The Days of Lore

Music, seriously

Monday, April 30th, 2012 | fliX, musiX

It’s mostly fun and games here at TDoL … because, well, we’re talking about music, not working on the cure for cancer. At the same time I’m not oblivious to the emotional power of music, and I couldn’t help but be moved by this clip from Michael Rossato-Bennett’s documentary Alive Inside.

The documentary centers on a group of patients suffering from Alzheimer’s, who are awakened so to speak after listening to music from their youth. The clip below shows 92-year-old Henry Dryer, who suffers from dementia; he barely speaks and doesn’t recognize his own daughter. Once the headphones are placed in his ears Dryer miraculously snaps out of it. He continues to talk about it once the music stops, recalling memories of songs and artists from when he was young, saying “[Music] gives me the feeling of love.”

Also featured in Alive Inside is author and neurologist Oliver Sacks, best known for his book Musicophilia. And while there have been loads of other studies on music’s effects on the brain, and there appears to be some well-executed product-placement for the iPad here, the results are still powerful.

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Tags: Alive Inside, documentary, Henry Dryer, Michael Rossato-Bennett, Oliver Sacks

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