Creating and Reliving the Moment: Using Musical Improvisation and Care Aesthetics as a Lens of Connection and Self-Expression for Younger People Living with Dementia

Robyn Dowlen (), Dougal Henry James McPherson, Caroline Swarbrick, Lizzie Hoskin, James Thompson and John Keady ()
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Robyn Dowlen: Division of Psychology and Mental Health, University of Manchester, Manchester M13 9PL, UK
Dougal Henry James McPherson: Creative Manchester, University of Manchester, Manchester M13 9PL, UK
Caroline Swarbrick: Division of Health Research, Lancaster University, Lancaster LA1 4YW, UK
Lizzie Hoskin: Manchester Camerata, The Monastery, Manchester M12 5WF, UK
James Thompson: School of Arts, Languages and Cultures, University of Manchester, Manchester, M13 9PL, UK
John Keady: Division of Nursing, Midwifery and Social Work, University of Manchester, Manchester M13 9PL, UK

IJERPH, 2024, vol. 21, issue 8, 1-18

Abstract: Musical improvisation is a generative process of spontaneously creating music ‘in the moment’. For people with young onset dementia, musical improvisation provides an extended opportunity for creative self-expression and connection to one’s own body and life story. Using visual research methods, including video elicitation interviews, this paper explores the ‘in the moment’ musical experiences of five people living with young onset dementia who took part in a 15-week improvised music-making programme (Music in Mind). We frame the exploration of the group’s musical experiences through the emerging lens of ‘care aesthetics’—a concept that identifies the sensory relations and embodied practices between two (or more) people in a caring relationship. In the context of this analysis, we look to the caring practices by, with, and between people living with dementia, their family members, and the musicians who lead the programme and the relationship of these practices to feelings of self-expression and meaningful connection. Musical improvisation has the potential to support the psychological, social, and spiritual wellbeing of people living with young onset dementia. In applying a lens of care aesthetics, it is possible to observe the micro-level experiences of people living with dementia and their family carers.

Keywords: young onset dementia; group music-making; ‘in the moment’; visual methods; care aesthetics; musical improvisation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
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