon as they hear the first line of ‘Amazing Grace,’ they whip their head up and start singing,” Porrata said.

Kevin Harris, an artist in residence at CFCArts and the director of Musical Minds, said the choir will have three seasons: January through May, June through August and September through November.

“The last day of each season we have a Celebration Day, which is essentially a concert that is open to everyone,” Harris said.

In December, the choir participants will get together to sing familiar and popular Christmas carols together.

“Music is a multi-sensual experience,” Harris said. “Studies have shown that the more neural pathways that a given thought has to make it to our conscience, the better it will be to connect with it. Because of that, music creates an opportunity to reconnect and have fun while doing it.

“Specifically, we at Musical Minds work to create an environment where, no matter where they are on the journey that day, they are safe to come, experience and join in the fun with their loved ones.”