Music Reinvigorates Elderly Man Like You Wouldn't Believe

And next week, a must-see documentary debuts in New York City on the power of music and it's positive impact on the elderly.
This post was published on the now-closed HuffPost Contributor platform. Contributors control their own work and posted freely to our site. If you need to flag this entry as abusive, send us an email.

If music be the food of love, play on. --William Shakespeare

It doesn't matter what kind of music you love -- what matters is the impact. The right song can pull us out of that crap mood and into a joyous one; and sometimes vice versa. It is the sound of remembrance, of lost love, and deja vu, all over again.

And next week, a must-see documentary debuts in New York City on the power of music and it's positive impact on the elderly. Alive Inside, a new film by Michael Rossato-Bennett, follows one man as he discovers just how powerful a tool music can be, with a series of elderly people living in nursing homes, mostly with degenerative diseases. Social worker Dan Cohen, alongside Dr. Oliver Sacks (the neurologist who wrote the bestselling book Awakenings, which became the Academy Award-nominated film with Robert De Niro and Robin Williams), comment throughout on how music can awaken patients and unlock memories.

For now, you can see a snippet of the film:

Alive Inside, April 18 to 21 at the Rubin Museum.

Each ticket includes a Q&A with Alzheimer's specialists and a post-program information table staffed by experts from the Alzheimer's Association. More information can be found at the Rubin Museum website.

Popular in the Community

Close

What's Hot