music therapy

Music is powerful: it can calm us, encourage us, free us from negative thoughts and feelings, and make our everyday lives easier and happier. Music is a universal language that everyone understands intuitively. Even when our mental abilities decline, we remain responsive to music into old age, because rhythmic sounds touch us in our innermost being.

For people with dementia, music can do even more: it evokes memories and finds a way in where language can no longer reach. Singing and making music gives people with dementia the opportunity to express themselves again. Sometimes it's like a small miracle: Karola Hartmann, a music therapist, starts singing a song and people who can hardly be reached through language unexpectedly sing along to entire verses.

Especially in the advanced stages of the disease, music therapists can use improvised music to adapt intensively to people with dementia, giving them a feeling of security and comfort.

Karola Hartmann and Julia Sengling are music therapists who regularly visit EVIM senior centers. When guitars, singing bowls, and other instruments are unpacked, the mood usually lifts. The music therapy group clearly enjoys each other's company and audibly confirms the motto "You never forget the joy of life." Participants often sit together and chat for a long time afterward.

With your donation, we can purchase new musical instruments and ensure the continued support of the music therapists.