Despite dementia, 95-year-old piano player remembers every note
September 8, 2023
In a world full of strangers, the notes are familiar friends.
Dementia has robbed 95-year-old Elaine Lebar of nearly all her memories. But the music that Elaine's been playing her entire life and taught to thousands of students as a high school music teacher has proven too strong for this disease.
Elaine's daughter Randi has been posting videos of her mother's daily performances inside the memory unit at Keystone Pace in Buzzard's Bay to TikTok for the past three years, including emotional ones where Elaine, at first, can't remember the piece of music.
"My mother has no short-term memory," said Randi. "Five minutes ago is gone. But when she sees the piano, she will automatically go over to it and start playing."
Randi says the real magic is the emotional and physical boost her mom gets.
"Her legs work better, her arms work better, everything works better after she has played," she said.
Dr. Rudy Tanzi has been researching Alzheimer's Disease for 40 years. He describes music as the bridge to the soul.
"There's so many aspects of music that can be used for therapies for brain diseases," said Tanzi. "We've only just started to touch the surface."
Tanzi said a simple trick that loved ones can do to help connect with an Alzheimer's patient, even ones that are non-verbal, is playing top 40 hits from when the patient would have been 10-20 years old.
"It's between 10 and 20 years old, that’s when we really emotionally bond with our music. That's the music that, when you hear it, will most stimulate the music memory part of the brain," she said.
No matter how much the disease ravages the brain, he explained, somehow, the music memory is spared.
"You will often see an Alzheimer's patient who can't repeat back a sentence you read ten seconds later, can sing all the lyrics of a song perfectly that they loved when they were a teenager," Tanzi said.
It's a gift that's been vital to residents and staff in the memory unit in Buzzards Bay.
"She means a lot to me because she brought so much to the residents during COVID," said unit director Kerry MacDonald. "There were times when it was the darkest of days that we were having. But at one point, you know, we took the piano down the end of the hallway, and safely, we were able to bring her out there and bring other residents, you know, into their doorways, and she played for them."
"I can't imagine not doing it," said Elaine. "It's the biggest part of my life."
Now Elaine's gift — and the magic of music therapy — is being shared around the world. Inspiring everyone from musicians, Alzheimer's researchers or anyone trying to connect with a loved one in the grips of this disease — even if just for one song.
"She's a lost little old lady until you sit her down at a piano," said Randi. "If she didn't have a piano, she would be a lost little old lady 24 hours a day. And that's all anyone would see of her. So, find a given person's piano."