Final published version
Licence: CC BY: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review
Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review
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TY - JOUR
T1 - Creating and Reliving the Moment
T2 - Using Musical Improvisation and Care Aesthetics as a Lens of Connection and Self-Expression for Younger People Living with Dementia
AU - Dowlen, Robyn
AU - McPherson, Dougal Henry James
AU - Swarbrick, Caroline
AU - Hoskin, Lizzie
AU - Thompson, James
AU - Keady, John
PY - 2024/7/25
Y1 - 2024/7/25
N2 - 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.
AB - 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.
U2 - 10.3390/ijerph21080972
DO - 10.3390/ijerph21080972
M3 - Journal article
VL - 21
JO - International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health
JF - International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health
SN - 1660-4601
IS - 8
M1 - 972
ER -