Talk: The Emerging Role of Music in Dementia Care

Kids’ Classics CLG in partnership with the Royal Irish Academy of Music presents: ‘The Emerging Role of Music in Dementia Care – The Transformative Power of Connection’ on 1 May 2018. This talk will be led by Dr Jane Bentley, a music in healthcare practitioner and trainer based in Scotland.

With recent studies showing that just one hour a day of social interaction brings benefits to people with dementia, more and more attention is being given to the need to find ways to make meaningful, relational connections.

Music, particularly live music, can be a uniquely powerful way to reach people with dementia: because a musician can adapt to the rhythms and emotions of a person on a moment-to-moment basis, music becomes a shared language of relating and connecting – even at a time when words may no longer be accessible.

This talk will be led by Dr Jane Bentley in partnership with Kids’ Classics, Ireland’s leading Music in Healthcare Organisation. You will hear about current professional Music in Healthcare programmes, training and partnerships with leading national arts organistions in Scotland and Ireland.

This event marks the beginning of a series of ‘Music and Dementia’ events that Kids’ Classics will be facilitating in May 2018, including ‘Musical Memories’, a programme taking placing in nursing homes and day-care settings in Louth, Meath and Waterford during Bealtaine.

This talk would be of interest to: Arts Organisations, Healthcare Professionals, Community Music Facilitators, Educators, Musicians, Activity Coordinators and Day Care Centre Coordinators.

Dr. Jane Bentley is a drummer and music in healthcare practitioner, consultant, and trainer, based in Glasgow, Scotland. She has brought music to elder care settings for over 15 years, and has worked in every area of mental health care, and with hospitalised children and adults. In 2009, she established the ‘Singing Memories’ group – one of Scotland’s first community singing groups for people with dementia and their carers, and has since trained many others to run groups of their own. As a trainer, she has collaborated with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, to develop and extend their work with older adults in hospitals across Scotland. She has been involved in training musicians, music therapists, occupational therapists, nursing staff and activity co-ordinators from Brighton to Chicago. In 2018/19, she will take up an international leadership fellowship with the Global Brain Health Institute at Trinity College, Dublin and the University of California, San Francisco, to further develop the field of music in dementia care.

Event Details 
Date: Tuesday 1 May
Venue: Royal Irish Academy of Music, Dublin
Time: 6:30 – 8:30 PM
Booking: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/

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