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| Steven H. Cornelius Music and Stroke |
A couple of days ago, two different colleagues sent me a video link showing music’s effect on “Henry,” a mostly disfunctional elderly gentleman residing in a New York City nursing home [YouTube - Man In Nursing Home Reacts To Hearing Music From His Era]. Henry’s response to music is remarkable. When the music plays he is mentally alert and motorically active. Clearly, for Henry, this music is activating many cognitive connections.
All this is very interesting, maybe even wonderful, but I need more details. First of all, I want to know about the long-term effects of Henry’s continued exposure to music. Does his newfound alertness last a significant amount of time after the music has stopped?
Dr. Oliver Sacks states, “The effect of this doesn’t stop.” But there is little evidence of a lasting effect in the scene before Henry gets the earphones. Surely what we see is was not the first time Henry plugged in.
Does Henry respond to a wide range of musical sounds and styles? Why, or why not?
Does Henry continue to respond equally fully to the same music on repeated listenings?
What does Henry’s animation really signify? Is he suddenly “with it”? Is he even more “with it” after repeated listenings?
There are many more questions. Perhaps the upcoming film screening [Alive Inside: A Story of Music and Memory] will provide some answers.
Perhaps I am missing something, but it is not my experience that music is a magic “on” button for emotional, physical, and/or spiritual vitality (even though perhaps everyone who loves music has experienced such effects at least once, however fleeting).
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