Musical Museum Methodology

Musical Museum is an innovative social-clinical program specifically for individuals with mild to moderate neurocognitive disorders (dementias). Neurocognitive disorders are caused by variety of diseases such as Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson and Lewy body disease, stroke, frontotemporal degeneration, head trauma among others.

 This program aims to establish a safe social space for individuals with neurocognitive disorders and their families to foster social engagement and to experience pleasure and intellectual stimulation. 

Music selections for each session last approximately 45 minutes. The clinically informed program is designed with an eye towards respect the cognitive capacities of the audience (Bonakdarpour, Takarabe, McFadden et al., 2021).

Each session includes curated familiar and unfamiliar canonical selections preceded by short verbal discussions for the individuals with neurocognitive disorders. 

For the familiar music selections, we choose music that would have been popular in the audience’s late adolescence. Unfamiliar music is used to demonstrate the power music regardless of its familiarity. Music in this category is generally tonal, and possess melodies that are culturally diverse and at times based on traditional folk tunes from a variety of geographical regions, rhythms that are uncomplicated. When necessary pieces are arranged so composers are sometimes involved in the development of programs.

Verbal introductions to musical selections are prepared well in advanced highlighting historical, philosophical, and poetic aspects of the music. A script is written and evaluated to ensure that the audience are intellectually stimulated but not overwhelmed. Presenters rehearse their script so that the pacing of speech is measured and replete with prosody, which raises the emotional experience.

Each program is followed by a 15-minue question and answer session and a reception. 

Audience were solicited for surveys to evaluate their satisfaction of the program. 

Examples previous selections are below:

1.  Jim Croce: Time in a Bottle

2.  Joni Mitchell: Both Sides Now

3.  Bob Thiele and George David Weiss, What a Wonderful World (popularized by Louise Armstrong)

4.  Coltrane: Spiritual

5.  Bolling: Irandiase

6.  Hugo Peretti, Luigi Creatore, and George David Weiss: Falling in Love with You (popularized by Elvis Presley)

7. Phil Collins: One More Night

8.  Leonard Bernstein: Somewhere, from West Side Story

9.  Frederic Chopin: Selection from Mazurkas

10.  Schubert: Selection from Rosamunde 

11. Mozart: Piano Concerto in D and Violin Sonata in B-flat

12.  Bach: Goldberg Variations Theme

13.  Maroufi: Jila (Persian tune)